Finance Ministry notifies e-way bill rules

New Delhi : The finance ministry has notified the rules for an e-way bill which requires online pre-registration of goods before transportation under the new GST regime. The date of implementation of the e-way bill mechanism would be notified separately, but sources said it is likely to come into force by October 1.

Under the e-way mechanism, all goods worth over Rs 50,000 will have to be pre-registered online before they are moved for sale beyond 10 km. GST-exempted goods have been kept out of the purview of the e-way bill — a minor relaxation of draft rules which required for all goods to be pre-registered under the e-way bill provision.

The e-way bill provisions were approved by the GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and his state counterparts, in its last meeting on August 5. As per the e-way bill notification, the supplier or the transporter would not be required to furnish the e-way bill in case the goods are transported for a distance of less than 10 km within the state or Union territory from the place of business of the consignor to the place of business of the transporter for further transportation.

The permits issued would be valid for one day for movement of goods for 100 km and in the same proportion for following days. As per the draft provision, GST Network (GSTN) would generate e-way bills that will be valid for 1-20 days, depending on distance to be travelled — one day for 100 km, 3 days (100 to less than 300 km), 5 days (300-less than 500 km) and 10 days (500-less than 1,000 km).

The e-way provisions would not be applicable where the goods are being transported from the port, airport, air cargo complex and land customs station to an inland container depot or a container freight station for clearance by Customs. Also exempted are where specified goods like animals, vegetable, fruits, currency, used household items are being transported or where the goods are being transported by a non-motorised conveyance.

The information technology platform for the e-way bill system is being developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). Goods and Services Tax (GST) was rolled out from July 1, and so far states which have their own e-way bill provision are following that since a centralised platform is taking time to be developed. AMRG & Associates Partner Rajat Mohan said the new e-way bill rules are applicable to a composition supplier.

“This would put immense compliance burden on small composition supplier having a turnover less than 75 lakhs. This provision would further act as a deterrent to doing business for such composition suppliers,” he said.