Circular No.ES/196/2018-19 September 06, 2018
To: Members of the Council
Sub.: E-way bill in case of storing of goods in godown of transporter
Dear Member,
This is to inform you that CBIC has issued Circular No. 61/35/2018- GST dated 4th September, 2018 clarifying issues being faced by transporters and the consignee/recipient taxpayer since the Board has been receiving representation on matters relating to the textile sector and problems being faced by weavers & artisans regarding storage of their goods in the warehouse of the transporter.
Issue Represented to CBIC: -
- The textile traders use transporters godown for storage of their goods due to their weak financial conditions.
- The transporters providing such warehousing facility will have to get themselves registered under GST and maintain detailed records in cases where the transporter takes delivery of the goods and temporarily stores them in his warehouse for further transportation of the goods till the consignee/recipient taxpayer’s premises.
- The transport industry is facing difficulties due to the above issue and a request has been made to treat these godowns as transit godowns.
Clarification by the Board : -
Considering the difficulties faced by the transporters and the consignee/recipient taxpayer and to ensure uniformity in the procedure across the sectors and the country, the Board has clarified the issue which is as follows:
- Since an e-way bill is a document required for the movement of goods from the supplier’s place of business to the recipient taxpayer’s place of business, the goods in movement including when they are stored in the transporter’s godown (even if the godown is located in the recipient taxpayer’s city/town) prior to delivery shall always be accompanied by a valid e-way bill.
- Further, the “place of business” has also been defined as “a place from where the business is carried out, and includes a warehouse, a godown or any other place where a taxable person stores his goods, supplies or receives goods or services or both”. An additional place of business is the place of business from where taxpayer carries out business related activities within the State, in addition to the principal place of business.
- In case the consignee/ recipient taxpayer stores his goods in the godown of the transporter, then the transporter’s godown has to be declared as an additional place of business by the recipient taxpayer. Mere declaration by the recipient taxpayer to this effect with the concurrence of the transporter in the said declaration will suffice. The transportation under the e-way bill shall be deemed to be concluded once the goods have reached the transporter’s godown, which has been declared as the additional place of business of the recipient taxpayer, to any other premises of the recipient taxpayer then and a valid e-way bill shall be required.
- However, the obligation of the transporter to maintain accounts and records shall continue as a warehousekeeper. The recipient taxpayer shall also maintain accounts and records as required under rules 56 and 57 of the CGST Rules.
- Please note that the facility of declaring additional place of business by the recipient taxpayer is in no way putting any additional compliance requirement on the transporters.
Members may kindly make a note of the above.
Thanking you,
Yours faithfully,
S. BALARAJU
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
