New phased implementation strategy of Eway bill system for intra-state movement of goods worked well for the government

Eway bill update so far : After being run out from the field in the very beginning phase of its introduction on Feb 1 2018, the day marked for introduction of inter state eway bill. It was the warning for the government to bring in a more powerful Ewaybill system partnered with right technology which is quick, smart coupled with the ability to generate eway bills at full capacity. And the GST Council team took its leisure time in overhauling the eway bill system to take care of the technical glitches faced by the taxpayers on Feb 1. And this time the GST team came back stronger from its last defeat and presented us a full e waybill system which is operative, capable of handling and generating eway bills with full load. And on April 1 we received this refurbished eway bill system which ran smoothly giving the numbers of 63 lakhs bills been generated by end of the day on April 9.

However the initial journey of Eway bill didn’t started well with most states agitating to streamline eway bill into the present taxation of GST. Where few states like Gujarat accepted for just 14 commodities on e way bill for intra-state movement. Whereas few states like Rajasthan at the end of trial period of E way bill system, announced its disapproval for Ewaybill into the State of Rajasthan for intra state movement of goods for an indefinite period. Ewaybill is the main stream in GST Taxation structure which holds the entire GST law with strong thread which will on the long run prove to be the best thing that happened in taxation history of India as it will remove all the difficulties faced by taxpayers in GST compliances, it also will help in eradicating the tax evasion practices which came along as a default synergy with every new introduction of Indirect Tax taxation laws from the past.

How we per se the journey for Ewaybill ahead from now : There was a media announcement from the government on April 10^th (Tuesday) stating that five additional states would start implementing E-way bills for Intra-state movement of good from April 15. This was the reward for the patience with which the government operated to bring back the eway bill system into livelihood just as it saved a drowning ship (GST) from being submerged into ocean just as the fate of the erstwhile ships (erstwhile taxation laws).

GST and Eway bill are made for each other : With GST we have got one captain who will steer or guide the ship to destination as GST subsumes in itself almost all forms of Indirect taxes which were present in the earlier tax regime. Thereby removing all the pain points like separate registration procedure for separate tax laws, separate returns for separate tax laws, manual submission of tax returns under separate tax authorities junctioned, restrictions on offsetting of input tax credits in the returns in case of capital goods, restrictions on utilization of tax credits for a supplier or trader of goods. All this has been set right with GST. As GST ensures smooth flow of input tax credits ensuring that cascading effect does not reenter the tax system in its presence. And E way bill when coupled with GST gives us the true taste of tax system which is right for India. As E Way bill just carries out all the good work which GST has personified. It enables smooth flow of goods between state boundaries by bringing every detail pertaining to the article which is proposed to be sold or moved to buyers place in an online model which we call as Eway bill system. This is no new gimmick, as Eway bill is an adoption of erstwhile manual Taxation forms which were adopted for movement of goods between the state boundaries.

But with Ewaybill every source of information is made online, even the check posts have been removed but with no compromise on quantum of information. A person who is making the supply or intending to move the goods to buyers place has to fill up eway bill Form which comprises of following details as such Invoice No; Invoice Date ; Type of Supply; GSTIN particulars of Supplier meaning if I you are  the supplier, then your GSTIN particulars would be auto-populated on the eway bill system screen; then after this one has to begun filing the details about the receiver of goods his GSTIN, and again here the address details will be auto-populated once you fill the GSTIN number in the box given against it. The next section of information is related to the product you sell : Particulars, description; Quantity particulars and  Unique Quantity Code ; Tax Rate Classifications : CGST/SGST/IGST and Cess one just needs to fill the applicable tax rates relevant to the product for which he is preparing the eway bill for. And in the final section we have particulars of Transporters : where in one has to fill details about the transport partners GSTIN number in case registered or provide the transport of in case the transporter is not registered. It’s only when you fill all these sections, the Part A of the Ewaybill stands to complete. After which the transporter has to feed against the Eway bill generated the tax conveyance vehicle no. It’s only after the transporter fills up the second part of information, the goods become liable for movement.

Although the mandatory limit for generation of eway bill stands out to be Rs. 50,000/- for values of invoice (Base price plus GST) below Rs. 50000 eway bill shall be generated through the invoice value is less than Rs. 50,000/-.A good practice is to generate e way bill even for bill value of less than Rs. 50,000/-as this good practice will lead your information to GST returns in GSTR 1 and reduce the compliance burden to an extent as you as an supplier meant to have complied with your GSTR 1 Return responsibility with the generation of eway bill as GSTR1 will be auto-populated from it.

Following are the states which are coming in the first phase of GST Eway bill system for intra-state movement of goods : The states that would implement E-Way Bill system from April 15 include :

1. Andhra Pradesh
2. Gujarat
3. Kerala
4. Telangana and
5. Uttar Pradesh

Continuing the statement received from the government on April 10^th, it was further stated that with the roll-out of e-Way Bill system in these States, it is expected that trade and industry will be further facilitated insofar as the transport of goods is concerned, thereby eventually paving the way for a nation-wide single e-Way Bill system. Trade and industry and transporters located in these States may obtain registration/ enrolment on e-Way Bill portal namely https://www.ewaybillgst.gov.in at the earliest without waiting for the last date.

Ever since the introduction of inter-state e-way bill system from April 1 we have witnesses that the eway bill portal has been working smoothly and this is the reason the Government has been encouraged to launch intra-state e-way bills for 5 states from April 15. This strategy of phase wise introduction of e-way bill and testing the load capacity of the e-way bill portal gradually is certainly going to work well for the Government.

So staggered roll out of way bill for Intra State movement of goods is the mantra for successful implementation of E Way bill which has now been understood well by the government. However barring a few exceptions the e-way bill portal has been stable so far. Transporters though are facing some challenges which hopefully will be resolved soon. The Government has succeeded with the inter-state infrastructure and we hope the same will be replicated with the intra-state roll out as well; volume load will be assessed and taken care of. The staggered roll out for a few states at a time will help balance the load.

Journey ahead with Tally.ERP 9 with introduction of intra-state E Way bill system : The e way bill system for inter-state movement of goods have commenced already beginning from 1^st April of this month. And one can hope that Eway operations would have by now streamlined into the daily business routine of trade and industry either driven through gst software such as Tally.ERP 9 or through any particular GST Software. But for SMEs whose scale of operations lies within the state boundaries, with the introduction of intra-state E Way bill system they will be required to infuse the e way bill mechanism in their daily routine to comply with the provisions of E Way Bill rules for generation of E Way Bills and here what they can do is make an provision for technology partner in their cash outlay budget for a System which is a accounting software equipped with Return filing facility and capable of generating E way bills as well. And these parameters set right with Tally.ERP 9 Software which in its recent update 6.4 have brought features for generating e way bill by the time you create an Tax invoice. Meaning you are not required to prepare Tax invoice and E Way bill separately, once the Invoice is prepared with all the details the module is set in a way which carries the details fed by you on the invoice screen to E Way bill system for generating E Way bills. It’s this simplicity which Tally.ERP 9 offers for its users to comfort them with GST related compliances.