Eway Bill under GST in Andhra Pradesh

Eway or electronic way bill system under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime is brought in to enable faster and seamless movement of goods through a portal-driven payment system, without vehicles having to wait at state borders. This would also help the government to keep a tight leash on revenue leakages.

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. 

Way bill in Andhra Pradesh: Pre e-Waybill era

Andhra Pradesh has emerged as a state in India with well-developed social, physical and industrial infrastructure. The state has also attracted a lot of FDI’s during the past decade. With an outstanding infrastructure of ports and airports, the state has an edge for business w.r.t. exports and manufacturing activities. As until now, the state has 20 operational SEZ’s which again shows the thrust of Andhra Pradesh’s Government on business development in the state. The government has tried to keep the taxes as beneficial for its trade and businesses as possible.

During the VAT era, for tracking the movement of goods so there’s no leakage of revenue in the state, Andhra Pradesh had notified transit pass system.   For any movement of taxable goods in, from or to the state, a permit in Form 600/602 had to be generated and carried along with the vehicle during transfer of goods from one place to another. This was generated from visiting the commercial tax department’s website of Andhra Pradesh  Back in 2005, the state government has notified the goods on whose transit, the advance waybills will be required to be generated. With the coming in of e-Waybill, all the older requirements have been terminated as of now.

For inward movement of goods, a Form X or 600 was required to be generated electronically in triplicate. For the outbound goods, Form 602 was prescribed and required to be generated in triplicate as well.

Eway bill for sending goods outside the state

Through an order passed by the Central Government on 7th March, 2018, the cross border or say inter-state movement of goods have been brought within the framework of National Eway bill system from 1st April, 2018. Thus, for any movement to outside the state from Andhra Pradesh, the dealers are required to generate Eway bill on the NIC Portal

Eway bill for sending goods within the state

As on today, the requirement for generating waybills had been put on hold by the state government by an order issued after rolling in of GST after July, 2017. Now by an order issued on 11th April 2018, for the movement of goods within the state from 15th April 2018 onwards, e-Waybill will be required to generate where the value of goods being transferred exceed Rs, 50,000. Andhra Pradesh along with four other states has agreed for the same and the transit pass requirements have been made mandatory for dealers in Andhra Pradesh.

Different ways to generate Eway bill

There are two methods of generating the Eway bill:

• Through the online portal
• Through SMS (Short Message Service)

For the generation of Eway bills through the online portal, the dealers have to visit the NIC Portal. The dealers are required to register themselves on the portal using their GSTIN and then they can start generating Eway bills for movement of goods. The details like consignee name and address, item description, a value of goods, quantity, etc. are to be provided for generating the Eway bill. The form to be filled is pretty much self-explanatory and has been made user-friendly for the dealers.

SMS mode of generating Eway bill in Andhra Pradesh

The Central Government has also brought in a channel of generating e-Waybills though SMS. For using this service, please follow the steps as shown here.

Validity of Eway bill

An Eway bill is valid for the below mentioned periods which are broadly based on the distance traveled by the goods in transit. The validity of theEway bill is calculated from the date and time when the Eway bill was generated.

The validity of Eway bill can be extended also. The generator of such e-Waybill has to either four hours before expiry or within four hours after its expiry can extend Eway bill validity.

Rejection of Eway bill

A dealer has an option to reject the Eway bill generated by any other party (recipient or supplier) using the dealer’s GSTIN. For example, if the consignment didn’t reach the destination at all as it was canceled on the way, the recipient may reject the Eway bill. The dealer requires the following to reject an Eway bill:

• Date of generation of Eway bill
• Eway bill number you want to reject

Steps to reject an Eway bill:

• Login to the Eway bill portal and click on ‘Reject’.
• Select the date on which Eway bill was generated and click on ‘Submit’
• The list of all Eway bills that were generated on the selected date appears.
• Tick mark the Eway bills you want to reject.
• A message appears on the screen once the Eway bill is successfully rejected.

Note: The acceptance or rejection of the Eway bill can be communicated. If the communication of acceptance or rejection is not sent within 72 hours, the Eway bill is automatically deemed to be accepted.

Cancellation of Eway bill after its generation

If the goods were never transported or are not transported as per the details furnished in the Eway bill, then the generator of such e-way bills can cancel the Eway bill by following the steps below. Steps to cancel an Eway bill are as follows:

Step-1: Click on ‘Eway bill’ / ‘Consolidated EWB’ and Select ‘Cancel’ from the drop down

Step-2: Enter the 12 -digit E-Waybill number for the EWB you want to cancel and click on ‘Go’ The EWB selected appears. Give a suitable reason for cancellation. For example, the goods are not being moved, incorrect entry in the Eway bill entered.

The following shall be kept in mind for cancellation of Eway bill:

• Eway bills can be canceled by the generator of such Eway bills only.
• The time-limit to cancel is within 24 hours of generating the Eway bill.
• Once canceled, it is illegal to use such Eway bill.
• If the Eway bill verified by any empowered officer it cannot be canceled.

Common issues faced by dealers of Andhra Pradesh

In the state of Andhra Pradesh, a common issue which the retail traders feel is the rate of 5% on textiles and 12% on readymade garments is quite high. This has led to steep fall in the businesses as earlier there was no tax on yarn and cotton textiles. The VAT on readymade garments also was between 5 to 7.5 percent. Due to this, the smaller dealers and traders have incurred huge losses.

The problem is primarily being faced by the small-scale dealers. Also, a large group of exporters faces problems with the refunds related to GST on exports. They feel that where the proper flow of refunds is lacking, the working capital for the dealers are blocked and it creates hardships for them in conducting business smoothly.