Not by fear alone

Not by fear alone

Context

The GST (goods and services tax) Council chaired by Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has decided to stick to the prescriptions of the group of ministers on the rollout of the e-way bills system

What is happening?

Starting April 1, all inter-State movement of goods above the value of Rs. 50,000 will require the generation of an e-way bill to help track their movement

• Phased rollout: As proposed by the ministerial group, the e-way bill system for tracking intra-State movement will be launched in a phased manner, with all States to be on board by June 1
• From April 1 onwards, every week a few States will start the system for internal trade

Issues

• Compliance difficulties: While such an approach may give the government an opportunity to fix the chinks in the system, this is a compliance nightmare in the making for taxpayers with operations in multiple locations
• Doubts over the capacity of the IT system to cope with e-way bills
• Return of the checkpost system:  Tax experts have voiced concern about some of these rules, including one that empowers commissioners to notify those officers who can intercept any mode of conveyance to carry out physical verification of e-way bills while goods are in transit, akin to the old physical checkpost system
• failure of the GST Council to finalise a simplified tax form for assessees