The E-way Bill, which will come into force from February 1, 2018, is aimed at furthering ease the movement of freight across the country. The bill approved by the Goods and Services Tax (GST) council on December 16, 2017, will shift the departmental-policing model to self-declaration model for movement of goods valued Rs 50,000 and above.

The objectives of the new bill are a single e-way bill for hassle-free movement of goods throughout the country. It will do away with the need for a separate transit pass in each state for the movement of goods, and shift departmental-policing to a self-declaration model for the movement of goods across the country.

According to central government, this bill will have multiple benefits for the inter-state movement of goods that includes:

– Taxpayers/transporters will no longer need to visit any tax office/checkpost for generating their e-way bill for movement of their goods.
– There will be no waiting time at checkposts, which will further speed up movement of goods, thereby allowing for optimum use of resources/vehicles.
– The e-way bill is aimed to be user-friendly, which will allow easy and quick generation of the e-way bill.
– There are checks and balances for smooth tax administration and process simplification for easier verification of e-way bill for tax officers.

Key features of the E-way Bill portal

– The user can generate masters of his customers, suppliers and products for easy generation of the e-way bill.
– The user can monitor e-way bills generated on his account/behalf.
– It will have multiple modes for generating e-way bill for ease of use.
– The user can also create sub-users and roles for portal for generation of e-way bill.
– The alerts can be sent to users via mail and SMS on registered ID/mobile number.
– The vehicle number can be entered either by the supplier/recipient of goods who generates e-way bill or the transporter.
– The QR code will be printed on each e-way bill for ease of seeing details.
– Consolidated e-way bill can be generated for vehicle carrying multiple consignments.

How to generate an E-way Bill
A user can generate the e-way bill using the web by logging on to the website using a computer, laptop or a cellphone; through a mobile app for android-powered cellphones; via SMS through a registered phone number; using API (application program interface) that is integrating the users IT system with e-way bill system; tool-based bulk generation of e-way bills; by third-party based system of Suvidha providers.