Recently, we witnessed two major developments in GST, namely, 26th council meeting and changes in E-Way Bill provisions. In 26th GST Council Meet concluded on Saturday, the 10th March 2018 at Vigyan Bhawan, New Delhi, the changes in regard to administrative issues have been proposed. Also, CBEC rolled out a notification bearing no. 12/2018 Central Tax dated 07 March 2018 wherein amendment in CGST Rules, 2017 majorly in E-way bill provisions have been made. Further, such amendments will be effective from a date to be notified later. The highlights of such amendments have been discussed hereunder:

Recommendations from 26th Council meeting

Sr. No.	Topic	Changes
1.	Return Filing	The filing of GSTR-3B and GSTR-1 will continue for another three months viz. April to June 2018. Meanwhile, the new return system will be finalized for working after the relevant period.
2	Reverse Charge Mechanism	The liability to pay tax on reverse charge basis has been deferred till 30.06.2018
3	TDS/TCS	The provisions for deduction of tax at source (TDS) under section 51 of the CGST Act and collection of tax at source (TCS) under section 52 of the CGST Act shall remain suspended till 30.06.2018
4.	Tax exemptions for exporters	The exporters presently availing various export promotion schemes can now continue to avail such exemptions on their imports up to 01.10.2018 by which time an e-Wallet scheme is expected to be in place to continue the benefits in future.

Changes in E-way Bill

Provisions governing E-way bill, i.e. Rules 138, 138A, 138B, 138C and 138D of CGST Rules, 2017 were substituted vide said Notification. A list of major changes and their implications have been scheduled below

• Value of exempted goods has been excluded from value of the consignment, for the purpose of e-way bill generation.
• Public conveyance has also been included as a mode of transport and the responsibility of generating e-way bill in case of movement of goods by public transport would be that of the consignor or consignee.
• Railways has been exempted from generation and carrying of e-way bill with the condition that without the production of e-way bill, railways will not deliver the goods to the recipient. But railways are required to carry invoice or delivery challan etc.
• Consignor can authorize the transporter, courier agency and e-commerce operator to fill PART-A of e-way bill on his behalf
• Time period for the recipient to communicate his acceptance or rejection of the consignment would be the validity period of the concerned e-way bill or 72 hours, whichever is earlier.
• In case of movement of goods on account of job-work, the registered job worker can also generate e-way bill.
• Movement of goods from the place of consignor to the place of transporter up to a distance of 50 Km [increased from 10 km] does not require filling of PART-B of e-way bill. They have to generate PART-A of e-way bill.
• Extra validity period has been provided for Over Dimensional Cargo (ODC).
• Validity of one day will expire at midnight of the day immediately following the date of generation of e-way bill.
• In case of movement of goods by railways, airways and waterways, the e-way bill can be generated even after commencement of movement of goods.
• An exception has been introduced in case of transportation by air, vessel or railways. By virtue of this exemption, transporter does not need to prepare e-way bill or consolidated e-way bill in cases where no e-way bill is made by supplier or recipient and the aggregate value of such consignments transported in a single carriage also exceeds Rs. 50,000.