Eway Bill

The Centre implemented an inter-state e-way, or electronic waybill, from the start of the new financial year on April 1, 2018. The E-way bill is a document required for movement of goods valued above Rs 50,000, from one place to another under the goods and services tax (GST) regime. The system promised to enable faster goods movement through a seamless portal-driven payment system without lorries having to wait at state borders. Touted as an anti-evasion measure that would help boost tax collections by clamping down on trade that currently happens on a cash basis, it was first introduced on February 1, 2018. However, implementation was put on hold after the system glitched while generating permits. More recently, from August 15 this year, taxpayers who have not filed GST returns for two months or quarters up to June 2021 will not be able to generate e-way bills. Any taxpayer who has not filed two or more returns in GSTR-3B up to June 2021, or has not filed 2 or more statements in GST CMP-08 for the quarters up to April to June 2021, will not be able to generate e-way bills after August 15. The move, experts said, would help increase GST collections. Last year (2020), the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) had suspended the blocking of e-way bill generation for non-filers to give them compliance relief during the COVID-19 pandemic. More