E-way bill is an electronic waybill generated on the e way bill portal managed by the GST Department before the movement of goods through motor vehicle e.g. Airways, Roadways, Railways or waterways, etc. In general words, we can say where the vehicle is running through the motor.
Any supplier or agent is transporting goods, where the value of consignment is more than Rs. 50,000 is required to generate an e-way bill.
The E-way bill comprises of two parts and they are:
- Part A comprises of the details such as recipient GSTIN, place of delivery, invoice or challan number and date, HSN code, goods value, transport document number (Goods Receipt Number in the case of goods transported using road transport) and reasons causes transportation.
- Part B comprises of transporter details (Vehicle number and transporter ID). Part B having transport detail is used to generate the e way bill.
Important Points to be noted while the transportation of Goods through Roadways:
- Vehicle number should be mentioned along with the transporter ID in part B
- Where the goods are transported by a supplier, then the supplier must provide details in Part-A required for the generation of e way bill to the transporter.
- If goods are transported in an own vehicle or a hired vehicle by a supplier then the supplier can himself fill in the information in Part-B of eway bill.
- If the goods are transported through the transporter, based on the information provided by the supplier, the transporter then generates the e-way bill by completing Part-B.
- Once the transporter provides the information about the transport or vehicle number etc, a unique e-way bill number or EBN can be obtained.
- If during the transit, the vehicle is changed by the transporter for any case then the transporter will have to update details of conveyance/vehicle in the e-way bill on the portal.
- Goods can be transported with just Part-A details only:
- If goods are transported for a distance of less than 50 km within the State from suppliers place to a transporter for delivery
- If goods are transported for less than 50 km from a supplier to a recipient
- E-way bill generated on the GST portal is valid across all States and Union Territories.
- For a distance up to 100 km, the E-way bill generated is valid for one day. For every 100 additional km, the e-way bill will be valid for an additional day.
Also Read: What is e Way Bill? E Waybill Rules & Generation Process
- If due to some unforeseen situations, the transport cannot be completed within the validity period then the transporter can generate a new e-way bill by updating transport details.
- Reason for transportation can be any like supply, sales return, Own use, job work etc
- If there are multiple vehicles involved in the goods transport, then the supplier should issue the invoice before the completion of the first consignment and for each subsequent consignment, there should be copies of corresponding delivery challans and an invoice copy. However, the original invoice will be sent with the last consignment
Important Points to be noted while the transportation of Goods through Waterways:
The transporter is not responsible to generate an e-way bill in case of transport by waterways.
- Bill of lading is a legal document required to ship the goods from one place to another.
- Bill of lading is issued by a carrier to a shipper which acts as the evidence of the contract of carriage. It is an acknowledgment that the goods are loaded onto the transporting vessel.
- Where goods are transported by vessel, the E-Way bill must be generated by the supplier or recipient and part B of the e-way bill has to be updated with the serial number and date of the bill of lading
- For the movement of goods by waterways, the e-way bill can be generated even after the commencement of the movement of goods.
- EWB is not required when goods are moved from port/ land customs station to inland container depot or container freight station for customs clearance
- The validity of the e-way bill starts when the first transport document number
- Entry is made in case of ship transportation and validity is not re-calculated for subsequent entries in Part-B.
- In case the vessel/vehicle is changed i.e. trans-shipment the transporter has the option to extend the e-way bill validity period thereby updating the vehicle details and copies of delivery challans.
Important Points to be noted while the transportation of Goods through Airways:
The transporter is not responsible to generate an e-way bill in case of transport by airways.
- If the goods are transported through airways, then the consignor or the recipient must complete Part A of Form GST EWB-01
- For transporting the goods through the airway, apart from the invoice, delivery challan, airway bill number which is the transport document number must be updated.
- Airway bill is not a document of title to the goods and hence it is non-negotiable.
- The air waybill is a receipt issued by an airline which is evidence for transporting the goods.
- If the supplier has not generated the e-way bill then the transporter has to generate for transporting the goods through airways.
- E-way bill must be updated with transport document details as soon as the submission and collection of transport document from air authority.
- E-way bill need not be generated if the goods are moved for customs clearance from an airport, air cargo complex, or land customs station to Inland Container Depot or Container Freight Station.
- But when the goods are transported from the customs to the recipient’s registered place, then the e-way bill must be generated.
- E-way bill validity starts when the first entry is made in Part-B – when the transport document number entry (Airway bill no) is first entered.
- For multiple modes of transportation, as and when the goods reach the concerned location the corresponding transport number must be updated by the supplier or the transporter.
Also Read: E-way Bill Under GST – A detailed Analysis
Important Points to be noted while the movement of Goods through Railways:
The transporter is not responsible to generate an e-way bill in case of transport by railway.
Some of the documents which are necessary to generate the E-way bill are-
- Tax Invoice
- Delivery Challan
- Transporter ID
- Transport document number
If the goods are transported by rail, details of the Railways Receipt (RR) issued by the Railways with the date of the document should be provided.
The approximate distance covered (in KM) must be mentioned in the document.
Railways issues a receipt called Railways Receipt (RR) as an acknowledgment for the goods to be transported through railways. The transporter can track the status of the transit using the FNR which is the 11 digits printed on the top-left of RR.
Usually for the goods to be transported by rail, it must be moved to the railway station using road transport.
For that, an E-way bill would have been already generated and hence only Part B needs to be updated with the RR number for rail transport.
So, an E-way bill for railways is complete and can be generated only after obtaining the RR number hence the supplier is responsible for getting this information updated on the portal.
For the goods transported through rail, Part B of the E-way bill can be updated either before or after the commencement of movement.
But the railways will not deliver the goods unless the e-way bill as required is produced at the time of delivery.
Indian Railways has been exempted from generation and carrying of an e-way bill but it is required to carry invoice or delivery challan etc.
