Not updating the vehicle no. in E-way bill is a procedural lapse, liable to penalty of Rs. 10,000 only: Appellate Authority – GST

Appellant (transporter) engaged his ‘Vehicle 1’ for transporting two wheelers from supplier’s location to recipient’s location both within same state, under cover of requisite documents i.e. tax invoice and e-way bill.
Due to break down of transport vehicle appellant transshipped the goods to ‘Vehicle 2’ during its transit.
The applicant, however, could not update the E-way bill for updated vehicle detail due to poor internet connection.
Due to this error, appropriate authority detained the vehicle and imposed a tax & penalty equivalent to tax payable under section 129(3) of CGST/HP GST Act; 2017.
But during this time. appellant also updated the part -B of e-way bill.

Authority observed that E Way bill which was produced before the proper officer pertained to the previous vehicle and detail of Vehicle 2 were not updated there.
Other relevant details were duly declared in E-way bill generated for previous vehicle. The facts in the question fails to prove that the appellant changed the vehicle to evade tax.
The taxpayer had undoubtedly made procedural lapse and violated the provisions of the CGST Rules.
Considering the above facts, the appellant is liable to pay minor penalty of Rs. 10,000 under section 122 of CGST Act.

In the view of the above facts, the penalty deposited by the appellant under section 129(3) that is equivalent to the total tax payable may be refunded and a penalty of Rs. 10,000 is imposed on the taxpayer under section 122(xiv) of the Act.

Source: [2020] 115 taxmann.com 389 (AAR- GST – HP)

Articles