With the integration of the e-way bill (EWB) system with FasTag and RFID, GST authorities now have real-time data of commercial vehicle movement on roads, which will aid in live vigilance of such vehicles and check GST evasion.

Tax officers’ e-way bill mobile application now has additional features that will provide them with real-time tracking details on e-way bills and vehicles, allowing them to catch tax evaders who are abusing the e-way bill system.

E-way bills have been made necessary for inter-state transportation of products valued over Rs 50,000 under the goods and services tax (GST) regime since April 2018. Gold, on the other hand, is exempt.

Businesses and transporters must produce the e-way bill before a GST inspector if required under the electronic way (e-way) bill system.

On a daily basis, the e-way bill system receives around 25 lakh goods vehicle movements from around 800 tolls.
The integration of e-way bills, RFID, and FasTag will allow tax officials to conduct real-time vigilance on e-way bill compliance by enterprises, as well as assistance in the prevention of income leakage by identifying incidents of EWB recycling and non-generation in real time.

Tax collectors can now view reports on vehicles that have travelled through the designated tolls in the last few minutes without paying the tolls with e-way bills. It is also possible to see cars carrying vital commodities unique to the state that have passed the set toll.

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This report also shows any suspect vehicles and vehicles of EWBs created by suspect taxpayer GSTINs that have passed the designated toll in near real time.

These reports can be used by officers to conduct vigilance and improve the effectiveness of the activity. These reports can also be used by officers in the audit and enforcement arm to uncover illicit transactions such as bill trading and EWB recycling.

“Online real-time tracking of vehicles and products will go a long way in tightening the lid on tax evaders,” AMRG Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said. This smartphone application for tax officers would allow them to track down all of the parties involved in smuggling products.’ CBIC has previously expressed its goal to further digitise the process of enforcing the e-way bill requirements under the GST law, and in keeping with this idea, the e-way bill system has now been coupled with the FasTag and RFID systems, and MIS (Management Information Systems) reports from the same would be made available on the officer’s mobile app, according to EY India Tax Partner Abhishek Jain.

61.68 crore e-way invoices were generated in the fiscal year 2020-21, which ended in March 2021, with 2.27 crore being picked up for verification.

In the fiscal year 2019-20, which concluded in March 2020, 62.88 crore e-way invoices were generated, with 3.01 crore being picked up by tax authorities for verification.

Gujarat, Maharashtra, Haryana, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka are the top five states that generated the most e-way bills for inter-state movement of commodities.

Textiles, electrical machinery, machinery and mechanical appliances, iron and steel, and autos are the top five industries that have generated the most e-way bills in the last three years.

The government has integrated RFID/FasTag with the e-way bill system as of January 1, 2021, and a transporter is required to carry an RFID tag in his vehicle, with details of the e-way bill generated for products being transported by the vehicle being uploaded into the RFID.

• The details fed into the device are uploaded to the government portal as the car passes the RFID Tag reader on the highway.
• Revenue officials then use the information to verify the supplies made by a GST registered person.
• To promote tax compliance, the government has begun prohibiting the generation of EWB bills for GST registered taxpayers who have not filed a GSTR-3B return for the previous two months.

In addition, the government has made it impossible to generate numerous EWBs on a single invoice. If an EWB is generated once with an invoice number or document number, no one else can generate another EWB with the same invoice number.

Furthermore, the e-way billing system now allows for distance calculation based on PIN numbers. Based on PIN numbers, the system will automatically compute the distance between the source and destination.