In order to make it easier for taxpayers to create e-way bills on the common portal, the government has added a new facility on the GSTN which will automatically calculate and show the distance between two PIN codes (of the supplier and the receiver) at the time of creating an e-way bill under GST.
The step was taken with the aim to remove the discrepancies that are found by tax officials in e-way bills created by transporters, as the transporters may not always be aware of the exact distance, which leads to an error. This is, however, still a proposal and might be implemented soon.
The e-way bill system is managed by the GST Network and the National Informatics Centre (NIC). The GSTN has recently issued a request for proposal (RPF) inviting bids from service providers who can develop a system for the automation of the distance calculating process on the e-way bill system. Interested companies can submit their bids by July 26. There is a condition with the RPF that says that the service provider who is awarded the project will have to complete it within two-three weeks.
E-way bill is mandatory for all transportation of goods (interstate and intrastate) within India. It can be generated online through the web portal and also by sending an SMS and providing details of the particular consignment. E-way bill can be created by either the supplier or the transporter.
As of now, taxpayers are required to provide the distance manually between the starting and end point of the transport, along with PIN codes for the both. The new system will automatically calculate the distance based on the PIN codes entered by the person.
“The taxpayers or transporters, knowingly or unknowingly, may enter the distance wrongly and, hence, it results in loss of time. It also makes transporters further clarify the details to the verifying office,” said the request for proposal (RPF). The distance between the starting and end points also decides the validity of an e-way bill. The new system is expected to reduce human errors.
At present, the e-way bill threshold for inter-state shipment is Rs 50,000, while the threshold for intra-state shipments varies depending on the state.
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Abhishek Gupta, managing director, Prakash Parcel Services Ltd., says that the automation of distance calculation may make the e-way bill generation process even more complex. A transporter might use different routes for the same shipment, which could result in a different distance, as against the one automatically calculated by the system based on the provided PIN codes. This may complicate things for transporters.
