Trial run starts for E-Way Bill. System can handle up to 5 million bills per day

In an offer to bring consistency over the states for seamless inter-state movement of goods, the government is set to implement the electronic way bill or e-way bill system from February 1. E-way bill is a system generated bill which every transporters, exceptions in some cases, should convey to move the goods starting with one place then onto the next. These electronic bills can be generated from the GSTN entry. The e-way bill system was introduced under the Goods and Services Tax , yet couldn't be implemented earlier as the required IT infrastructure wasn't in place. A month ago, the GST Council decided to implement the e-way bill mechanism all through the nation from February 1. In a notification released earlier this month, the GSTN informed the transporters that E-way bill would become mandatory for inter-state movements of goods from February 1, 2018. It further said that the nationwide e-way bill system would be ready to be rolled out on a trial premise by January 16.

Ahead of the trials on e-way bill generation, which begin today, GST Network CEO Prakash Kumar explained the system's preparedness and infrastructure capabilities to handle the progress. He said that the e-way bill system is designed to handle around 50 lakhs e-way bills per day. The GSTN expects 10 lakh bills for interstate and 35-40 lakh bills for intra-state. The software for the new system has been developed by the government's premier science and technology association: National Informatics Center. While, the GSTN claims the software, it will be run and operated by the NIC. "NIC is server farm we are utilizing here, like bandwidth we are paying for the connectivity," Kumar said including that "the fundamental server farm is in Delhi". He likewise informed that the development of infrastructure for E-way bill system has taken a toll Rs 40 crore to the government.

Speaking on the information protection issues, the GSTN CEO stated: "None of us has any accessibility to any individual tax payers information. Tax payers' information must be accessed by two people, the taxpayer himself and tax officer. In case of any investigation, then investigation team can take endorsement of a senior officer and then they will see that information. They can just see." When asked whether the government was taking any measure to disentangle or streamline the whole process of filling the tax, he said that a committee headed by GSTN Chairman Dr AB Pandey with members from both center and state was dealing with it. "The Committee will present the report to the chamber," he said.

GSTN NOTIFICATION

In the notification, the GSTN additionally stated that while the system for both inter-state and intra-state e-way bill generation will be ready by January 16, the states may choose their own timings for implementation of e-way bill for inter-state movement of goods on any date before June 1. There are certain states which are already having system of e-way bill for intra-state and additionally inter-state movement. Some of these states can embrace national e-way Bill system early for intra-state movement too. "Regardless uniform system of e-way bill for inter-state and also intra-state movement will be implemented the nation over by June 1," the GSTN notification had said.

Find out about E-WAY BILL

What is e-way bill?

E-way bill is an electronic document generated on the GST gateway evidencing movement of goods. Every registered person who causes movement of goods (which may not necessarily be because of supply) of consignment value more than Rs 50000 is required to outfit the details of GSTIN of recipient, place of delivery, invoice or challan number and date, value of goods, HSN code, transport document number (Goods Receipt Number or Railway Receipt Number or Airway Bill Number or Bill of Lading Number) and reasons for transportation and transporter details (Vehicle number).

Who ought to generate it and why?

E-way bill can be generated by the shipper or consignee himself if the transportation is being done in claim/hired conveyance or by railways via air or by Vessel. On the off chance that the goods are handed over to a transporter for transportation by street, the bill will be generated by the transporter. Where neither the sender nor consignee generates the e-way bill and the value of goods is more than Rs.50,000 it should be the responsibility of the transporter to generate it.

Purpose of e-way bill

E-way bill is a mechanism to ensure that goods being transported follow the GST Law and is an effective instrument to track movement of goods and check tax evasion.

Legitimacy of e-way bill

The legitimacy of e-way bill depends on the distance to be traveled by the goods. For a distance of less than 100 Km the e-way bill will be legitimate for a day from the relevant date. For every 100 Km thereafter, the legitimacy will be extra one day from the relevant date. The "relevant date" should mean the date on which the e-way bill has been generated and the period of legitimacy might be counted from the time at which the e-way bill has been generated and each day should be counted as twenty-four hours.

Imagine a scenario in which goods can't be transported inside the period.

In general, the legitimacy of the e-way bill can't be extended. However, Commissioner may extend the legitimacy period just by way of issue of notification for certain categories of goods. Further, if under circumstances of an exceptional nature, the goods can't be transported inside the legitimacy period of the e-way bill, the transporter may generate another e-way bill after refreshing the details once more.

Cases where e-way bill isn't required

As per CBEC, there are some exceptions to e-way bill requirement. It stated: "No e-way bill is required to be generated in the cases where goods being transported by a non-motorized conveyance; goods being transported from the port, air terminal, air load complex and land traditions station to an inland container depot or a container freight station for clearance by Customs; and when Consignment value is less than Rs 50,000 among others."