CBIC lays out procedure for interception, detention of goods under e-way bill rule

Tax authorities have asked field officers to follow standard procedure for interception of conveyances for inspection of goods and their confiscation under the e-way bill rules.

The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC) has laid out a detailed procedure with respect to time bound uploading of reports/ forms by revenue authorities, time bound closure of cases where goods have been detained, instructions to release goods where there are no prima-facie irregularities.

This would "ensure uniformity" in the procedure of interception or conveyance for inspection of goods, detention, seizure, and release and confiscation of such goods and conveyances, the CBIC said in a circular.

The e-way bill rules rolled out from April 1 require businesses and transporters to produce before a GST inspector an electronic way bill for moving goods worth over Rs 50,000 from one state to another.

Rollout of e-way bill for intra-state movement of goods in five states -- Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala -- is slated from tomorrow.

As per the circular, the jurisdictional commissioner shall designate an officer to conduct interception and inspection of conveyances and goods in the jurisdictional area.

It said the officer, empowered to intercept and inspect a conveyance, may intercept any conveyance for verification of documents and/or inspection of goods
PwC Partner and Leader Indirect Tax Pratik Jain said, "While it has been clarified that e-way bill number available either in the form of a printout, or SMS or even written on invoice shall be considered as valid, the acceptability of same by officers at ground level needs to be seen."