Guidelines for E-Way Bills on Goods Movement by Air
India's E-Way Bill system, integrated with GSTINs, mandates electronic bills for goods valued over Rs. 50,000, including those transported by air. Recent updates have refined compliance requirements regarding GSTIN suspensions and transport mode declarations. For air freight, specific rules dictate who completes the EWB-01 form, the necessity of updating airway bill details, and when the bill's validity commences, ensuring smooth movement of goods while curbing tax evasion.
E-Way Bill System Overview
For goods valued over Rs. 50,000, India has established an E-Way Bill system, linked to GSTINs, to combat tax evasion. This electronic bill, generated using Form GST EWB-01 from the official GST portal, is compulsory for transportation via road, air, sea, or rail.
Recent E-Way Bill System Updates
Updates for August 2021
Taxpayers were granted a temporary reprieve from e-way bill blocking between May 1, 2021, and August 18, 2021, even if they had not filed GSTR-1 or GSTR-3B for two months or more (monthly filers) or one quarter or more (QRMP taxpayers) for the March-May 2021 period. However, effective August 15, 2021, the blocking of e-way bills for non-filing of GSTR-3B was reinstated.
Updates for June 2021
On June 1, 2021, the e-way bill portal clarified that a suspended GSTIN cannot generate an e-way bill. Nevertheless, a suspended GSTIN can still be recorded as a recipient or a transporter on an existing e-way bill. Furthermore, the 'Ship' transport mode was expanded to 'Ship/Road cum Ship.' This update enables users to input a vehicle number for goods initially moved by road, followed by a bill of lading number and date for subsequent movement by ship. This change supports benefits for Over-Dimensional Cargo (ODC) transported by sea and allows for vehicle detail updates when goods transition to road transport.
Updates for May 2021
The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), via Notification 15/2021-Central Tax on May 18, 2021, announced that e-way bill generation blocking due to non-compliance is now exclusively applied to the defaulting supplier's GSTIN, exempting the recipient's or transporter's GSTIN.
Specific E-Way Bill Guidelines for Air Transportation
This section outlines crucial points concerning the movement of goods by air under the e-way bill framework.
- When goods are transported through airways, either the consignor or the recipient is responsible for completing Part A of Form GST EWB-01.
- For air transport, in addition to the invoice and delivery challan, the airway bill number, which functions as the transport document number, must be updated on the e-way bill.
- An airway bill does not represent a document of title to the goods, rendering it non-negotiable.
- This document is issued by an airline as a receipt, serving as evidence that goods have been accepted for transportation.
- If the supplier fails to generate the e-way bill, the transporter must generate it for goods being transported by air.
- The e-way bill needs to be updated with the transport document details as soon as the transport document is submitted to and collected from the air authority.
- An e-way bill is not required for goods moved for customs clearance from an airport, air cargo complex, or land customs station to an Inland Container Depot (ICD) or Container Freight Station (CFS).
- However, an e-way bill becomes mandatory when these goods are subsequently transported from customs to the recipient's registered location.
- The validity of an e-way bill begins when the initial entry is made in Part B, specifically when the transport document number (e.g., airway bill number) is first entered.
- For multi-modal transportation, the supplier or the transporter must update the e-way bill with the corresponding transport document number each time the goods reach a new location or transition to a different mode of transport.