In
a bid to check GST evasion and also facilitate the faster movements of
goods, the Union government's Revenue department is now planning to
integrate the e-way bill with NHAI's FASTag mechanism, DMICDC's
Logistics Data Bank (LDB). This plan comes as the government has become
alert against those trying to evade GST in the name of e-way bill.
As per media reports, the government may introduce an
OTP-based system along with the e-way bill. This will ensure that a
trader cannot evade GST on the goods being transported for delivery.
According to a report by Hindi daily Hindustan, the government will
bring OTP and FASTag mechanism. The registration of traders first caught
evading tax will be suspended. On second offence, the trader may lose
the registration.
Earlier, news agency PTI had reported officials as saying that the
current proposal will help improve operational efficiencies across the
country's logistic landscape. At present, the lack of harmonisation
under the 'track and trace' mechanism in terms of sharing information
among different agencies is affecting the ease of doing business in the
country. Besides, it is also impacting the logistic costs of the
companies.
An official told the news agency that the proposal will also help in
preventing goods and services tax (GST) evasion by unscrupulous traders
who take advantage of the loopholes in the supply chain.
Billed as an anti-evasion measure, e-way bill system was rolled out
on April 1, 2018, for moving goods worth over Rs 50,000 from one state
to another. The same for intra or within the state movement was rolled
out in a phased manner from April 15.
As per the rules, transporters of goods worth over Rs 50,000 are
required to present e-way bill during transit to a GST inspector, if
asked."The integration of the e-way bill system with FASTag and LDB is
expected to help boost tax collections by clamping down on trade that
currently happens on cash basis," the official was quoted as saying.
What is FASTag?
FASTag system has been implemented by the National Highways Authority
of India (NHAI) for collection of toll electronically on national
highways. FASTag also offers non-stop movement of vehicles through toll
plazas.
How the current plan, which is being worked out by the revenue department, help?
- Integrating e-way bill with FASTag will help revenue authorities
track the movement of vehicles and ensure that they are travelling to
the same destination as the transporter or the trader had specified
while generating the e-way bill.
The integration will also help the suppliers locate the goods through
the e-way bill system. Transporters, too, would be able to track their
vehicles through SMS alerts that would be generated at each toll plaza.
The government also plans to integrate the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial
Corridor's (DMIC's) container tracking services, also called LDB
programme, with the e-way bill.
GST was rolled out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union Government on July 1, 2017.