Few Days before the government has come up with a significant change with regards to the e-way bill generation facility on the web portal of e-way bill. E-way bill generation is blocked for taxpayers who have not filed their returns for the previous 02 consecutive months/quarters. Therefore, if a taxpayer has not filed GSTR-3B for two or more consecutive months, then he/she cannot generate e-way bills to do dispatches and receive goods, resulting in a standstill. The e-way bills will get unblocked on the next day only when a taxpayer files GSTR-3B.
The meaning of blocking the e-way bill generation facility is disabling e-way bill generation for taxpayer, in case of no filling of two or more consecutive monthly summary returns (GSTR 3B). The meaning of Unblock the e-waybill generation facility is restoration of the facility of E-Way Bill generation for such taxpayers.
How the e-way bill get blocked?
According to the rule, when a taxpayer fails to file GSTR-3B for two or more consecutive months/quarters on the GST portal, the same will be communicated to the e-way bill system & block the GSTIN. The Goods and Services Tax Identification Number of these kind of blocked taxpayers are not able to generate e-way bills either as Consignor/Consignee which means the taxpayer will not be able to receive goods if his/her GSTIN gets blocked.
How to unblock the e-way bill?
A. Filing of GSTR-3B
When the taxpayer who are defaulting files GSTR-3B for the defaulting period then their GSTIN will get unblocked automatically by the next day.
A taxpayer can also generate the e-way bill soon after filing his/her returns through following these steps below:
- Go to the E- Way Bill portal & select the option ‘Search Update Block Status’.
- Enter Your GSTIN.
- Enter the CAPTCHA Code & then click on ‘Go’.
- Click on the ‘Update Unblock Status from GST Common Portal’; this will reflect the recent filing status.
If in any case doesn’t work, a taxpayer can reach out to the GST Help Desk & get the query resolved.
B. Unblocking by Jurisdictional Officer
A Jurisdictional Officer can also unblock GSTIN online based on the manual representation from the taxpayer (This facility is not available as of now).
C. Unblocking through online application in EWB-05
EWB-05 can be filed by providing an appropriate reason for non-filing of GSTR-3B. This kind of a request cannot be rejected without giving a substantial opportunity of being heard (As of now, this facility of online application is inactive).
What will be the Impact on taxpayer?
The huge concern for a taxpayer with this new system is that he/she cannot deliver/receive goods without an e-way bill. The authorities can levy a fine equivalent to the tax amount payable, if the goods are transported without an e-way bill. In this case such goods can even be seized or detained, and the goods may be released only on payment of the tax amount along with a penalty.
If the goods are not delivered on time, the business may come to a stalemate. Therefore, to avoid this kind of situation, the taxpayer has to be compliant and file returns on time. This will lead to entire improvement in the GST revenue, and hence, the complete system will become more compliant.