Clearmytax.in Editorial Team
- Introduction
To provide the relief to tax payers due to COVID-19 attack, various notifications have also been issued by the Government on 03-04-2020 out of which one of the notification, is Notification No. 35/2020-CT dated 03-04-2020 issued under Section 168A of the CGST Act,2017 wherein inter-alia the validity of E-way Bills has been extended.
2. Validity of E-way bills extended
As per Notification No 35/2020-CT where an e-way bill has been generated under Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017 and its period of validity expires during the period 20-03-2020 to 15-04-2020, the validity period of such e-way bill shall be deemed to have been extended till the 30-04-2020.
It may be noted here that the provisions regarding validity period of e-way bill are contained in Rule 138(10) of the CGST Rules, 2017 wherein generally, validity for a period of one day is granted for journey upto 100 KM and one additional day is granted for every additional 100 Km or part thereof. Due to lock down and stoppage of outbound trucks the validity of the e-way bill has been extended by Notification No 35/2020-CT.
In this regard it is worth taking note of Sl. No 8 of Circular No. 136/06/2020-GST dated 03-04-2020 which is reproduced below:
What will be the status of e-way bills which have expired during the lockdown period?
In terms of notification No. 35/2020- Central Tax, dated 03.04.2020,Issued under the provisions of 168A of the CGST Act, where the validity of an e-way bill generated under rule 138 of the CGST Rules expires during the period 20th day of March, 2020 to 15th day of April, 2020, the validity period of such e-way bill has been extended till the 30th day of April, 2020.
3. Advisory for extending the validity of E-way Bill
In regard to the extension of validity of E-way bills as mandated by notification No. 35/2020- Central Tax, dated 03.04.2020 advisory has been issued on GST E – Way Bill System which is reproduced below for benefit of readers.
Cancel the EWB: Supplier of goods can cancel the EWB, within 24 hours of its generation, subject to the condition that the EWB has not already been verified by the Proper Officer. Later on, same invoice number can be used for generation of another EWB.
Extension of validity of EWB: Any person who enters details in Part B of EWB, including transporter assigned to EWB, a consignor or consignee can extend the validity of that EWB, within 08 hours before/after its validity expires. This validity can be extended more than once by the transporter by giving reasons. Thus if validity of EWB is expiring on 29.03.2020, then current transporter can extend the validity from 4.00 pm of 29.03.2020 to 8.00 am of 30.03.2020.
Change the transporter and Update it on EWB: The system enables present transporter to update the transporter details, against a particular EWB, if the transporter is getting changed for further movement of the goods. When the transporter details is updated, the next transporter can update the Part-B of EWB. The generator of the e-way bill can also update the details of new transporter
Update the Vehicle number on EWB: Transporter can use this option to update the vehicle number in Part B of the e-Way Bill, if it has not been entered, while generating e-Way Bill or vehicle is changed for moved goods because of various reasons like transit movement, vehicle breakdown etc. In case where the transporter has not been assigned in the e-way bill, the generator of the EWB can update the Part-B of EWB, with the number of another vehicle to be used fo transportation.
It is also suggested that user may generate EWB, only after all the details of transporter etc. is available with them.
E-way bills (EWB), whose expiry date lies between 20th March, 2020, and 15th April, 2020, would also be deemed to be valid till 30th April, 2020.
Frah Saeed is a law graduate specializing in the core field of indirect taxes and is the Co-founder of taxwallah.com. She has authored many publications on GST and is into full-time consultancy on GST to big corporates. She as a part of taxwallah.com heads a team comprising of Chartered Accountants and Advocates and plays a key role in our mission to disseminate GST knowledge to all.
