12/05/2022
HC explains Limit of Rs. 50000 for E-way Bill- Single & Multiple Bill
HC holds E-way Bill mandatory if aggregate value of consigned goods through multiple Bills exceed Rs.50,000/- although each individual Bill is below Rs. 50,000/-
The Kerala High Court in a case has ruled that E-Way Bill is mandatory for transporting goods where value of each individual invoice is lower than Rs.50,000 but exceeds Rs. 50,000 when aggregated. This judgement is of vital importance as most of the dealers/suppliers/ manufacturers commit this fatal mistake inadvertently and are subjected to heavy penalty & unwanted detainment of their valuable goods.
It is common knowledge that Dealers/Suppliers often issue multiple invoices of amounts lesser than Rs. 50,000/- for total goods of more than Rs. 50000/- for various reasons. Sometimes, the internet connectivity is poor or the person who is well acquainted with E-way Bill generation is not available at the requisite time or the Bills are meant to be destroyed once the goods reach the Consignee for evading GST or the same Bills have to be used again for sending the goods multiple times to evade GST or mostly because of ignorance of the GST law & it’s provisions in this regard.
The brief facts of the case is that the goods were detained by the GST department as the transporter carried two individual invoices under Rs.50,000/- but the aggregate of both the Bills exceeded Rs 50000/- . Since the transporter did not have E way Bill, the goods were detained and subjected to Tax & Penalty. It is pertinent that the above goods were also transported in the same vehicle together.
The appellant pleaded that Rule 138 provides only for generation of e-way bill with respect to movement of goods of consignment value exceeding Rs.50,000/-. Since both the invoices were lesser than Rs. 50,000/-, the appellant claims that there was no requirement of generation of E-way Bill as mandated by the Rule 138 of GST Act.
The court observe that here “The consignor issued multiple invoices to the consignee to avoid generate e-way bill and evade tax. The consignor issued multiple invoices to the consignee on the same date. Hence it is a deliberate attempt to escape from generating e-way bill. It is urged that the above said grounds noted by the respondent, detention order is without any legal or material basis,
This case is an eyeopener for those involved in such practice deliberately or inadvertently. It is imperative that E-way Bills be generated in case the aggregate value of the consigned goods exceed Rs. 50,000/-.
