e-way bill: GST ease amid Covid 19: E-way bill validity extended, 10% ITC deferred

The government extended the validity of e-way bills till April 30, that were set to expire between March 20 and April 15, giving a big relief to industry grappling with issues of supplies and goods stuck in transit amid the nationwide lockdown due to Covid 19.

“Where an e-way bill has been generated and its period of validity expires during the period 20th day of March, 2020 to 15th day of April, 2020, the validity period of such e-way bill shall be deemed to have been extended till the 30th day of April, 2020,” the finance ministry said in a notification Friday.

The finance ministry has also deferred the application of 10% restriction for availing input tax credit for February, to August, 2020 and rolling over the cumulative applicability to the month of September, 2020, giving the industry a seven-month window that will ease out cash flows, experts said.

“Government has gone all out in of support the industry by deferring the application of 10% credit restriction… This step from government would ease out the cash flows of the entire community of over 12 million taxpayers,” said Rajat Mohan, senior partner at AMRG Associates.

The extensions were given via a notification on Friday, which also brought into effect several indirect tax compliance relaxations that were announced by the government earlier this week.