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The government, on 1 February deferred the implementation of the requirement to carry e-permits for inter- state transportation of goods following technical glitches.
GST provision requiring transporters to carry an electronic waybill or e-way bill when moving goods between states was to be implemented from 1 February to check rampant tax evasion.
After implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 1 July 2017, the requirement of carrying e-way bill was postponed pending IT network readiness.
The GST Network, the company developing the I-T backbone for the new indirect tax regime, had been conducting trial runs for the e-way bill system since 17 January 2018, during which a whopping 2.84 lakh such permits were issued on the portal.
However, with the formal launch of the e-way bill on 1 February, the same day the Finance Minister presented the 2018-19 Union Budget, the system witnessed technical glitches.
Sources said the along with inter-state e-way bill generation by all states, 17 states also started generating such permits for intra-state movement of goods, which created pressure on the portal.
Central Board of Excise and Customs (CBEC) Chairperson Vanaja Sarna held a review meeting on 1 February to discuss streamlining the system.
An e-way bill is an electronic way bill for movement of goods which can be generated on the GSTN (common portal).
The e-way bill can also be generated or cancelled through SMS. When an e-way bill is generated, a unique e-way bill number (EBN) is allocated and is available to the supplier, recipient, and the transporter.
Transporters, who want to generate e-way bill, can visit the e-way bill portal and register themselves by giving the GSTIN. Transporters, who are not registered under GST, can enrol themselves under e-way bill system by providing their PAN or Aadhaar to generate the e-way bill.
E-way bills were proposed to bring uniformity across the states for seamless inter-state movement of goods.
(With inputs from PTI)
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