It is exactly eleven months ago that the Modi Government implemented Goods and services tax all over the country. GST being a unified taxation system which aimed at simplification of the indirect taxation processes, did not act as expected.The traders around are yet not connected to this system of taxation completely, is what is widely observed.
This in fact is a failure attracted by the Government. Lack of information, education and training being at the roots.
Recently six states Mizoram, Odisha, Punjab, Chhattisgarh, Goa and Jammu and Kashmir have made mandatory the E- way bill procedures for intra state (within the state) movement of goods. However Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have followed it from today. So far 27 states and union territories have adopted the E- way bill procedures for intra state movement of goods generating total of 6.43 crores of E- way bills on the common portal.
E way bill and the work structure:
Initiating the steps towards simplification in the GST, the Government had launched the electronic way or E- way bill system from 1 April for moving goods worth Rs. 50000 and more from one state to another. The same followed up for the intra state movement of goods from 15 April. Under GST all the check post across the country are abolished aiming at easy and quick movement of goods.
– E way bill is a document hence, to be carried by the person in charge of conveyance, generated electronically from the common portal.
– The person in charge shall carry the invoice along with the E-way bill.
– Further the details of the E -way bill generated shall be made available to the registered recipient on the common portal, who shall communicate his acceptance or rejection of the consignment covered by the e way bill.
– The information furnished while generating e way bill include GST in number of the recipient, place of delivery, invoice number, date of invoice, value of goods, HSN code of the goods transported.
Why E- way bill..?
The system is introduced with the main objectives of preventing tax evasion, hassel free movement of goods across the country, tracking the movement of goods with the help of E-way bill number and moreover easier verification processes by the officials. The traders after the E-away bill implementation, need not visit tax offices to collect and submit the way bill forms as used to be done in the earlier tax systems. This indirectly speeds up the process of verification and allow the vehicles pass faster. The recipient on the other hand can expect faster delivery of the goods or else connect to the common portal at ease.
However, it is also worth noting that this system is user friendly having lots of simplicity in it’s operation. This is even environment friendly saving lots of paper someway. Apart, the system supports the transporters to prepare the consolidated E-way bill instead of giving the multiple E-way bills for movement of multiple consignments like parcel in one vehicle.
Eventually, instead of increasing the stress levels and cursing the government anyway, the basic agenda lies in accepting and understanding the e way bill procedures. This would aid in easy adoption of the system and simplified business practices.
(This is an opinion piece and the views expressed are the author’s own. The POST neither endorses nor is responsible for them.)