GST E-Way Bill Complete Guide

Movement is the event the bill cares about

GST on the supply may already be on the invoice. The e-way bill is about the goods being on the road, or otherwise in transit. A consignment above the notified value generally needs a bill, unless an exemption covers the goods, the mode, or the distance. The value line and the exemption list move. This page teaches the parts of the bill. The portal teaches the number you must beat.

The system lives on its own portal, linked to the GST network. A GSTIN that is active, a document that exists, and a vehicle number that is real are the three ingredients. The tax head on the invoice still follows place of supply, which is the subject of . The bill does not choose CGST or IGST for you. It repeats the document you already raised.

Part A is the document, Part B is the vehicle

Part A identifies the supplier, the recipient, the document (tax invoice, bill of supply, or delivery challan), the value, the HSN, and the reason for movement. Reasons include supply, export, job work, and sales returns, among others the form lists. Pick the reason that matches the document. A job-work movement reported as a sale will not agree with a nil-tax delivery challan.

Part B is the vehicle number, or the transporter’s identity when the transporter will fill the vehicle in later. A bill with Part A and no Part B is not ready for a vehicle you control. Transporters update Part B when they assign the truck. If you are dispatching in your own vehicle, Part B is your job before the gate opens.

Who is allowed to generate it

The supplier, the recipient, or the transporter can generate the bill, depending on who is causing the movement and on whether the parties are registered. Agree this in the contract so two people do not generate two bills for one consignment, and so nobody assumes the other side has done it. A registered recipient collecting goods from an unregistered supplier often has the bill in their own court. Write the rule on the dispatch checklist, not in a chat message.

Validity, updates, and cancellation

The portal prints a validity on the bill, linked to distance. The kilometres-per-day assumption behind that validity has been revised before, so read the validity the bill actually shows and diary it. If the vehicle will not arrive inside that window, extend before expiry, giving the reason the screen asks for. An expired bill is not cured by a phone call at the check post.

Vehicle changes are updates to Part B, not new bills, when the goods transfer from one truck to another. Cancellation is for a bill raised in error or for goods that never moved, and it has a window. After the goods have moved, cancellation is the wrong tool. Multi-vehicle movements, where one invoice leaves in several trucks, use the consolidated or multi-vehicle facility the portal provides. Do not squeeze two trucks into one vehicle number.

The invoice, the bill, and the IRN should name one supply

Value, GSTIN, invoice number, and place should match across the tax invoice, the e-way bill, and, where e-invoicing applies, the IRN. Generate the e-way bill from the IRN when the portal offers that path, as the suggests. A key-in that “corrects” the value on the bill so the truck looks under a threshold is a false document. It is also the first thing a roadside check compares.

A dispatch clerk and a truck to another state

The Indore fittings wholesaler is sending a consignment to a site in Maharashtra. The invoice is already on the draft, with integrated tax because the place of supply is outside the state. The clerk opens the e-way bill portal, enters Part A from that invoice, and will not release the gate until Part B carries the truck number the driver has shown. The validity printed on the bill covers the distance the transporter quoted, with a margin the clerk can explain.

Halfway, the transporter breaks down and shifts the goods to another truck. The clerk updates Part B before the new truck rolls. She does not cancel the bill and hope. The delivery challan, the invoice, and the bill stay in one envelope. If the value had been under the threshold, she would have recorded why no bill was required, citing the rule she checked that week, rather than relying on “we never do e-way for small lots”.

Exemptions and intra-state differences

Some goods are exempt from e-way bills. Some movements within a state follow a state decision that is stricter or looser than the general rule. A business that moves goods in several states cannot keep one folklore threshold. The portal’s master of exemptions and the state notifications are the list. When a state differs, the dispatch note for that route should say so.

Returns of goods, job work, and exhibition movements are not “no supply, so no bill”. They are movements with their own document and their own reason code. Match the reason code to the challan. A sales return that travels as a fresh taxable supply will corrupt both the e-way trail and the credit-note trail in GSTR-1.

A dispatch checklist

Release goods in this order. 1. Confirm the invoice or delivery challan is final, including tax head and GSTINs. 2. Check whether the value and the goods require an e-way bill on this route, using the rule you have dated. 3. Generate Part A from that document, preferably from the IRN if one exists. 4. Enter Part B with the actual vehicle or assign a transporter who will. 5. Read the validity and diary it. 6. Print or carry the bill as the portal requires, with the invoice. 7. If the vehicle changes or the journey overruns, update or extend before expiry, and do not cancel a bill for goods that have already moved.

Store the bill number on the sales order. When the customer says the truck was stopped, you need the number in seconds. The pairs this checklist with the invoice checklist so the dispatch desk is not inventing a process at the gate.

Confirm the threshold on the e-way bill portal

The consignment value above which a bill is required, the list of exempt goods, the validity formula, and any state variation are operational rules. They are published on the e-Way Bill System and backed by notifications on CBIC GST. A figure remembered from onboarding training is the wrong figure the day after a notification.

Detention risk sits in mismatches: value, vehicle, document type, and expiry. This article does not quote a penalty amount, because the amount is not the lesson. The lesson is that the document in the truck and the document on the portal are the same document. The GST portal remains the place you confirm the GSTIN itself is active before the bill is even attempted.