GST E way Bill & E Invoicing

How are e-invoices and e-way bills linked?

GST has advanced in India with the advent of e-invoicing and e-way bill systems. Just as the e-invoicing mandate has evolved over the years, the e-way bill system has also gone through several changes and upgrades.

For companies who have crossed the e-invoicing turnover limit, a unique Invoice Registration number (IRN) is issued for each invoice as a result of the taxpayers’ obligation to register their invoices on the official e-invoicing portal authorized by the government, known as the Invoice Registration Portal (IRP), in accordance with the e-invoicing mandate.

As a step ahead, the Government has streamlined the generation of E-way Bill with E-Invoicing. Additionally, IRP can be used to create E-way bills in addition to IRN for documents that meet the requirements. The IRP system will thus return either an IRN or an E-way Bill Number, or both, depending on the data that was sent.

You can know more about the Invoice Reference Number and a simple and efficient way to generate it using IRIS IRP.

How are e-invoices and e-way bills linked?

The e-way bill is essentially divided into Parts A and B. Part A consists of the basic details of the associated e-invoice. It includes the following details.

Invoice Number
Recipient Address
Recipient GSTN
Supplier GSTN
HSN Code

Part B consists of the important details of transportation as follows.

Mode of Transport
Transporter ID
Vehicle Number (If transport mode is by road)
Distance

Generating E-way Bill With IRN

There are two ways in which e-way bills can be generated by leveraging the invoice reference number of an associated e-invoice under GST. It can either be generated simultaneously with the e-invoice or after generating the e-invoice.

Generating the E-Invoice and E-Way Bill Simultaneously
E-Invoice generated first, E-way bill later

A) Generating the E-Invoice and E-Way Bill

Similar to the current e-way bill system, only Part A will be generated if you send only the transporter ID and the distance in addition to the invoice details. Here, the E-way Bill number and the date of generation will be sent by the Invoice Registration Portal to the taxpayer with a signed B2B QR Code and an Invoice Reference Number.

Invoice Details + Transportation Details

If, in addition to the invoice details, you send the e-way bill details like distance, transport mode, transporter ID, vehicle details if the mode of transport is by road, to the IRP, then it goes to the taxpayer with the associated IRN and a Signed QR Code. Part B here is also generated.

B) Generating E-Way Bill after the E-Invoice

Here, you will have to generate the e-way bill by entering the e-invoice details. Similar to the first method, if you enter simply the transporter ID and the details of your invoice, the IRP will only auto-populate Part A. However, if you also input the transportation details, the IRP will auto-populate both Part A and Part B.

There are primarily three facilities provided by the Invoice Registration Portal when it comes to e-way bill generation:

Generating an E-Way Bill With IRN
Bulk Generation of E-Way Bills
Print E-Way Bill

Is there a criteria for EWB generation?

There are a few conditions to be met before generating an e-way bill through the Invoice Registration Portal.

The HSN of at least one item in the E-way bill details must belong to the goods detailed in the e-invoice.
E-way bill related details are validated.
If the E-Way Bill is generated later, then the IRN must be active.
Vehicle number should match the E-Way bill format.
Vehicle number should exist in the Vahan database.

Canceling an E-Way Bill

E-way bill cancellation, like IRN cancellation, must be done within 24 hours of its generation. If a taxpayer wishes to cancel an IRN, then the associated e-way must be canceled first.

If the 24-hour window is missed, then the IRN must be deleted in the GSTN system, since the IRP has then sent the data to the GSTN system, or by issuing a credit note. It is, however, recommended to issue a credit note. The reason is that the IRN will still be active in the IRP if cancelled only in the STN system.

E-Way Bill Cancellation	IRN Cancellation
Within 24 hours of E-way Bill generation Document on which E-way Bill is cancelled, E-way Bill can be re-generated	E–way Bill to be cancelled before proceeding for IRN cancellation. No Active E-way Bill should exist. Within 24 hours of IRN generation. Once cancelled, IRN cannot be generated for the same document If 24 hours are passed and still supplier wants to cancel invoice then he will have to do it on GSTN system by deleting or he can issue a credit note

Buy Now

Download

What should I do if I don’t have ‘Transporter Id’ but want to enter and generate ‘Part-A slip’?: This is not possible as per rule 138(3). If the tax payer is not having the details of ‘Transporter Id’ but he still wants to enter and generate the ‘Part-A Slip’, then he has to compulsorily enter the ‘Transporter Id’ to generate the ‘Part-A Slip’ to enable the transporter to enter Part-B.
What should I do if I want to generate ‘PART-A Slip’ and want to transport the goods myself later?: If the user wants to generate the ‘Part-A slip’ and wants to transport the goods himself later, then he has to enter his GSTIN as the ‘Transporter Id’ and generate ‘Part-A slip’. Once he gets the conveyance details he can update the Part-B by using ‘Update Part-B/Vehicle’ sub-option provided under E-Way Bill menu and start the movement of goods.
When to extend the validity of E Way Bill?: The Generator or Transporter can extend the validity of the e-Way Bill, if the consignment is not being reached the destination within the validity period due to following circumstances:

Delay due to vehicle breakdown.
Natural calamity
Law & order issue on the transit
Accident of conveyance
Trans-shipment delay etc.

The Generator or Transporter can extend the validity of e-Way Bill only between 8 hours before and 8 hours after the expiry time of the existing E Way Bill validity.
For example, if the validity of the E- Way Bill is till midnight of 2nd Oct 2018, then the user can extend the same after 4 PM on 2nd Oct 2018 or before 8 AM on 3rd Oct 2018
What should I do if PIN code is shown as invalid?: If the PIN code entered by the user is shown as invalid by the system, the user needs to recheck the PIN code again. Still if it is valid PIN Code as per user, then the generator can select the state manually from the dropdown list and proceed further to next stage.
What happens if the total invoice value does not match with the sum of assessable value, tax value and other values?: Ideally, the total invoice value should match with the sum of assessable value, tax value and other values. The system matches it even if there is a variation of Rs. 2.00 as this variation is allowed to take care rounding of decimal values. If the total invoice value is greater than sum of total of taxable value, applicable taxes and charges, the system will alert the user through pop-up message and user can still proceed further for generating the e-Way Bill. But if the total invoice value is less than the sum total of taxable value, applicable taxes and charges, system will not allow the user to proceed further without correcting the invoice value.