Eway Bill under GST in Kerala

After the introduction of GST, Kerala was one of the States that adopted an intermediary system to track the movement of goods prior to implementation of Eway bill system.

Latest Updates

29th August 2021
From 1st May 2021 to 18th August 2021, the taxpayers will not face blocking of e-way bills for non-filing of GSTR-1 or GSTR-3B (two months or more for monthly filer and one quarter or more for QRMP taxpayers) for March 2021 to May 2021.

4th August 2021
Blocking of e-way bills due to non-filing of GSTR-3B resumes from 15th August 2021.

1st June 2021
1. The e-way bill portal, in its release notes, has clarified that a suspended GSTIN cannot generate an e-way bill. However, a suspended GSTIN as a recipient or as a transporter can get a generated e-way bill.
2. the mode of transport ‘Ship’ has now been updated to ‘Ship/Road cum Ship’ so that the user can enter a vehicle number where goods are initially moved by road and a bill of lading number and date for movement by ship. This will help in availing the ODC benefits for movement using ships and facilitate the updating of vehicle details as and when moved on road.

18th May 2021
The CBIC in Notification 15/2021-Central Tax has notified that the blocking of GSTINs for e-Way Bill generation is now considered only for the defaulting supplier’s GSTIN and not for the defaulting recipient or the transporter’s GSTIN.

‘e-Consignment’ in Kerala: A Declaration in VAT era

During the VAT regime, the goods moved across the State were monitored through a self-declaration model of policing. That means a Registered person moving the goods out of the State Border of Kerala had to submit the online declaration known as ‘e-consignment’ in Form 8F starting 01-12-2011. Before goods could reach the Kerala State Border Check Posts, this declaration had to be submitted online and a token number was issued for it. There was a specified list of commodities for which e-Consignments were mandatory. The ‘e-consignment’ consisted of two parts.

First Part covered details like Vehicle number, expected check post and the expected date of arrival at such check post.

Second Part contained the transaction details of the consignment of goods. There was also an option to add any number of Invoices/bills/challans to each of such e-consignment. In case the consignment reached a check post other than the specified expected check post or if the vehicle was changed during the course of the transport, the driver intimated the same to the check post authorities. In such situations, the check post authorities updated the token details and allowed the consignment to move.

Verification of the e-consignment token happened at the designated Check posts by an official. If no irregularities were noticed, the carrier was allowed to pass through.  

Under GST regime, What is the current system prevailing to track movement of goods

Under the GST regime there existed an intermediary system of tracking movement. This system was prevalent till such time the Kerala commercial tax department notified the State Eway bill system with effect from 11th January 2018. Under that system, Goods carriers transporting goods were required to carry online downloaded forms GST KER 1 for single consignments, form GST KER 2 for parcel carriers and GST KER 3 for transporting goods for own use. These forms were to be produced before the GST officer for inspection whenever requested during the transportation.

GST KER 1 is a declaration form to be submitted by suppliers for movement of goods. It consists of the Invoice details such as vehicle number, supplier, consignee, type of goods, quantity, tax rate and Goods and Service Tax Identification Number (GSTIN). It is submitted online GST KER 2 was a separate declaration form to be used for movement of parcels into the State of Kerala. GST KER 3 was a declaration form to be generated and carried along in the conveyance by any person who was transporting goods for his own consumption and not for re-sale. Here the vehicle details and mobile number for one-time verification was to be submitted.  

When should people of Kerala generate Eway bills on the NIC portal

Kerala commercial tax department has notified the applicability of Eway bill system within its State with effect from 11th January 2018 although the home page of NIC portal since 28th March 2018 clarifies that eway bill generation for movement of goods within State of Kerala is not available.

So, any person intending to move goods of a value exceeding Rs. 50,000 within the State has to register on the common eway bill portal to start generating the Eway bills. For moving goods into or out of Kerala will mandatorily require Eway bills from 1st April 2018.

Who should generate Eway bills

Eway bills are required to be carried by person-in-charge of the conveyance in which the consignment of goods is being transported only where the value of such consignment exceeds Rs. 50,000. Following to be kept in mind while arriving at Value of consignment:-

It includes the IGST or CGST & SGST as the case may be. It excludes the value of exempt supply of goods being carried in the conveyance, where the bill is issued for both taxable and exempt supply. Eway bills have to be generated by a Seller prior to movement of goods and has to be carried in either a physical copy or in electronic mode by the Person-in-charge of the consignment of goods for delivering it to the buyer’s place.

Other cases where Eway bills are required to be generated are, by:
The Recipient/Buyer/Consignee as the case may be, has to generate Eway bill if they buy goods from an Unregistered Seller.
The Transporters.In case of transport by road in a vehicle with multiple orders, where the aggregate value of consignment in a conveyance exceeds the limit of Rs.50,000 although individual order/Invoice is less than Rs 50,000. In this case, first Eway bills (EWB-01) are to be generated against individual Invoices and a consolidated Eway bill (EWB-02) is finally generated for the consignment.

How to register on the NIC portal for eway bills

Every person who must use Eway bills has to one-time register on the common Eway bill portal. For GST taxpayers/registered transporters: Users have to go to the Eway bill portal-> Click Registration on the homepage tab->Click ‘e-Way Registration’ and complete the registration formalities. At the end of this, User will be allotted a unique user ID for logging into the portal. For transporters unregistered under GST : Logistics sector has a fragmented market. So, the number of small and medium-sized businesses in this sector is high. These businesses operate using 4-5 trucks on an average. Their average turnover also would be less than the threshold limit for GST registration in most of the cases. Such transporters have to enrol themselves on the eway bill portal following the section 35(2) of CGST Act. In cases where goods are received from an Unregistered Supplier: In such cases, Recipients have to generate Eway bill. Go to the Eway bill portal-> Click Registration on the homepage tab->Click ‘e-Way Registration’ and complete the registration formalities. At the end of this, User will be allotted a unique user ID for logging into the portal. Know the steps for Registration on the Eway bill portal.

Different ways to generate EWay bill in Kerala

Eway bills can be generated online on the common portal of Eway bills. Learn the step-by-step process of generating Eway bills online. Also, the Eway bills can be generated and managed via SMS. Eway bill users of Karnataka have to send the SMS code to a registered mobile number issued by the Kerala commercial tax department. Know how to use this SMS facility to manage eway bills. Android-enabled Application is also developed for Eway bills. API integration with your ERP is also in the offering as it helps businessmen seamlessly integrate their billing software to the Government portal to comply Eway bill rules.  

For further reading and understanding of Eway bills, check out:

• Whether Eway bills are required in Uttar Pradesh
• Eway bills generation in Karnataka
• How to generate consolidated E-way bills
• How to generate E-way bills in bulk
• How to modify, reject or cancel Eway bills
• Whether Eway bills are required in Uttar Pradesh
• Eway bills generation in Karnataka
• How to generate consolidated E-way bills
• How to generate E-way bills in bulk
• How to modify, reject or cancel Eway bills