eWay Bill Disabled - Late Filing of GST Return

In order to streamline the GST return filing process under GST, rule 138E has been inserted which prohibits the registered person from generating the GST eWay bill in case of non-filing of GST returns for a consecutive period of two months in case of monthly return filers or 2 quarters in case of quarterly return filers. The effect of the said GST Rule 138E is being taken up in the present article. Vide notification no. 74/2018 – Central Tax dated 31^st December 2018, the Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs introduced the Central Goods and Service Tax (Fourteenth Amendment) Rules, 2018. Vide the said Central Goods and Service Tax (Fourteenth Amendment) Rules, 2018, rule 138E has been inserted into the Central Goods and Service Tax Rules, 2017. The said newly inserted rule 138E restricts furnishing of information in Part A of FORM GST in case of default.

Rule 138E of GST

Rule 138E of GST restricts the generation of eWay bill by not allowing the defaulters to furnish information in PART A of FORM GST EWB-01. The salient features of the same are being tabulated hereunder –

Category of Person	Restriction	Condition for Restriction
All persons (including consignor, consignee, transporter, an e-commerce operator or a courier agency)	Furnishing of information in PART A of FORM GST EWB-01	The restriction would be imposed if the supplier/recipient has defaulted as under: In case of composition scheme dealer, paying tax u/s 10 – Non-filing of the return for two consecutive periods; and In any other case – Non-filing of the return for a consecutive period of two months.

However, the rule provides that the Commissioner may allow generation of the eWay bill (i.e. furnishing of information in PART-A of FORM GST EWB-01) if the defaulter provides the sufficient cause for non-furnishing of returns. A copy of Central Goods and Service Tax (Fourteenth Amendment) Rules, 2018 is reproduced below for ready reference:

Effective Date of Rule 138E

As seen above, rule 138E has been inserted vide notification no. 74/2018 – Central Tax dated 31^st December 2018, however, as per the said notification, the effective date of rule 138E would be notified later. Vide notification no. 22/2019 – Central Tax dated 22^rd April 2019, the Central Government has notified 21^st June 2019 as the date from which the Central Goods and Service Tax (Fourteenth Amendment) Rules, 2018 shall come into force. Similarly, rule 138E restricting generation of E-way bill for non-filing of GST return would also be effective from 21^st June 2019.

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SHUSHMA A
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Updated on: December 17th, 2019