GST Council approves mandatory e-way Bill compliance from February 1

GST council said that the e-way Bill system will have to be made ready by January 16 for trial runs.

New Delhi: The all-powerful GST Council headed by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday approved mandatory inter-state e-way Bill compliance from February 1 while the intra-state e-way Bill compliance will kick in from June 1.

The Finance Ministry has tweeted:

The 24th GST Concil Meeting held today through video conferencing under the Chairmanship of FM Shri @arunjaitley also decided that in any case,the uniform system of e-way Bill for inter-State as well as intra-State movement will be implemented across the country by 1st June,2018. — Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) December 16, 2017

The e-way Bill system will have to be made ready by January 16 for trial runs.

Some states might roll out both inter-state and intra-state e-Way Bill from February 1 on a voluntary basis, the council said. However, implementation of e-Way Bill for intra-state movement will done in a staggered manner from February.

GST Council also decided: While the system for both inter-State and intra-State e-way Bill generation will be ready by 16th January, 2018, the States may choose their own timings for implementation of e-way Bill for intra-State movement of goods on any date before 1st June,2018. — Ministry of Finance (@FinMinIndia) December 16, 2017

An e-way bill is required for movement of goods worth more than Rs 50,000. When goods are transported for less than 10 km within the state, the supplier or the transporter need not furnish details on the portal.

The meeting was held via video conferencing and deliberate on cementing gaps in the system as well as curbing evasion.

This is the 24th meeting of the GST Council. The last meeting was held in Guwahati in November where taxes on 178 items were slashed.

In an earlier meeting, the Council had decided that e-way bill - an electronic document generated on the GST Network portal - would be introduced in a staggered manner from January 1 and subsequently nation-wide from April 1.

The GST revenue for October stood at Rs 83,346 crore, the lowest compared to the first three months since the implementation of GST from July 1. It was significantly down from the September figure of Rs 95,131 crore.