Lok Sabha Question No. 3498 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2021-12-20
Subject: e-Way Bill Generation
Ministry: FINANCE
Asked by: Dr. T. Sumathy (a) Thamizhachi Thangapandian, D. M. Kathir Anand

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF FINANCE DEPARTMENT OF REVENUE

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION No. 3498

TO BE ANSWERED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 20, 2021/AGRAHAYANA 29, 1943 (SAKA)

## E-WAY BILL GENERATION

## 3498. DR. T. SUMATHY (a) THAMIZHACHI THANGAPANDIAN:

## SHRI D.M. KATHIR ANAND:

Will the Minister of FINANCE be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the decision taken by the Government to block the generation of e-way Bill for nonfilers have made businesses of non-filers standstill;
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c)  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to  support  sick  and  distressed  companies  to  run  their business without any such hindrances;
- (d) whether the Government has sufficient check and monitoring system to find any misuse or malpractices being done by fraudulent people; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and if not, the stand of the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR FINANCE (SHRI PANKAJ CHAUDHARY)

(a)  to  (b)  No  Sir.  In  terms  of  rule  138E  of  the  Central  Goods  and  Service  Tax  Rules,  2017  a person is restricted from generating e-way bills in respect of any outward movement of goods in case of failure to furnish the return in FORM GSTR-3B for two consecutive tax periods. However, to facilitate the taxpayers, the facility to generate e-way bill is restored automatically on the GST portal upon filing of the said returns.

- (c) Following are some of the steps taken by Government to help sick and distressed companies to run their business without any such hindrances:
1. Restriction on generation of e-way bills in terms of rule 138E of the Central Goods and Services  Tax  Rules,  2017  for  persons,  who  failed  to  furnish  requisite  returns,  was

temporarily  suspended  during  Covid-19  pandemic,  during  the  period  from  20 th March 2020 to 15 th October 2020 and again during the period from 1st May 2021 to 18th August 2021.

2. Government had provided relief to the taxpayers by reducing / capping late fee for nonfurnishing FORM GSTR-3B for  the tax periods from July, 2017 to April, 2021, if the returns for these tax periods are furnished between 01.06.2021 to 30.11.2021.
3. The timeline for making an application of revocation of cancellation of registration was extended upto 30.09.2021, for cases where the registration had been cancelled for failure to furnish returns and the time limit for submission of such application was between the period from 01.03.2020 to 31.08.2021.

(d) to (e) Government has taken a number of policy measures to curb malpractices by fraudulent and unscrupulous persons. Government is using robust data analytics and artificial intelligence to identify and track tax evaders and timely appropriate action is taken against them to safeguard the interest of revenue. Some of the recent policy measures taken by the Government to prevent tax evasion are as under:

1. Provisions  have  been  made  for  cleaning  up  the  taxpayer  base  by  strengthening verification  of  business  entities  through  Aadhaar  authentication  for  new  registrations and physical verification of business premises, where Aadhaar is not authenticated.
2. Additional grounds for cancellation of registration have been provided in the rules.
3. Provision made for blocking the generation of e-way bills by non-compliant taxpayers.
4. To avoid misuse of a single e-way bill for multiple trips in transportation of goods, the e-way bill validity has now been restricted, to 200kms per day (from 100kms per day earlier).
5. E-invoicing in respect of supply of goods or services or both to a registered person has been made mandatory with effect from 1st October, 2020 for notified registered persons whose  aggregate  turnover  in  any  preceding  financial  year  from  2017-18  onwards exceeds Rs. 500 crores. This has been extended to cover those with aggregate turnover exceeding Rs. 100 crore with effect from 1st January 2021 and further extended to cover those with aggregate turnover exceeding Rs. 50 crores with effect from 1st April, 2021.
6. Availment of Input tax credit in respect of those invoices where details have not been furnished  by  the  suppliers  in  their  outward  supply  statement  has  been  restricted  to  5 percent  of  the  eligible  credit  in  respect  of  invoices  the  details  of  which  have  been furnished by the suppliers.
7. Provision  has  been  made  to  block  furnishing  of  outward  supply  statement  in FORM GSTR-1 by a taxpayer, if 2 or more GSTR-3B returns are not filed by the said taxpayer.
8. Beneficiary of fake invoices has also been made liable for penal provisions.

*****