Centre implements e-way bills across the country taking cue from Telangana

Hyderabad: Taking a cue from Telangana State, the Central government took the decision to implement the e-way bills across the country from Thursday. The e-way bill is mandatory for movement of goods worth Rs 50,000 and above. The Telangana government had introduced the e-way bill to beat tax evasion post-GST implementation.

In the aftermath of GST implementation, the tax collections witnessed a fall of Rs 10,000 crore in November following which the Telangana government suggested the introduction of e-way bills which proved to be successful in the State to control tax evasion by inter-State traders.

After launching the e-way bill system, the officials of Commercial Taxes department conducted raids and inspected vehicles in the State. “We inspected about 786 vehicles last month and detained 90 vehicles for transporting goods without having valid documents. We then collected Rs 1.19 crore as penalty,” said Principal Secretary for Commercial Taxes Somesh Kumar during a press conference here on Thursday.

The e-way bill can be generated using designated portals (www.ewaybill.nic.in/www.ewaybillgst.gov.in), mobile app, SMS, Application Programme Interface, tool-based bulk generation of e-way bills and third-party based system of Suvidha Providers. “The e-way bill is a single pass for hassle-free movement of goods throughout the country. They do not need separate transit pass in each State for movement of goods,” Somesh Kumar explained. He said violators would end up paying necessary amount for the e-way bill and also penalty equal to the e-way bill amount.

Traders engaged in inter-state business, have to procure e-way bill for every transaction. The e-way bill will be monitored through the digital network in the State. “With the implementation of e-way bill system across the nation, the information flow between the states will further improve and minimize the tax evasion. “The GST compliance has improved after the introduction of the system in the state,” Somesh Kumar remarked.

Meanwhile, January turned out to be the best month for GST collections in Telangana State with the officials realising tax collections to the tune of Rs 1,656.14 crore. This is highest tax collection in the State since GST came into force. The State has witnessed a growth of about Rs 400 crore in six months period against tax collection of Rs 1,258.79 crore in August last year after GST implementation.

The Principal Secretary for Commercial Taxes said Telangana was performing well and is ranked among top States in terms of GST collections. “In January, we received Rs 855.38 crore under State GST and another Rs 800.76 crore under Integrated GST. We have been witnessing a growth rate of 17-18 per cent every month in terms of GST collections and are hopeful for the further increase as tax collections have been encouraging,” he stated.

Further, Somesh Kumar said that notices were being served to traders who are not paying GST or filing GST returns. As against 2.1 lakh registered dealers, about 14,000 traders were served notices for not filing GST returns following which about 20 per cent of these traders filed their GST returns. He said about 52,000 new dealers have registered under GST in the State. He said the next meeting of GST Council would focus on simplification of tax returns filing besides other issues.