RAIPUR,CG: Government of Chhattisgarh’s Commercial Tax (GST) Department to strengthen the monitoring mechanism on tax evasion, the exemption given in the provisions of e-way bill has been abolished in the state. The government has issued a notification.

The businessmen in the state will have to generate e-way bills if they transport goods worth more than Rs 50,000. Till now it was not necessary to issue e-way bills for transportation of goods within a district in the state. There was no requirement of an e-way bill for transportation of any commodity within the state except 15 commodities.

Exemption from the provisions of e-way bill was given in the year 2018. As the provisions were new and it was necessary to give time to the traders/transporters to become thoroughly familiar with these provisions. It has now been 6 years since the provisions of the e-way bill came into force across the country and everyone is well acquainted with it.

Except for one or two states, in most of the states of the country, there is no movement of goods within the state. E-way bill is mandatory for transportation of goods. The Central Tax Department has also agreed to eliminate the exemption from e-way bills.

The exemption given in issuing e-way bills has been misused the most by those doing circular trading and issuing bogus bills, hence the maximum benefit of abolishing the exemption will be to those businessmen who deposit their taxes honestly. But due to circular trading or those issuing bogus bills, they are deprived of ITC. The benefit is not available.

The government hopes that the abolition of exemptions given in the provisions of e-way bill will have a positive impact on the tax compliance environment in the state. It will curb the tendencies of issuing bogus bills and tax evasion by issuing raw bills.