E-Way bill system is for GST registered person / enrolled transporter for generating the way bill (a document to be carried by the person in charge of conveyance) electronically on commencement of movement of goods exceeding the value of Rs. 50,000 in relation to supply or for reasons other than supply or due to inward supply from an unregistered person.

FAQ > on E – Way Bill System

What is an e-way bill?

E-way bill is a document required by a person in charge of the conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding fifty thousand rupees as mandated by the Government in terms of Section 68 of the Goods and Services Tax Act read with Rule 138 of the rules framed thereunder. It is generated from the GST Common Portal for E-Way bill system by the registered persons or transporters who cause movement of goods before commencement of such movement.

Why is the e-way bill required?

Section 68 of the Act mandates that the Government may require the person in charge of a conveyance carrying any consignment of goods of value exceeding such amount as may be specified to carry with him such documents and such devices as may be prescribed. Rule 138 of CGST Rules, 2017 prescribes e-way bill as the document to be carried for the consignment of goods in certain prescribed cases. Hence e-way bill generated from the common portal is required.

Who all can generate the e-way bill?

The consignor or consignee, as a registered person or a transporter of the goods can generate the e-way bill. The unregistered transporter can enroll on the common portal and generate the e-way bill for movement of goods for his/her clients. Any citizen, other than the above, can also generate the e-way bill for movement of goods for his/her own use.

What are pre-requisites to generate the e-way bill?

The pre-requisite for generation of eway bill is that the person who generates eway bill should be a registered person on GST portal and he should also register in the eway bill portal. If the transporter is not a registered person under GST it is mandatory for him/her to get enrolled on e-waybill portal (https://ewaybillgst.gov.in) before generation of the e-way bill. The documents such as tax invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan and Transporter’s Id, who is transporting the goods with transporter document number or the vehicle number in which the goods are transported, must be available with the person who is generating the e-way bill.

If there is a mistake or wrong entry in the e-way bill, what has to be done?

If there is a mistake, incorrect or wrong entry after submission of the e-way bill, then it cannot be edited or corrected. Only option available is cancellation of eway bill and generate a new one with correct details.

Whether e-way bill is required for all the goods that are being transported?

The E-way bill is required to transport all goods except those exempted under the Notifications or rule.Movement of handicraft goods or goods for job-work purposes under specified circumstances requires an e-way bill even if the value of consignment is less than fifty thousand rupees. Kindly refer to the e-way bill rule for other exemptions.

 

Is there any validity period for e-way bill?

Yes. Validity of the e-way bill depends upon the distance the goods have to be transported. In case of regular vehicle or transportation modes, for every 200 KMs or part of its movement, one day validity has been provided. In case of Over Dimensional Cargo vehicles, for every 20 KMs or part of its movement, one day validity is provided. This validity expires at the midnight of last day.

While calculating time validity for e-way bill, how is a day determined?

Following illustration will explain how a day is to be calculated –(i) Suppose an e-way bill is generated at 00:04 hrs. on 14th March. Then first day would end on 12:00 midnight of 15 -16 March. Second day will end on 12:00 midnight of 16 -17 March and so on.

(ii) Suppose an e-way bill is generated at 23:58 hrs. on 14th March. Then first day would end on 12:00 midnight of 15 -16 March. Second day will end on 12:00 midnight of 16 -17 March and so on.

 

Which types of transactions need the e-way bill?

For transportation of goods in relation to all types of transactions such as outward supply whether within the State or interstate, inward supply whether from within the State or from interstate including from an unregistered persons or for reasons other than supply also e-way bill is mandatory. Please refer relevant notifications/rules for details.

What is the Part-A Slip?

Part-A Slip is a temporary number generated after entering all the details in PART-A of e-way bill. This can be shared or used by transporter or you yourself can later on enter the PART-B and generate the E-way Bill. This will be useful, when you have prepared invoice relating to your business transaction, but don’t have the transportation details. Thus you can enter invoice details in Part A of eway bill and keep it ready for entering details of mode of transportation in Part B of eway bill.

 

When I enter the details in e-way bill form, the system is not generating e-way bill, but showing Part-A Slip?

If you don’t enter the vehicle number for transportation by road or transport document number for other cases,the system will show you only the PART-A slip. It indicates that you have not completed the e-way bill generation process. Only when you enter the Part-B details, e-way bill will be generated.

 

How to generate e-way bill from Part-A Slip?

Part-A Slip is an entry made by user to temporarily store the document details on the e-way bill system. Once the goods are ready for movement from the business premises and transportation details are known, the user can enter the Part-B details and generate the e-way bill for movement of goods. Hence, entering of Part-B details convert the Part-A slip into an e-way bill.

 

What are the documents that need to be carried along with the goods being transported?

The person in charge of a conveyance shall carry the invoice or bill of supply or delivery challan or bill of entry as the case may be and a copy of the e-way bill oe its number generated from the common portal in electronic form. Please refer relevant rules for details.

 

How to generate the e-way bill for different registered place of business?

The registered person can generate the e-way bill from his account from any registered place of business. However, he/she needs to enter the address accordingly in the e-way bill.

How does taxpayer enter Part-A details and generate e-way bill, when he/she is transporting goods himself/herself?

Sometimes, taxpayer wants to move the goods himself. E-way bill Portal expects the user to enter transporter ID or vehicle number. So if he/she wants to move the goods himself/herself, he can enter his/her GSTIN in the transporter Id field and generate Part-A Slip. This indicates to the system that he/she is a transporter and he/she can enter details in Part-B later when transportation details are available.

What has to be entered in GSTIN column, if consignor or consignee is not having GSTIN?

If the consignor or consignee is unregistered taxpayer and not having GSTIN, then user has to enter ‘URP’ [Unregistered Person] in corresponding GSTIN column.

 

When does the validity of the e-way bill start?

The validity of the e-way bill starts when first entry is made in Part-B i.e. vehicle entry is made first time in case of road transportation or first transport document number entry in case of rail/air/ship transportation, whichever is the first entry. It may be noted that validity is not re-calculated for subsequent entries in Part-B.

 

How is the validity of the e-way bill calculated?

The validity period of the EWB is calculated based on the ‘approx. distance’ entered while generating the EWB. For every 200 KM one day is a validity period for EWB as per rule and for part of 200 KM one more day is added. For ex. If approx. distance is 310 KM then validity period is 1+1 days. For movement of Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC), the validity is one day for every 20 KM(instead of 200 KM)and for every 20KM or part thereof one more day is added. Please refer relevant rules for details.

 

What should I do if state is not auto-populated on entering Pincode ?

If state name is not auto-populated, then select the correct state and continue e-way bill generation.

 

Are e-way bills required to be issued for imports and exports as well?

Since imports and exports have been considered as inter-state supplies under the GST act, the e-way bill is required to be issued for these transactions as well. For imports, the e-way bill will be generated by the importer. The exporter is liable to generate the e-way bill for export supplies.

 

What has to be the shipping address in case of export supply type?

For Export supply type, the ‘Bill To’ Party will be URP or GSTIN of SEZ Unit with state as ‘Other Country’ and shipping address and PIN code will be of the location (airport/shipping yard/border check post) from where the consignment is moving out from the country.

 

What has to be the Dispatching address in case of Import supply type?

For Import supply, the ‘Bill From’ Party will be URP or GSTIN of SEZ Unit with state as ‘Other Country’ and dispatching address and PIN code will be of the location (airport/shipping yard/border check post) from where the consignment has entered the country.

 

How the distance has to be calculated between Source and destination?

e-Way bill system has enhanced with auto calculation of distance between the source and destination based on the PIN Codes entered by user in . The e-waybill system will calculate and display the estimated motor able distance between the supplier and recipient as per the PIN codes. User is also allowed to enter the actual distance as per the movement of goods. However, it will be limited to 10% more than the auto calculated distance displayed. Ex. if e-waybill portal suggests distance of 500 kms between place A to B then user can enter distance of maximum 550 kms (500 Kms + 10% of 500 Kms).

How the distance has to be calculated, if the consignments are imported from or exported to other country?

The approximate distance for movement of consignment from the source to destination has to be considered based on the distance within the country. That is, in case of exports, the distance is taken as the consignor’s place to the place from where the consignment is leaving the country, after customs clearance and in case of imports, the distance is taken as the place where the consignment reached the country and was cleared by the custome to the destination place.

 

Whether e-way bill is required, if the goods are being purchased and moved by the consumer to his destination himself?

Yes. As per the e-way bill rules, e-way bill is required to be carried along with the goods at the time of transportation, if the value is more than Rs. 50,000/-. Under this circumstance, the consumer can get the e-way bill generated from the taxpayer or supplier, based on the bill or invoice issued by him. The consumer can also enroll as citizen and generate the e-way bill himself. For threshold limit of value of goods intrastate movement for generation of E Way Bill, please refer to the relevant statute/provisions passed by the respective States/Union Territories.

 

Can the e-way bill be modified or edited?

The e-way bill once generated cannot be edited or modified. Only Part-B can be updated. However, if e-way bill is generated with wrong information, it can be cancelled and generated afresh. The cancellation is required to be done within twenty-four hours from the time of generation.

Before submission, the system is not allowing to edit the details of e-way bill. What is the reason?

The system allows editing the details of e-way bill entries before submission. However, if the products/commodities details are entered, it will not allow editing some fields as the tax rates will change. To enable this, please delete the products and edit the required fields and enter the products again.

 

The system shows the ‘Invalid Format’ when we are trying to enter the vehicle number. What is the reason?

The system expects you to enter the vehicle number details in proper format. Please see the format details in the help with the vehicle entry field.

What are the formats of vehicle number entry?

To enable proper entry of the vehicle number, the following formats have been provided for the vehicle numbers

Format	RC Numbers	Example Entry
ABC1234	DEF 234	DEF0234
AB123456	UP 1 345	UP010345
AB12A1234	AP 5 P 23	AP05P0023
AB12AB1234	TN 10 DE 45	TN10DE0045
AB12ABC1234	KE 3 PEW 1265	KE03PEW1265
DFXXXXXXXXXXXXX	For Defence Vehicle, start with DF	DF02K123

 

How to enter the vehicle number DL1A123 as there is no format available for this in e-way bill system?

If the RC book has vehicle number like DL1A123, then you enter it as DL01A0123. The vehicle entered in the e-way bill system is only for information and GST officer will accept this variation.

 

What has to be done, if the validity of the e-way bill expires?

If validity of the e-way bill expires, the goods are not supposed to be moved. However, under circumstance of ‘exceptional nature and trans-shipment’, the transporter may extend the validity period within 8 hours after the expiry period after updating reason for the extension and the details in PART-B of FORM GST EWB-01.

 

Can I extend the validity of the e-way bill?

Yes, one can extend the validity of the e-way bill, if the consignment cannot reach the destination within the validity period due to exceptional circumstances like natural calamity, law and order issues, trans-shipment delay, accident of conveyance, etc. The transporter need to explain reason in details while extending the validity period of an e-way bill.

 

How to extend the validity period of e-way bill?

There is an option under e-way bill to extend the validity period. This option is available for extension of e-way bill before 8 hours and after 8 hours of expiry of the validity period. Here, transporter will enter the e-way bill number and enter the reason for the requesting the extension, from place (current place), approximate distance to travel and Part-B details. It may be noted that he cannot change the details of Part-A. He will get the extended validity based on the remaining distance to travel.

 

Who can extend the validity of the e-way bill?

The transporter, who is carrying the consignment as per the e-way bill system at the time of expiry of validity period, can extend the validity period.

 

How to handle “Bill to” – “Ship to” invoice in e-way bill system?

Sometimes, the tax payer raises the bill to somebody and sends the consignment to somebody else as per the business requirements. There is a provision in the e-way bill system to handle this situation. In the “Transaction Type”select the Bill to – Ship to option in Transaction Type dropdown. Then the system will enable the “Ship to” field for entering different state pincode for the Consignment.

 

How to handle “Bill from” – “Dispatch from” invoice in e-way bill system?

Sometimes, the supplier prepares the bill from his business premises to consignee, but moves the consignment from some others’ premises to the consignee as per the business requirements. This is known as ‘Billing From’ and ‘Dispatching From’. E-way bill system has provision for this in the “Transaction Type”. Select the “Bill From – Dispatch From” in Transaction Type dropdown, then system will enable the Dispatch From field for entering different Dispatch state pincode for the Consignment.

 

How the transporter is identified or assigned the e-way bill by the taxpayer for transportation?

While generating e-way bill the taxpayer has a provision to enter the transporter id in the transportation details section. If he enters 15 digits transporter id provided by his transporter, the e-way bill will be assigned to that transporter. Subsequently, the transporter can log in and update further transportation details in Part B of eway bill.

 

How to generate e-way bill, if the goods of one invoice are being moved in multiple vehicles simultaneously?

Where the goods are being transported in a semi knocked down or completely knocked down condition, the EWB shall be generated for each of such vehicles based on the delivery challans issued for that portion of the consignment as per CGST Rule 55 of CGST rule 55 which provides as under:

(a) Supplier shall issue the complete invoice before dispatch of the first consignment;

(b) Supplier shall issue a delivery challan for each of the subsequent consignments, and generate EWB by using SKD/CKD/lots;

(c) Each consignment shall be accompanied by copies of the corresponding delivery challan along with a duly certified copy of the invoice; and

(d) Original copy of the invoice shall be sent along with the last consignment

Please note that multiple EWBs are required to be generated in this situation. That is, the EWB has to be generated for each consignment based on the delivery challan details along with the corresponding vehicle number.