E-Way Bill GST Rules Compliance! Explained

E-way bill also known as the Electronic Way Bill. An E-way Bill is used to track the goods which are in transit and was introduced under the Goods and Services Tax. It is necessary for an individual who is involved in transportation of goods and is registered under GST with the value of goods of over R. 50,000, to possess an e-way bill. The generation of an E-way bill can be carried out on the GST portal.

The generation and management of E-way Bill has become simple for businesses with the help of LEDGERS. The E-way Bill tool of ledgers is synced to the GST invoices, purchase invoices, bills of supply and customer or supplier accounts.  In this blog, we will discuss in detail the E-way Bill and GST rules and compliances related to it.

Who needs an E-way Bill?

The individuals having GST registration and are involved in transportation of goods must generate an E-way Bill in the following scenarios:

• When the value of goods that are being transported exceeds Rs. 50,000. An E-way Bill can also be generated even if the value of the goods is less than Rs. 50,000.
• In case of an unregistered person transports goods to a registered individual, then the unregistered individual will also have to generate an E-way bill.
• A transporter who carries goods through air, rail, road, etc also needs to generate an E-way Bill in case it has not been generated by the supplier.

Documents required

The documents needed for the generation of an E-way Bill are listed below:

• Bill of supply/invoice/ challan related to the consignment of goods.
• Transporter ID or vehicle number in case of transporting by road.
• Transporter ID, Transport Document number and date for transporting by air, rail or ship.

Generation of E-way Bill

An electronic way bill or document for the transportation of goods is known as an E-way Bill. It can be generated from the E-way Bill portal. Any transporter or supplier who is transporting goods whose value exceeds Rs. 50,000 in a single vehicle must possess a GST E-way Bill according to the regulations of the GST council. After the generation of E-way Bill in the portal by making use of the necessary credentials, a unique E-way Bill number known as the EBN will be generated and is allocated to the registered supplier, recipient and the transporter. The various ways of creating an E-way Bill are listed below:

1. LEDGERS Software
2. E-way Bill Portal
3. SMS
4. Android App
5. Site to Site Integration

Steps for the generation of E-way Bill on the E-way Bill portal:

Step 1: vVisit the E-way Bill portal to generate the E-way Bill and enter the login credentials.

Step 2: Click on ‘Generate New’ on the main page.

E-way Bill generate online

Step 3: In the new form that can be seen on the screen, fill in all the necessary details. Select outward for a supplier and inward for a recipient. Enter the details of the recipient and the supplier along with the GSTIN wherever necessary. Check on the details and proceed to the next step.

Enter the description of goods

Step 4: Fill in the details as listed below on the second half of the page:

• Enter the name and the description of the product.
• Enter the HSN code for the product.
• Enter the quantity and unit of goods.
• Enter the value of products in addition to tax rate.
• Enter the Rates of IGST or CGST if applicable. IGST for interstate transport of goods and CGST for intra-state transport of goods.
• Enter the approximate amount of distance that will have to be travelled for the transport in addition to the transporter name and ID. This will be responsible for determining the E-way Bill validity.

Step 5: Once you have filled in all the required details, click on ‘Submit’ in order to create the E-way Bill. Now an E-way Bill will appear on the screen along with the E-way Bill number and the QR code which has all the transport details in digital format. The transporter must carry the printed copy of the E-way Bill till the goods have been transported to the consignee.

Step 6: In order to create a consolidated E-way Bill containing all the transaction details, the individual only needs to provide his E-way Bill number and click on ‘Submit.’

Validity of an E-way Bill

The validity of the E-way Bill is determined by the distance to be covered for the transport of goods. The updated provisions for the  validity period of the E-way Bill are listed below:

The cargo which is carried as a single invisible unit and is more than the dimensional limits which are specified under rule 93 of the Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989 under the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988, is known as over dimensional cargo.

Exemptions from E-way Bill

The goods for the transportation of which no E-way Bill is required are listed below:

• LPG for households and NDEC (non domestic exempted category) customers.
• Kerosene oil which is sold under the PDS.
• Postal baggage which is transported by the Department of Posts.
• Pearls and precious or semi-precious stones.
• Jewellery, gold and silversmiths wares and others(Chapter 71).
• Currency.
• Used household and personal effects.
• Coral, worked (0508) and unworked coral (9601).

 An E-way Bill is also not required for transporting goods from customs port, airport, air cargo complex and land customs station to any inland container depot in order to get clearance from customs  and for transportation of goods through a non-motorized conveyance.

For the transportation of the following goods, no E-way Bill is required:

• Alcoholic liquor
• Petroleum crude
• High-speed diesel
• Motor spirit
• Natural gas
• Aviation turbine fuel

Conclusion

In this blog, we discussed in detail the E-way bill, and the individuals who need a GST E-way bill. We also discussed the documents needed for the generation of an E-way bill and the process for its generation. We also learnt about the validity period of an E-way bill and the cases in which an E-way bill is not needed.