What is eWay Bill? E way Bill Rules & Generation Process

Under GST, transporters should carry an eWay Bill when moving goods from one place to another when certain conditions are satisfied. In this article, we cover the following topics:

1. What is an Eway Bill?
2. When to Generate?
3. Who should Generate?
4. Cases when eWay bill is Not Required
5. Status of Implementation across India
6. How to generate eWay Bill
7. Validity of eWay Bill
8. Documents required

1. What is an  eWay Bill?

EWay Bill is an electronic way bill for movement of goods which can be generated on the eWay Bill Portal. Transport of goods of more than Rs. 50,000 (Single Invoice/bill/delivery challan) in value in a vehicle cannot be made by a registered person without an eway bill.

Alternatively, Eway bill can also be generated or cancelled through SMS, Android App and by Site-to-Site Integration(through API).

When an eway bill is generated a unique eway bill number (EBN) is allocated and is available to the supplier, recipient, and the transporter.

2.When Should eWay Bill be issued? 

The transporters need not generate the Eway bill (as Form EWB-01 or EWB-02) where all the consignments in the conveyance :

• Individually(single Document**) is less than or equal to Rs 50,000 BUT
• In Aggregate (all documents** put together) exceeds Rs 50,000

**Document means Tax Invoice/Delivery challan/Bill of supply

eWay bill will be generated when there is a movement of goods in a vehicle/ conveyance of value more than Rs. 50,000( either each Invoice or in (aggregate of all Invoices in a vehicle/ Conveyance)^# )  –

·         In relation to a ‘supply’

·         For reasons other than a ‘supply’ ( say a return)

·         Due to inward ‘supply’ from an unregistered person

For this purpose, a supply may be either of the following:

·         A supply made for a consideration (payment) in the course of business

·         A supply made for a consideration (payment) which may not be in the course of business

·         A supply without consideration (without payment)In simpler terms,  the term ‘supply’ usually means a:

1.     Sale – sale of goods and payment made

2.     Transfer – branch transfers for instance

3.     Barter/Exchange – where the payment is by goods instead of in money

Therefore, eWay Bills must be generated on the common portal for all these types of movements.

For certain specified Goods, the eway bill needs to be generated mandatorily even if the Value of the consignment of Goods is less than Rs. 50,000:

1.     Inter-State movement of Goods by the Principal to the Job-worker by Principal/ registered Job-worker***,

2.     Inter-State Transport of Handicraft goods by a dealer exempted from GST registration

***Latest Notification dated 7th March 2018:

A Registered Job-worker can also generate Eway bill for movement of goods to or from a Principal located in another State.

3. Who should Generate an eWay Bill?

·         Registered Person – Eway bill must be generated when there is a movement of goods of more than Rs 50,000 in value to or from a Registered Person. A Registered person or the transporter may choose to generate and carry eway bill even if the value of goods is less than Rs 50,000.

·         Unregistered Persons – Unregistered persons are also required to generate e-Way Bill. However, where a supply is made by an unregistered person to a registered person, the receiver will have to ensure all the compliances are met as if they were the supplier. 

·         Transporter – Transporters carrying goods by road, air, rail, etc. also need to generate e-Way Bill if the supplier has not generated an e-Way Bill.

Latest update as on 23rd Mar 2018:

Until a date yet to be notified, the transporters need not generate the Eway bill (as Form EWB-01 or EWB-02) where all the consignments in the conveyance :

·         Individually(single Document**) is less than or equal to Rs 50,000 BUT

·         In Aggregate (all documents** put together) exceeds Rs 50,000

**Document means Tax Invoice/Delivery challan/Bill of supply

Unregistered Transporters will be issued Transporter ID on enrolling on the e-way bill portal after which Eway bills can be generated.

Who	When	Part	Form
Every Registered person under GST	Before movement of goods	Fill Part A	Form GST EWB-01
Registered person is consignor or consignee (mode of transport may be owned or hired) OR is recipient of goods	Before movement of goods	Fill Part B	Form GST EWB-01
Registered person is consignor or consignee  and goods are handed over to transporter of goods	Before movement of goods	Fill Part B	The registered person shall furnish the information relating to the transporter in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01
Transporter of goods	Before movement of goods		Generate e-way bill on basis of information shared by the registered person in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01
An unregistered person under GST and recipient is registered	Compliance to be done by Recipient as if he is the Supplier.		1. If the goods are transported for a distance of fifty kilometers or less, within the same State/Union territory from the place of business of the consignor to the place of business of the transporter for further transportation, the supplier or the transporter may not furnish the details of conveyance in Part B of FORM GST EWB-01. 2. If supply is made by air, ship or railways, then the information in Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 has to be filled in by the consignor or the recipient

Note: If a transporter is transporting multiple consignments in a single conveyance, they can use the form GST EWB-02 to produce a consolidated e-way bill, by providing the e-way bill numbers of each consignment.

If both the consignor and the consignee have not created an e-way bill, then the transporter can do so * by filling out PART A of FORM GST EWB-01 on the basis of the invoice/bill of supply/delivery challan given to them.

* Latest Notification dated 7th March 2018

Henceforth, Transporters will need an authorisation by the Suppliers to generate Part-A of eway bill.

4. Cases when eWay bill is Not Required

In the following cases it is not necessary to generate e-Way Bil:

1.     The mode of transport is non-motor vehicle

2.     Goods transported from Customs port, airport, air cargo complex or land customs station to Inland Container Depot (ICD) or Container Freight Station (CFS) for clearance by Customs.

3.     Goods transported under Customs supervision or under customs seal

4.     Goods transported under Customs Bond from ICD to Customs port or from one custom station to another.

5.     Transit cargo transported to or from Nepal or Bhutan

6.     Movement of goods caused by defence formation under Ministry of defence as a consignor or consignee

7.     Empty Cargo containers are being transported

8.     Consignor transporting goods to or from between place of business and a weighbridge for weighment at a distance of 20 kms, accompanied by a Delivery challan.

9.     Goods being transported by rail where the Consignor of goods is the Central Government, State Governments or a local authority.

10.                        Goods specifed as exempt from E-Way bill requirements in the respective State/Union territory GST Rules.

11.                        Transport of certain specified goods- Includes the list of exempt supply of goods,      Annexure to Rule 138(14), goods treated as no supply as per Schedule III, Certain schedule to Central tax Rate notifications.  (PDF of List of Goods).

Note: Part B of e-Way Bill is not required to be filled where the distance between the consigner or consignee and the transporter is less than 50 Kms and transport is within the same state.

 5. Status of Implementation across India

Latest Update as on 23rd Mar 2018*

1.     Inter-state implementation of eway bill is notified to be implemented from 1st April 2018

2.     Intra-state implementation of EWB to kick-off from 15th April 2018* in a phased manner. States to be divided into 4 lots to execute this phased rollout.  

Implementation of e-Way Bills from 1st of April 2018  is mandatory for inter-state movement of goods throughout India.

The requirement of e-way bills for movement of goods within the States /UT will start from 15th April 2018 in a phased manner by grouping the States/UT into four lots. GST Council in the coming days shall announce this arrangement.

Karnataka has already notified the e-way bill requirement for movement of goods within the State. NIC portal also has specifically stated on the home page that the E-way bills for intra-state movement of goods can be generated only for Karnataka.

Although few States have notified the rules of e-way bills, no notification has been passed to give effect to the implementation.

Some States like Telangana, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala have their own system of E-way bill for goods coming into the State with a separate portal. This is temporary until 1st April 2018 for inter-state movement of goods & until such date the State notifies for the implementation of E-way bills for movement of goods within the State.

6. How to generate eWay Bill?

E-Way Bill can be generated on the e-Way Bill Portal. All you need is a Portal login. For a detailed step-by-step guide on e-Way Bill Generation check out our article – Guide to generate e-Way Bill online.

7. Validity of eWay Bill

An e-way bill is valid for periods as listed below, which is based on the distance travelled by the goods. Validity is calculated from the date and time generation of e-way bill –

Validity of Eway bill can be extended also. The generator of such Eway bill has to either four hours before expiry or within four hours after its expiry can extend Eway bill validity.

8. Documents or Details required to generate eWay Bill

Kindly keep the following documents and information in hand to generate the E-way bill under GST:

• Tax invoice: You must keep the tax invoice with you to fill the details. Tax invoice is the most important documents if you want to generate the e-way bill.

         Further, in case the transaction is not treated as supply, the delivery challan shall be generated.

• Registered mobile number: Registered mobile number should be with the user as all the OTP and verification codes shall be generated on this mobile number.

• Product details: You must also enter the product to be transported properly.

• Recipient details: Details of recipient should also be filled properly.

• Transporter details: Details of transporter should also be with you. If the vehicle details are not updated in the E-way bill, then the eway bill shall not be valid.