The upcoming integration of FASTag with the e-way bill is currently drawing mixed reactions from tax professionals as well as assessees from the city. The goal of clubbing both these governmental mandates is to curb the incidence of incorrect or false billing by tracking the movement of goods in real-time. According to some individuals, this integration is likely to result in unnecessary harassment of genuine taxpayers. It is being suggested that authorities ensure that business people aren’t penalized for the faults of transporters who often use long and alternative means to save on toll.
In addition to the basic integration of e-way bills with FASTag, an added feature has been added to the e-way bill mobile app which is to be used by GST officers. Now, the staff or GST departments or mobile wings can receive the real-time tracking details of e-way bills as well as vehicles. They can also choose the consignments that need checking. Hence, the goal of the integration of FASTag with e-way bills is to do away with potentially fraudulent activity when it comes to the transportation of goods.
What about Litigation?
However, according to tax professionals, this step can possibly result in litigation for the genuine buyer, particularly if the transporter avoids any toll plaza with the aim of reducing their tax liability. Another case for litigation can arise if the transporter or supplier themself forgets to issue an e-way bill as a result of an error on their part. To add to this, the integration will not curb situations in which the substituted material is supplied with an invoice as well as an e-way bill. In fact, it is likely that these cases will not be traced backward and business people will suffer for the faults of transporters or suppliers.
How this Helps GST Officers
However, the integration will not turn into a complete bust. The consequences mentioned above are only theoretical. The original intention for this clubbing was to enable GST officers to get a live viewing of e-way bill compliance as well as aid in the preventive leakage of revenue. Now, GST officers have the advantage of being able to detect cases in which someone is illegally issuing the same e-way bill repeatedly, or not issuing them when the consignment has crossed a particular toll plaza. The goal of this is to reduce the number of fake billing cases where no goods are moving but invoices are being issued for the same.
Currently, there exist a lot of rules in the e-way bill generation process to prevent e-way bill errors on behalf of the transporters or suppliers. Any individual involved in the movement of goods needed to be equipped with a variety of documents such as challan, invoice, road permits, an e-way bill, or more, all of which needed to be produced at the State’s respective check-post for the purpose of inspection. E-way bill rules also improve the cross-border movement of goods, making for much more seamless business activity for most businesses across the country.
With the new integration of e-way bills with FASTag, the cost of these errors is magnified as business people could be held accountable for errors that are not their own. Hence, taxpayers are urging the GST offices to ensure that, with this new change, business people will not be held in punitive regard when errors can be traced back to mistakes made in the issuance and filing process of the e-way bills.
The Takeaway
The e-way bill system tracks the movement of goods and services across the country for the sake of levying GST on them. E-way bills will now be integrated with FASTag, making the process much more seamless and free of fraudulent activity when it comes to the movement of goods. Taxpayers fear potential cases of litigation, however, in cases where business people are held responsible for the e-way bill errors made by their transporters or suppliers. For this reason, everybody should be well versed in the e-way bill error code list to avoid such errors from occurring. FINSERV MARKETS understands the financial as well as logistical needs of business people. You can learn more about the potential errors when filing e-way bills on FINSERV MARKETS. You can also apply for a collateral-free business loan up to Rs. 30 Lakhs, requiring minimal documentation, only on FINSERV MARKETS.
Author – Ankita Hanspal