Changes in e-way bill after e-Invoicing

To curb tax evasion and ensure transparency, the government is working to make all pillars of GST more interconnected. One such measure was generating e-way bills using e-invoicing details such as the Invoice Reference Number (IRN).

Read on to learn about the changes in the e-way bill, even though e-invoicing has been made mandatory for a different set of taxpayers.

What is the link between e-way bills and e-invoices?

An e-way bill has two parts:

• Part A contains invoice details such as the supplier and recipient's GSTIN, invoice number, delivery address, HSN codes, etc. 
• Part B has transporter details such as transporter ID, vehicle number, etc. 

The taxpayer generates both parts from the e-way bill portal by manually updating the invoice and transporter details.

With the implementation of e-invoicing, the process is partly automated. Details in e-way bills can be auto-populated from the e-invoicing portal, unlike the current system. Once the e-invoice is successfully validated, both parts A & B of the e-way are auto-populated, provided some optional details (transporter ID and mode of transport) in the e-invoice are updated. The motive behind these changes is to simplify creating e-way bills.

Note: The existing users of the e-way bill portal can use the same credentials to log in to the e-invoice portal instead of getting a new registration

There are facilities provided on the e-invoice portal for :

• Generation of an e-way bill using IRN: A user has to enter the IRN to generate an e-way bill on the e-invoice portal.
• Bulk generation of e-way bill: The government provides a bulk generation facility for businesses that conduct a large number of daily transactions.
• Print e-way bill: Under the e-way bill option, a user can select the print EWB option and then enter the e-way bill number. After entering the EWB number, the e-way bill will be displayed with an option to print.

How will e-way bills be generated after the e-invoicing?

There is no change in the process of generating e-way bills. However, an additional facility to generate e-way bills from IRN is provided. A user can follow the steps below:

• Upload the invoice to the invoice registration portal (IRP).
• The GSTN verifies the mandatory details, and upon successful validation, the IRP issues a unique number called the invoice reference number and a QR code on the invoice.
• This data is transferred to the e-way bill portal, where section 12 of the e-invoice schema (e-way bill details) is reported. The APIs are used to generate e-way bills from IRN.
• A user should then log in to the e-way bill portal and enter the invoice IRN for which they need to generate an e-way bill.
• Part A and B will auto-populate if the required details are updated in the e-invoice.
• Click submit. If there are no errors, the e-way bill will be generated, and one can download it as a JSON or PDF file.

Impact of amendment or cancellation of e-invoice on the e-way bill

Currently, there is no provision to address the cancellation of e-way bills through the cancellation of e-invoices. In the case of incorrect invoices, the same errors will also flow in e-way bills. Recently, the NIC clarified that the e-way bills must be cancelled first, followed by the IRN. An e-way bill cannot be generated for a cancelled IRN.

Impact on businesses due to e-way bill integration with e-invoicing

The objective behind the integration of the e-invoicing system with the e-way bill system is to make the entire process easy and automated. Along with this, the government has also linked e-way bills to the GST return filing. The e-way bill generation will be blocked for taxpayers who have two or more consecutive GST returns pending to be filed. These integrations will have the following benefits for the businesses:

• Easy compliance for the taxpayers.
• Ensuring accuracy by automating the process.

It will also benefit the government in ensuring reduced tax evasion.