An e-way bill is a type of bill generated when interstate or intrastate transportation of goods is involved. The e-way bill is accessible through the government’s e-way bill portal easily. This bill works as a legal transportation permit for goods transported between different states or between districts of states.
The essential and primary requirement of this bill arrives when the cost of goods to be transported exceeds ₹50,000. This is applicable for a person registered under GST. Every person applying for an e-way bill receives a unique e-way bill number.
All the e-way bill systems are primarily designed and controlled by National Informatics Centre, Government of India. This helps in secured and more easy tracking of goods transported across the country.
The e-way bill under the goods and services tax has two components. The first part is called Part-A, and the second one Is called Part-B. The first part focuses on extracting out the details of the goods to be transported.
The components under Part-A include the GSTIN number, the same consignment of goods value, Invoice or the challan number, pin code, or area code of the place where the shipment is to get delivered. The actual reason for the transportation of the goods, transport document number and the HSN number according to the turnover of the individual.
The second part Part-B includes the information and data of the vehicle in which the consignment will be transported. All further guidelines are provided in the e-way bill portal related to the GST.
When is an E-way Bill required?
E-way Bill system
E-way bill is necessary where the value of a consignment to be transported exceeds Rs 50,000. Any registered person may generate and carry the bill even if it exceeds the Rs 50,000 limit. That depends upon the registered person.
In case an unregistered person supplies the goods to a registered person, the registered person must take care of all the procedures and guidelines. The transporters also need to carry this bill if no other person involved in the transportation process has generated the invoice.
If the transportation process is carried out by the supplier or the receiver themselves, the e-way bill must be generated by them. In the case of transporting through a transporter, the e-way bill must be generated by the transporter.
When should an E-way Bill be generated?
E-way Bill system
An E-way bill is generated when the consignment value exceeds the limit of Rs 50,000. This might take place due to several modes of transportation. The methods are an inward movement of goods from an unregistered person, about a supply or reasons other than supply.
But in few cases, the consignment limit, even if it does not exceed the Rs 50,000 mark, needs a bill. This includes interstate transportation of the consignment of goods by principal to the job worker and interstate transportation of consignment or goods related to handicraft items by a dealer exempted from Goods and services tax.
There are several cases in which an e-way bill is not required for the transportation of goods:
Goods or consignments are transported under the customs department.
Goods are transported from one customs department station to another with a customs seal.
Empty cargo containers are transported through any mode Of transportation.
Transportation including non-motor vehicles.
Consignment is transported through railways under any government supervision.
Traverse cargo to and from Nepal and Bhutan.
Transportation of goods under the Ministry of defence.
Goods are exempted from the e-way bill system and requirements.
Documents required for generation of E-way Bills
The transporter ID or the vehicle number through which transportation is being carried out is one requirement. Invoice or challan or supply bills, transport documents including the transporter ID are other necessary documents. These are required documents to generate an e-way bill.
Step 1. Log in to the e-way bill digital portal on its website or application.
Step 2. Click on the ‘generate new’ under ‘the e-way bill’ button.
Step 3. Fill in the details asked.
Step 4. Transaction type- Select inward If recipient and outward if supplier.
Step 5. Select subtype applicable to your transportation.
Step 6. Enter document type, document number, and document date.
Step 7. Enter to/from details and then move on to the item details and fill it.
Step 8. Finally, move to transporter details.
Step 9. Print the e-way bill anytime.
E-way Bill Validity
For over-dimensional cargo, one day is the validity period, for instance, less than 20km. For the next additional kilometers, one more day is extended. For cargo other than the over-dimensional ones, one day is for less than 100 km and extended one day for another 100 km or the remaining part.
It can also be extended. The generator can extend the validity period of such e-way bills within 8 hours after expiry.
The e-way bill system has helped a lot to improve the transportation system in case of goods. Seamless, paperless, and tensionless digital documentation makes this a modern way to transport and track goods across the country.
In upcoming times, surely the loopholes in this system will get fulfilled. A step towards digital India and an innovative approach towards how goods travel in today’s date. This technology will save a lot of time and will bring more success to the logistics industry.
FAQs
What is e way bill?
E-way bill stands for Electronic Way bill required for movement of goods.
Who should Generate an E-way Bill?
E-way bill must be generated when there is a movement of goods of more than Rs 50,000 in value to or from a registered person.
How is E-way bill generated?
E-way bill is generated from E-way bill portal by filling up the details required.
Billing and invoicing are the ultimate stages of closing a transaction in a deal. An invoice is a commercial document that itemizes and records a transaction between a buyer and a seller. Now creating an invoice can be very time-consuming, as one has to write down one’s information and the client’s information, set the currency, indicate the date of the invoice, etc. One needs to make sure that the client’s bills are accurate and generated quickly which again takes a lot of time. So, the process is too lengthy and now to reduce the work, comes the use of the best tool. If you hate invoicing or want to automate the accounting of your business. Then, below we’ve listed the best GST software for billing & accounting to choose from.
Zoho Invoice is an invoicing and online billing software. It is also one of the bestfree billing software in India. This helps businesses to send automated payment reminders to customers. With Zoho you can create invoices, perform faster payments, and manage projects. Look at the Zoho Product Review.
Templates In Zoho Invoice
Features of Zoho Invoice:
Customize Your Invoice Template – This provides you with fully customizable templates. You can extend the brand from the website to invoices for a professional image.
Invoice In Multiple Currencies – Zoho Invoice supports multi-currency. You can bill the customers in the right currency.
Communicate In The Customer’s Language – It supports 10+ languages. You can Invoice customers in their language for effective communication.
Schedule Invoices – Zoho helps you in scheduling invoices and automatically sends it to customers on your chosen date.
Customize Invoice Field – You can add more information on invoices with 30+ custom fields.
Automate with workflows – You can set workflows and get things done automatically. An invoice is created for an amount of more than $1000. Set up a workflow to receive an email.
ProfitBooks is a popular GST accounting software in India. It is a simple and spontaneous accounting software built for growing businesses. This platform has managed to get several businesses.
Manage Your Money With ProfitBooks – Best GST Billing Software
Using ProfitBooks, you will get to create Invoices, track inventory, manage taxes, and many more. This tool has matured over time and now has a lot of GST-compliant features.
QuickBooks is a cloud-based accounting solution. This helps to manage expenses, invoices, projects, and more for small to large businesses. It provides a centralized dashboard that enables us to gain insights.
QuickBooks offers administrations to assign tasks to sales representatives. You can grand access to specific customers and collaborate on projects with the team.
Dashboard Of QuickBooks – Best GST Billing Software
Users get to capture digital copies of receipts and sort transactions in the tax category. It helps the managers create custom estimates, maintain recurring payments. And export the generated reports to several formats.
Features of QuickBooks:
Sales overview – This tool has a sales overview page where you will see your income over time. Also, you can quickly access sales shortcuts.
Estimates – You can create estimates and convert them into invoices that are now easy. You can send estimates using email in a form of documents. However, there is no separate estimate tab. This is something that makes it difficult to view past estimates.
Client Portal – It does offer a client portal.This is only for invoices, not for estimates. Users can view, print, save, pay, or ask queries.
Bank Reconciliation – You can reconcile bank accounts in QuickBooks and manage a reconciliation report.
Accounts Payable – With the plans, you can enter and sort bills easily. Users can create recurring bills. There is a vendor dashboard that shows the total purchase orders, open, overdue, and recently paid bills.
Checks – You can order and print checks directly from the tool itself.
QuickBook Pricing Plans
Plans
Pricing
Simple Start
$25/Month
Essential
$40/Month
Plus
$70/Month
Advanced
$150/Month
FreshBooks
FreshBooks is the biggest name for the invoicing and accounting scene. This was created by Mike McDerment. This tool is supporting over 10 million customers. The company is constantly updating its platform by adding more features. Such as adding user permissions, increasing the number of integrations, and improving navigational issues.
FreshBooks Invoicing – Best GST Billing Software
FreshBooks has stepped out and joined the leagues with other accounting competitors like QuickBooks Online and Wave. FreshBooks is easy to use and has the best customer support. It has a few programs that allow built-in proposals. This software can be good for small businesses.
Tally ERP 9 is an accounting tool that offers tools to businesses in managing their finances. It can manage many companies in one record. And offer a multi-billing format depending on the service it has. It also supervises the cash flow of business by monitoring payables and receivables.
Popular Topics For Tally ERP 9 – Best GST Billing Software
This provides details of bill payments and records purchases. It also offers you to create customized invoices. The dashboard displays business ratios, while users can access financial reports. It also provides features such as inventory management and HR module.
Vyapar is a GST billing software. This offers modules for accounting and inventory management for small businesses. This helps you generate GST compliant bills and sharing with customers. It saves bills in the system for future accounting needs. Vyapar helps the GST format bill and invoice to choose from.
It also contains a tally accounting software format. Vyapar keeps track of stock status in real-time. You can also track inventory quantity and calculate its value with information.
Features of Vyapar:
Quotation – you can generate quotation estimates using this software. You will get to fill your requirements and generate a quote for items. This helps you to convert the estimated need to bills. It makes your business more professional.
Order tracking – you can generate and track the sales or purchase orders. This software allows multiple GST sales and purchase order formats. Your business becomes adaptable to the changing vendors.
Accounting – you can take full control of the expenditures of the business. You can build a balance sheet to check the efficiency of your business. This software offers you to trace every bill of your business. It records every sale and purchase. It produces tax statements for your transactions.
Proof of delivery – This software produces delivery challans and affixes with consignments. It uses delivery challan to generate bills and allows to share among customers and vendors. It supervises acknowledgment documents and checks reviews of customers.
Vyapar Pricing Plans –
Plans
Pricing
Mobile Basic
Rs.599/- For 15 Months
Mobile Saver
Rs.1399/- For 3 years
Desktop Basic
Rs.1999/-For 15 Months
Desktop Basic Plus
Rs.2499/- For 21 Months
Desktop Saver
Rs.3999/- For 42 Months
Desktop Lifetime
Rs.9999/- For 30 Years
Invoicely
Invoicely is a cloud-based invoicing solution for small businesses and freelancers. This tool provides a free plan that offers unlimited invoices. There are already 100,000 customers using this software.
Invoicely Dashboard – Best GST Billing Software
It brings all the basic functions expected of billing and invoicing. Such as invoice creation, reminders, managing of business accounts, and payment schedules. This software provides easy navigation and operation.
Features of Invoicely –
Most of the free plans usually have limitations to send and receive invoices. But not in Invoicely. Its paid plans are priced are reasonable for more features.
This app is easy to use. There is no need to set up. Start by creating an account, add information, assign a URL, and select payment gateway.
The software qualitiesapart from streamlining and billing are to get you paidon time. It gives easy navigation and robust features that translate productivity and efficiency.
UI buttons for invoices, dashboards, reports, bills, and settings. This gives you convenient control and view of tasks.
Sleek bill is one of the best GST billing software in India. It is helpful billing software that created invoices. This tool is specially designed for the Indian market. With the sleek interface, you can create and design invoices. It also offers advanced billing features with GST integrations.
This tool can do GST calculations and backup the data also. The sleek bill will save you time and adapt to the user’s needs. Generate detailed reports and print invoices. This is compatible with small, medium, and large businesses.
Features of Sleek Bill:
Sleek bill helps you with the design of a document that is not provided by any other software
The customer’s trust can be boosted with the easy to read invoice templates
You can create unlimited purchase orders that can be converted to bills when needed
You can also make GST compliant invoices, bill of supply, quote, and much more
It provides you smart filters that provide you detailed reports, payment history, and more
You can also store your data safely in your PC. It provides backup and restores features also
Sleek Bill Pricing Plan –
Plans
Pricing
Free Plan
Free
Offline Premium
INR 1,999
Offline Premium + Inventory
INR 3,199
Online Premium
INR 1,999
ClearTax
ClearTax is one of the largest tax and financial services software platforms for individuals in India. The software is a big help for tax experts, SMEs, and enterprises with income tax returns. Furthermore, it is also effective while filing GST, e-Invoicing, billing, and more.
ClearTax serves as connected finances for the Indian taxpayers. The mission of the company is to simplify finances and save money and time for tens of thousands of Indian businesses, businessmen, and other people.
Features of ClearTax:
Powered by cloud-computing
Multiple accounts can be integrated easily
Invoices can be checked automatically
Delivers accurate rates
Offers the option to create a master database
Helps in easily adding and editing GSTIN
Offers the option to add the company’s logo
ClearTax Pricing Plans –
ClearTax offers two separate kinds of pricing plans for individuals and self-employed or professionals. Here they are:
Individuals:
Plans
Pricing
Salary/House Rent Income
Rs 799
Salary/House Rent Income (Premium)
Rs 1499
Capital Gains Income
Rs 2999
Foreign Income
Rs 4999
Self-Employed and Professionals:
Plans
Pricing
Professionals and Freelancers
Rs 2999
Security Traders
Rs 6999
Business
Rs 6999
Gen GST
Gen GST software is a complete GST solution, designed and developed both for desktop and online purposes by SAG Infotech Private Limited. The software helps in filling unlimited returns for unlimited clients.
Gen GST can be downloaded by anyone for free or they might also choose to use the GST SaaS service and work on the cloud-powered platform, which is accessible anytime anywhere and provides assistance for GST billing, e-filing & E-way bill purposes to small businesses, and other individuals in India without any hassles.
Features of Gen GST:
Offers integrated e-invoices.
Available for desktop as well as online users.
Updated with the all-new QRMP scheme feature.
Generates invoices for regular and RCM (Reverse Charge Mechanism) dealers.
Needs just a single click for the users to pay taxes online.
Allows unlimited client e-filing with DSC/EVC (GSTR 1, 3B, 4, 9, 9A, 9c, and more).
Helps in easy generation of GST E-Way bill.
Gen GST Pricing Plans
Product
Installation Pricing
Updation Pricing Annually
Gen GST Desktop Software for E-filing
Rs 5000
Rs 2000
Gen GST Combo (Desktop) for E-Filing, E-Invoicing & E-waybill
Busy Accounting software is one of the most effective and powerful solutions available in the market for businesses to manage their accounting, inventory, GST billing, e-invoicing, e-way billing requirements, and more!
Features of Busy:
Simple and convenient to use.
Flexible and designed to suit diverse business needs.
Scalable as per the requirements of the business.
Offers in-built GSP features like auto e-way bill, GSTR-2A, E-Invoicing, and more.
Offers advanced inventory management.
Brings in invoicing solutions that are completely configurable.
Also offers an interactive mobile app.
Busy Accounting Pricing Plan:
Plans
Pricing
Basic to Standard
Rs 7434
Basic
Rs 10620
Standard
Rs 15930
Busy Infotech Multiuser
Rs 33453
MARG GST Software
Marg GST software offers a complete GST solution from billing to return filing. This software helps the users create full invoices in GST format and manage all their finances even if they are devoid of deep accounting knowledge. Therefore, with the Marg GST software, both the individuals and the company can reduce the burden of taxes and compliance and continue focusing on running the business.
Features of MARG GST Software:
Faster GST invoices and billing experience
Effective accounting experience
Offers faster e-invoicing
Generates e-way bills without hassles
Helps in internal audit
Helps in online banking
Simplifies digital payments
MARG GST Software Pricing Plans:
India and Southeast Asia –
Plans
Pricing
Basic Edition
Rs 8,100
Silver Edition
Rs 12,600
Gold Edition
Rs 25,200
Other Countries –
Plans
Pricing
Basic Edition
$350
Silver Edition
$600
Gold Edition
$1150
Go GST
Go GST is billed as an easy, online, and free lifetime GST software for businesses and individuals. Specially designed for the Indian markets, Go GST is updated with the latest GST changes of the country.
Features of Go GST:
Compliant with the new GST rules and regulations
Offers a single-click way to create unlimited products and manage all stocks
Offers easy interface to create GST-compliant quotations and proforma invoice
Brings in a range of templates and professional designs to create credit and debit notes
Recording and tracking of payments made easy with Go GST
Offers easy ways to create staff accounts with limited permission
Go GST Pricing Plans:
Go GST has two pricing plans –
Lifetime Free Plan – This is free for a lifetime, as true as it sounds.
Premium Plan – The Premium Plan of Go GST involves a yearly subscription of Rs 1499, inclusive of GST.
Easy GST
One of the best billing, accounting, and tax management software in India, Easy GST is GST-ready free accounting software that can help users manage their accounting, inventory, payroll, billing needs, and more. Easy GST software is known for the powerful and easy-to-use accounting features to suit the needs of the users and get complete control of their financials.
Features of Easy GST –
Helps to create invoices without worries
Offers effective ways to file GST returns easily
Supervises the workforce for Human Resource Management (HRM) solutions
Supports international traditional with accurate forex conversions
Helps in managing sales-related work empowering Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
Enables the users to handle projects separately
Easy GST Pricing Plans –
Plans
Pricing
Starter
Rs 944
Intermediate
Rs 1180
Professional
Rs 1416
1 to 25 Companies
Rs 5900
GSTrobo
GSTrobo emerges as one of the best solutions for technological challenges making GST e-invoice creation, return filing, comparison reports, reconciliation, ledger balances, tax payments a breeze. The web platform of GSTrobo helps the taxpayers to start with GST-compliant e-filing even with little or no knowledge with the help of a quick, secure, and user-friendly platform that it offers.
GSTrobo Features:
Makes 100% GST-compliant invoicing possible
Offers smart reporting with interactive dashboard and MIS tools
Offers cloud support
Enables easy e-way billing operations with ERP integration and the help of a powerful mobile app
Brings in easy operations with the help of customized data exchange formats via a mapping tool.
Offers advanced ITC Reconciliation Tool
GSTrobo Pricing Plans –
GSTrobo offers their invoicing software that is available for multiple users at Rs 3,000 per year.
If you are looking for easy and powerful GST billing software, then Billing Software India is your answer. It is one of the most powerful software that facilitates easy GST billing options for small businesses, wholesalers, retailers, service providers, and other individuals.
Billing Software India Features:
Offers effective offline desktop application
Makes printing multi-sized invoices easier
Comes with a barcode scanner for quick billing
Makes invoice generation easy with a single click
Helps create GST-compliant tax invoices
Helps managing client accounts a breeze
Billing Software India Pricing Plans –
Free Edition – Billing Software India comes in a free edition that you can use but that will not comes with an android app nor with some of the advanced features that you might require from time to time.
Business Edition – The business edition of the software is a premium edition that comes for Rs 8,000 and which is available at Rs 4,000 on a limited period offer.
How to find the Best GST Billing Software?
As every business is different. Everyone has different expectations from the accounting software. But you should check the given points:
If the software includes required payroll needs
Does the system track available stock, orders, work in progress, and other tasks
Check whether there is an option to manage more than one bank account
There should also be a system to keep records of various departments under one unit
The system should provide you an online platform for different activities such as verifying records and online payments
If the system manages the record of what customers buy, how much and the tax charged, etc.
FAQs on GST Billing Software
Which software is best for GST billing?
Compiled list of 8 Best GST Billing Software –
Zoho Invoice
ProfitBooks
QuickBooks
FreshBooks
Tally ERP 9
Vyapar
Invoicely
Sleek Bill
Is there any free GST billing software?
Free GST Billing Software are –
Invoicely
Sleek Bill
Zoho Invoice (Free Trial)
Vyapar Mobile App (Basic Version)
Tally ERP 9 (Free Trial) etc.,
Conclusion
Having a business was never an easy task in India. But because of GST, you can start a new business very easily. You don’t need to apply taxes on total value but on just added value. This process gets easier with GST billing software. The businesses with GST registered need to provide GST compliant invoices to the clients.
There is various software available to get all functionalities. You can find several GST billing software free versions online. It all depends on your budget to decide which software will suit your business.
If a seller wants to sell across India they need to register for GST. The GST is meant to replace a slew of indirect taxes with a federated tax. In the GST Regime, businesses whose turnover exceeds Rs. 40 lakhs* (Rs 10 lakhs for NE and hill states) is required to register as a normal taxable person. The registration process is entirely paperless which means that it will take place online or digitally. Registering for a GST might seem confusing but just follow our Step by Step guide on how to register for GST online easily.
First you need to visit official GST portal – https://www.gst.gov.in/ and under the services tab, choose Services > Registration > New Registration.
On the registration page, enter all the requested details (including your PAN number), email address and mobile number. You need to select the option I am a Taxpayer.
How To Register For GST Online – Step 1
After entering the details click proceed. After that you’ll receive two different OTP on your phone and Email id for verifying the mobile number and the email id. OTP is valid only for 10 minutes. Enter the Received OTP and click proceed.
Once you click proceed your Temporary Reference number will be generated. Save and copy your TRN number it will be used for further filling of the form.
Now to use this TRN number, either click Proceed or Services > Registration > New Registration option and select the Temporary Reference Number (TRN).
Enter your TRN number and the captcha text as shown on your screen. Click proceed and you will be asked to verify OTP again. (This is different from the previous OTP generated), Same OTP will be received on your phone and email id.
Part 2: Filling Your Online GST Application Form
Now click on action button on top right to start filling your GST application form.
Filling in your GST application form
The form contains 9 sections,
Your Business Details
Enter the details of your business. Enter the name of your shop under the Trade name and enter the constitution of business, private limited or partnership etc.
Providing Business Details
After you complete your registration click on save and continue to proceed further.
Personal Information
Enter the Required personal information and identity information. In identity information under designation, Add the designation of yourself. Suppose if you are proprietor add proprietor under that.
Providing Personal Information
After you add all the details you have to upload your photograph, which should be in jpeg format of size maximum up to 100kb.
Authorized Signatory
If you are the proprietor of the company just click on primary authorized signatory and proceed further. If you are not the proprietor of the company then fill in the details of the proprietor of your company.
Authorized Representative
If you have an Authorized representative you have to fill in the details of your representative or else Click on save and continue to proceed further.
Here, You have to add the details where your business is located, if your business is in Delhi then add the location details of your business.
Principal place of Business
You also have to add nature of your business. Under the nature of possession of premises add the type of your business and provide the document proof of place of business. Suppose you have a Rented business so click on rented and provide the proof of rented agreement such as electricity bill.
Also add the nature of business activity and click on save and continue to proceed further.
Nature of possession
Additional Places of Business
If you have Additional places of business you can Add it or click on continue to proceed further.
Goods And Services
Here you have to add if you are selling goods or services. If you are selling physical goods add the HSN code. (HSN is a six-digit code that classifies more than 5000 products, arranged in a legal and logical structure)
State Specific Information
Providing this information is up to you because it is not mandatory. Click on save and continue to proceed further.
State Specific Information
Final Verification
This is the final step of GST form. Once you fill the details you can choose to submit with EVC or DVC. If you select EVC you’ll receive same OTP on your mobile no. and email id. If you have a digital signature you can submit with DVC.
Verification
On completion, an Application Reference Number (ARN) will be generated and sent to your mobile number and email id. You can use this to track your application status (Services > Registration > Track Application).
This was the complete how to register for GST online step by step.
Frequently Asked Questions About Online GST Registration
How do I get a new GST number?
Go to the official GST portal – https://www.gst.gov.in/ and under the services tab, choose services > Registration > New Registration.
On the Registration page, enter all the requested details (including your PAN number), email address and mobile number.
After entering the details, click proceed. You will receive two different OTPs on your mobile and on your email for verifying the mobile number and the email id. OTP is valid only for 10 minutes. If required, you can regenerate the OTP. Your Temporary Reference number will be generated at the end of this process.
To use this number, either click Proceed or Services > Registration > New Registration option and select the Temporary Reference Number (TRN) radio button to login using the TRN.
In the Temporary Reference Number (TRN) field, enter the TRN generated and enter the captcha text as shown on the screen.
After this, you will be asked to verify OTP again. This is different from the previous OTP generated, please enter the new OTP received. The same OTP will be received on the verified mobile number and email id.
This will take you to your “My Saved Application” page. You will have to fill in all the form details and submit them within 15 days. After this, your number and saved form will be deleted.
Is GST registration free?
The GST registration is absolutely free of cost. The registration process is entirely paperless which means that it will take place online or digitally. Registering for a GST might seem confusing but just follow our Step by Step guide on how to register for GST online easily.
Is GST applicable for online business?
It is a mandatory GST Registration for all Online Sellers. Under GST, all online sellers must register and pay GST. This means that even if you only bring in Rs 1 lakh, you must go online and get a GSTIN. In addition, you’re required to file monthly returns and pay taxes on all qualified sales.
How do I file GST online?
Registering for a GST might seem confusing but just follow our Step by Step guide on how to register for GST online easily.
Go to the official GST portal – https://www.gst.gov.in/ and under the services tab, choose services > Registration > New Registration. You can also apply for GST online using our exclusive offer for Amazon by clicking here.
On the Registration page, enter all the requested details (including your PAN number), email address and mobile number.
After entering the details, click proceed. You will receive two different OTPs on your mobile and on your email for verifying the mobile number and the email id. OTP is valid only for 10 minutes. If required, you can regenerate the OTP. Your Temporary Reference number will be generated at the end of this process.
To use this number, either click Proceed or Services > Registration > New Registration option and select the Temporary Reference Number (TRN) radio button to login using the TRN.
In the Temporary Reference Number (TRN) field, enter the TRN generated and enter the captcha text as shown on the screen.
After this you will be asked to verify OTP again. This is different from the previous OTP generated, please enter the new OTP received. The same OTP will be received on the verified mobile number and email id.
This will take you to your “My Saved Application” page. You will have to fill in all the form details and submit them within 15 days. After this, your number and saved form will be deleted.
Can I sell on Amazon without GST?
Yes. if you are selling only GST exempted categories, then this may not be required. However, If you are listing taxable goods, GST details are required to sell online. You need to provide a GST number to Amazon at the time of registration.
Do I need a GST number for my small business in India?
If a seller wants to sell across India they need to register for GST. The GST is meant to replace a slew of indirect taxes with a federated tax. In the GST Regime, businesses whose turnover exceeds Rs. 40 lakhs* (Rs 10 lakhs for NE and hill states) is required to register as a normal taxable person.
What is EVC in GST?
In the GST portal, a person can authenticate the user using an OTP (One Time Password). The OTP is called the Electronic Verification Code (EVC) and a person who wants to do the user authentication using an OTP can select this method.
What are the documents required for GST registration?
To complete GST registration, you will be needing the documents like PAN, Aadhaar, business address proof, cancelled cheque, bank account statement, business registration proof or the incorporation certificate, digital signature, photograph, address proof and ID proof of the director or promoter, board resolution or letter of authorisation from the authorised signatory.
Goods and Services Tax(GST) has been introduced and implemented in India to reduce the anomalies caused by the previous tax system. GST, or Goods and Services Tax is a tax that customers have to pay when they purchase any goods or services, such as food, clothes, electronics, items of daily needs, transportation, travel, etc.
The concept of Goods and Services Tax is that it is an Indirect Tax, i.e., this tax is not directly paid by consumers to the government, but is rather levied on the manufacturer or paid by the production centres and the providers of services. The sellers add the tax expense into their costs, and the price the buyers pay is inclusive of GST. Therefore, in most cases, people end up paying a tax even if they are not an income taxpayer.
GST Guide
GST is levied on the basis of the destination principle. Exports would be zero-rated, and imports would attract tax in the same way as domestic goods and services.
Addition to the IGST in respect of the supply of goods, an additional tax of up to 1% has been proposed to be levied by the central government. The revenue from this tax system is to be assigned to the original states. It is proposed to be levied for the first two years or for a longer period, recommended by the GST Council.
It is predicted that the tax base will be comprehensive, as virtually all goods and services will be taxable, with minimum exemptions. GST would bring in a modern tax system to ensure efficient as well as effective tax administration. It will bring greater transparency and strengthen monitoring, thus making tax evasion difficult.
It is important for the industry to understand the impact and opportunities offered by this tax reform. GST will have effects on all industries, irrespective of the sector. It will impact the entire value chain of operations, manufacturing, distribution, warehousing, sales and pricing.
Component analysis of GST Gross Collection
Items outside the purview of GST
There is a set of items which are not covered by GST. The following items are:
Alcohol for human consumption is not covered under GST. On alcohol, the authority to tax remains with the states.
GST was not imposed on five petroleum products like crude oil, diesel, petrol, natural gas and ATF.
The Central Government, along with GST has the power to levy additional excise duty on tobacco products.
The authority to decide entertainment tax levied by local bodies remains with the states.
The GST compliance rating is a rating given by the government to a business so that other businesses can review how compliant they are with the government tax department. This score will be calculated based on parameters such as timely filing of monthly and annual returns, furnishing details of input credits used, taxes paid, etc.
These scores will be updated at periodic intervals, and their details will be published in a public domain that all businesses can access. This allows small businesses to choose the most GST-compliant vendor for their business endeavours.
Under the previous tax system, businesses often delayed filing return and payment of taxes to gain time. Continuing this practice under GST will result in a delay in input tax credit across the chain and severely affect the working capital of businesses. The rating system will prevent the delay of credit for buyers due to the non-compliance of certain persons.
The Impact of GST on the Indian Economy
Following are the ways in which GST has a positive impact and will help improve the economy of India.
Reducing in tax burden for manufacturers which will encourage quality and more productivity. The earlier system of taxation was ill-structured with a magnitude of tax clauses which prevented the manufacturers from providing optimum production, hindering growth. However, GST after implementation will relieve manufacturers from those problems by issuing tax credit to manufacturers.
All the various tax difficulties that prevailed such as long queues at check posts and toll plazas, resulted in wastage of products which were being transported. A single GST taxation system will surpass all these hurdles and prevent unnecessary wastage which caused huge losses in costs for supplies.
A common consumer will know how much taxes they are charged and on what grounds, which will pave way for a just and transparent tax system.
The extension in the tax base under GST will be compounded to the revenue of the government.
When the taxes are paid by producers for the supply of goods or services, GST will provide a tax credit. This feature will encourage producers in purchasing the raw materials from any of the registered dealers which will eventually gather all the vendors and suppliers under the GST roof.
Customs duties which were applicable to the export of items will be removed and it will increase the competitiveness of the exporters to be at par with foreign markets.
GST is an indirect tax that was designed to bring indirect taxation under one roof. More significantly, it is going to eliminate the cascading effect of tax that was evident earlier.
Composition scheme for small businesses
Under GST, small businesses (with a turnover of around Rs 20 to 75 lakhs) can benefit as it gives an option to lower taxes by using the Composition scheme. This step has brought down the tax and compliance burden on many small businesses.
The unorganized sector is regulated under GST
In the pre-GST period, it was often seen that certain industries in India like construction and textile were largely unregulated and unorganized.
However, under GST, there are provisions for online compliances and payments, and for availing of input credit only when the supplier has accepted the amount. This has brought in accountability and regulation to the businesses.
Higher threshold for registration
In the VAT system, any business with a turnover of more than Rs 5 lakh was liable to pay VAT. Also, note that this limit differed state wise. Under the GST regime, this threshold has been increased to Rs 20 lakh, which exempts many small businesses and service providers.
Wrap Up
Change is necessary but definitely never easy. The government is trying to smoothen the path to GST. It is important to take a leaf from global economies that have implemented GST before us, and who overcame the teething troubles to experience the advantages of having a unified tax system and easy input credits.
The question of which tax system is better is debatable. Before GST was introduced, the VAT system was followed in India. GST not only brought an excellent revolution in the Indian economy and society but also it increased the government revenue. Is GST practically better than the previous tax system?
What is GST(Goods and Services Tax)?
GST is considered as the most economically influential post-independence tax reformation in India as it has redesigned the whole concept of taxation. Being a consumption-based system, it is completely transparent and convenient than the previous tax structures. It has disregarded to society like tax-evasion and corruption on a greater level.
In a longer period, it did not only brought an amazing boost to the Indian economy and society but also the government revenue increased. It practically removed the main problem of the previous tax system which was cascading effect.
GST is a value added tax that is collected at every level in the supply chain process. In the earlier indirect tax time, in certain cases, the tax paid on commodities or services were not available for setting off the output tax liability. For example, the excise paid by manufacturers were not available for set-off against VAT.
Most people are accustomed or aware of the VAT system even if they don’t run a firm or business. For instance, if you purchase any product or go to a hotel, in the lower part of the bill, you are likely to see an extra cost in the form of a percentage. This is called the value added tax, VAT.
VAT is a consumption tax levied on a product at each stage of the supply chain. VAT has been a major reform for India’s tax system when it was introduced around 2005. This change was desperately needed due to issues with India’s previous taxation system, where the cascading effect of taxes had a negative effect.
Previous tax regime was loaded with multiple taxes at the state level which included VAT, Entertainment Tax, Luxury tax, Taxes on lottery, betting and gambling, State Cesses and Surcharges, Octroi, Entry Tax and purchase tax. Multiple taxes at the central level were also levied which included Central Excise Duty, Additional Excise Duties, Service Tax, and Additional Customs Duty.
This multitude of levied tax kept the consumers confused and unsure on taxes being charged. Consumers were unable to check or verify the correct levy and payment of taxes, leading to consumers being overcharged on account of false taxes. GST is based on a PAN-India model tax system, consumers have become vigilant before paying taxes. GST being a “ONE NATION ONE TAX”, has helped rationalize and revolutionize the whole economy.
Reduction in Logistic cost
A leading logistics company recently said that after the implementation of the E-way bill and GST, heavy transport vehicles i.e. Trucks are covering 10-15% more distance as compared to earlier regime. In earlier regime trucks were hovering around 300-350 km per day, however, after the implementation of GST this distance has increased to 400-410 km per day. This has helped in the reduction of logistics costs. This reduction has brought India at the edge of a logistic revolution.
Eliminate The Cascading Effect
Cascading effect is a phenomenon of taxation that puts an extra burden on the end consumer. With the cascading effect in place, the taxes were levied on the value on which the previous buyer has already paid the tax. Thus, GST removed this tax on tax by bringing the concept of input tax credit that can be claimed at every stage by the seller or service providers.
Simple Online Procedure
The GST has brought in a new digital era in the Indian taxation system. All the process, right from the registration to the payment of taxes has been made online. This uniform e-registration is a considerable change as compared to the earlier decentralized multiple registration mechanisms.
Destination-based Taxation
With the onset of GST, the taxes were charged on the point of consumption, unlike the former tax structure that levied taxes on the place of manufacturing. This change from origin-based tax to destination-based tax has also significantly altered the revenue generation of producer states as well as consumer states.
Real Estate
The government has rationalized tax rates in the real estate sector from 12%/8% to 5%/1% also giving one-time option for ongoing projects to adopt the tax scheme. Home investors were forced to pay multiple taxes on real-estate buys in the pre-GST era, and in the post-GST period, they were forced to pay full taxes without benefit of ITC being passed to the consumers.
Thereby commodities were always overpriced. With this new tax scheme, consumers are ensured that they are bound to pay an amount with a full benefit of Input tax credit flowing to them without any discretion of suppliers.
The reduced tax burden on Tax Payers
The tax burden before GST on taxpayer was considerably high. With GST adaption, the tax burden has reduced significantly since all taxes are integrated, and the burden is split equitably between manufacturing and services. Certain taxes became part of the cost. Therefore, with the simple mechanism of GST, the cost burden has reduced by removing such effect and providing credit.
GST revenue Collection
The GST components
CGST
Central GST is referred as CGST, applicable on supplies within the state. Tax collected to be shared with the Centre.
SGST
State GST is referred as SGST, applicable on supplies within the state, whatever tax collected will be shared to State.
UTGST
Union Territory GST is referred as UTGST, applicable on supplies within the union territory.
IGST
Integrated GST is applicable on interstate and import transactions. Hence, tax collected is shared between the Centre and State.
Conclusion
By implementing GST, the Indian government is looking forward to improving the economy by eliminating the cascading system of tax and controlling corruption in the business processes in India which were possible in the previous tax system.
GST was implemented in India in July 2017. The GST was meant to replace a slew of indirect taxes with a federated tax. It has impacted almost all Industries, including start-ups. Startups are liable to pay taxes as they cross the threshold limit are liable to pay GST from the moment they cross the threshold limit (Rs 20 lakh or Rs 10 lakh as the case may be).
India is the third-largest startup ecosystem with over 27,916 startups, as of February 1, 2020. Startups play a vital role in the development of the country. The success ratio of new startups is hardly 1%, with GST startups may find it easy to comply with taxes and focus on building and managing their startups. In this article we will focus on Impact of GST on Startups and Small businesses in India.
Impact of GST on Startups and Small Businesses
Positive impact
1. Reduced logistics cost
GST has reduced the transportation cost levied during the interstate transport of goods. CST and octroi are the two taxes that were levied during the interstate transportation of goods. these taxes are collected by individual states. After the introduction of GST, It has replaced CST and octroi which has reduced the transportation and logistics costs. Many states avoid supplying goods to other states due to octroi. The reduction of delivery time and logistics cost had a great impact on startups.
2. Reduced Tax Burden
Earlier businesses with a turnover of less than Rs. 5 lakhs do not have to pay the VAT registration fee. The limit has been increased to 20 lakhs which gave a huge relief to Small businesses and startups.
3. Cascading Effect
The cascading effect is the effect on which tax is imposed on previously charged taxes. for example, a product on which excise duty has been paid can also be liable to VAT. Imagine a situation where a manufacturer produces a certain item for Rs.100. He charges excise duty at 12% and sells it to the shopkeeper at Rs.112. The shopkeeper sells the same item to a consumer at Rs.126 after charging VAT at 12.5%. in this case the consumer has to pay additional VAT on the product. GST has mitigated this cascading effect as only one tax is applicable.
Before GST, businesses have has to get registered with various tax authorities and maintain many documents. they also needed to file different tax returns to different authorities. Post GST, there is single registration and very less paper work required. due to this businesses now can focus on productive businesses operations rather than taxes.
5. Expansion of Business
Most businesses restricted their business operations to one state due to interstate taxes and complicated tax procedures. Post GST inter-state tax complications and transport/shipping cost has reduced.
There are also some difficulties and problems which have affected the startup ecosystem.
1. Decline to freelancers
If you do not have a fixed place of business or you are a freelancer you have to register yourself as a casual taxable person under the GST. The 20 lakhs limit is not applicable in this case. even if you don’t have a fixed place of business you have to register yourself under GST.
2. Tax overburden on Startups
Under GST it has become mandatory to upload invoices and make an e-way bill on a real-time basis. Startups have to focus on tax compliance regularly which affects their innovation capabilities.
3. Small Startups under Tax net
Earlier manufacturing units having a turnover of fewer than 1.5 crores do not have to pay or get registration. Post GST the threshold has been bough down to as low as 20 lakhs. This has bought many small startups under the tax net.
4. Reverse charge mechanism
If the goods delivered by a small business who is exempted from GST, supplied goods to a firm registered under GST. In this case the buyer has to pay the GST by self invoicing.
5. Technology challenges
As all the GST compliance as all filings and registrations have become online, some small businesses and startups might face some problems.
GST has its challenges and has impacted the startups and small businesses in both positive and negative ways. It’s clear that the positive impact of GST outweighs the negatives that have paved the way for the national market.
Arbaz Sayed
