Most businesses that deal with goods under GST and also transport them to different locations across the country have heard about eWay bills and some know they need to carry them during transports. But when and under what conditions do they need to be issued? We’ll cover the meaning of e-way bill, when to generate it and how.
What is an e-way bill?
E-way bill is short from electronic way bill. This is a document that has to be generated for the movement of goods from one place to another, from the government eWay bill portal. E-way bills are generated for both inter-state and intra-state when the transported goods’ value is over Rs. 50,000.
When an e-way bill is generated, a unique EBN (e-way bill number) is given and it becomes available to the transporter, supplier and recipient.
In GST the e-way bill replaces the old way bill, which used to be a physical document for transporting goods under the VAT laws.
When does an e-way bill need to be issued?
E-way bills have to be issued before a movement of goods in a vehicle occurs and the value of such goods is more that Rs. 50,000 (either individual invoice or an aggregate of all invoices for in vehicle). The e-way bill is:
In relation to a supply.
For reasons other than supply, such as a return.
For inward supply from an unregistered person.
As referring to e-way bills, a supply is considered either:
A payment in the course of business (such as sales of goods with payment).
A payment which is not in the course of business (such as transfers between branches).
No payment exists (such as the case of barter / exchanges).
As previously mentioned, e-way bills are generated on the government portal for all these types of transport. However, for some specific goods, an eway bill still need to be generated even if the value of the consignment of goods is below the sum of Rs. 50,000:
Inter-state movement of goods by the principal to the job-worker by either the principal or the registered job-worker.
Inter-state transport of handicraft goods by a dealer who is exempted from GST registration.
Who needs to issue e-way bills in GST?
A registered person need to issue e-way bills when a movement of goods more than Rs. 50,000 in value exists, to or from the registered person. The transporter or registered person can make an e-way bill even if the transport is less than Rs. 50,000.
An unregistered person is also required to generate eway bills, however, when the supply is made by an unregistered person to a registered one, the receiver has to ensure that all compliances are respected as if they were the supplier.
A transporter carrying goods by road, air railway or others, also needs to issue e-way bills if the supplier hasn’t done so himself.
An unregistered transporter will be issued a transporter ID upon enrolling on the e-way bill portal, after which they can generate e-way bills.
Latest update in March 2018:
Transporters do not need to generate and e-way bill (form EWB-01 or EWB-02) when all the consignments in the transport are:
Individually less than or equal to Rs. 50,000 BUT
All documents together exceed Rs. 50,000.
Note: If a transporter is transporting multiple consignments in a single shipment, they can use the form GST EWB-02 to issue 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 issue one by filling out PART A of FORM GST EWB-01 on the basis of the invoice/bill of supply/delivery challan that has been provided to them.
GST E-way bill format
An e-way bill has 2 parts: Part A and Part B.
Part A of the bill is where all details of the consignment are added (the details of the invoice), such as:
GSTIN of Recipient: The recipient of the goods needs to provide their GST identification number
Place of Delivery: The pin code of the place where goods will be delivered.
Invoice or Challan Number: The invoice or challan no. of the supplied goods.
Value of Goods: The total value of the goods.
HSN Code: The HSN code of the transported goods is required. If the turnover is up to INR 5 crores, then the first two digits need to be mentioned. For a turnover more than INR 5 crores, four digits of HSN code are required.
Reason for Transportation: the appropriate option from the list provided in the portal should be selected.
Transport Document Number: The Goods Receipt Number/ Railway Receipt Number/ Airway Bill Number/ Bill of Loading Number.
Part B of the form contains the vehicle number of the transported goods. The transporter completes usually this information in the common portal.
How to generate e-way bills?
E-way bills are generated either online, via the government portal or SMS. As mentioned previously, the e-way bill needs to be generated before the movement of goods.
Here is a step by step process to get the e-way bill from the government portal in the easiest way:
First, you need to login to the government portal that can be accessed here. Once opened, click on Login at the top right corner and enter your details.
After you have logged in, to generate the bill click on e-wayBill on the right as seen in the picture below.
For your convenience, you can upload a JSON file that contains the details of your invoice that will populate the e-way bill. This helps you save time and automates part of your process. To find out who you can easily get a JSON file for e-way bill by using Sleek Bill read more here.
To do that, you need to choose “Generate Bulk” in the eway bill screen, as seen below:Choose and upload the JSON file that you got from Sleek Bill (or other software).
You will see the following screen, which shows you the details you have uploaded. Note that the error field should be empty to be able to generate the eway bill. Click on “Generate”.
After you have generated the eway bill, you will be able to see details such as EWB number and date. Copy these details.
From here, you can go back to the main screen and click on “Print EWB”. Once the new screen opens, enter your EWB number and press “Go”.
You will not see your EWB with full details, including a QR code. Scroll to the end of the page and you will be able to Print it directly from here or view a detailed Print version.
