In a bid to force non-compliant businesses to file returns regularly, the finance ministry has barred e-way bill generation while transporting consignment if the supplier or recipient of the cargo has not furnished returns for two consecutive tax periods under Goods and Services Tax (GST).
The e-way bill is required to be generated from a common portal by a business for movement of consignment worth more than Rs50,000. For this, the supplier/recipient furnishes part A of the form with details of GST identification number, the value of goods and invoice number among others. Further, part B of the e-way bill form is furnished by the transporter with details of vehicle used.
This effectively means that businesses who fail to file returns cannot transport goods at all.The tax department has not been able to improve compliance in a significant manner since GST was launched in July 2017. Nearly 30% of eligible taxpayers continue to fail to file the summary return GSTR-3B by the deadline, which is set on the 20th of every month.