Preface

With the introduction of Goods and Services Tax regime in India, almost all indirect taxes (except Customs duty) which hitherto were being levied by the Central Government, have been subsumed within Central Goods and Services Tax Act, 2017 and those indirect taxes which hitherto were being levied by the State Governments, have been subsumed within the respective State or Union Territory Goods and Services Tax laws.

Under the GST regime, the goods transportation and passenger transportation sector continues to enjoy the same privileges and relaxations in the form of exemption from getting registered, incidence of tax on reverse charge basis, concessional rate of tax, etc., which it was enjoying under the erstwhile service tax law.

In order to achieve the objective of "one nation one tax", all the conventional check-posts across the country have been abolished and a single E-way Bill system has been brought in place for the purpose of monitoring transportation of taxable goods of value exceeding Rs. 50,000. Initially, E-way Bill was made mandatory only for inter-State movement of goods. As of now, observance of E-way Bill provisions is mandatory even for intra-State movement of the goods.

The present book "GST on Goods and Passenger Transportation Services" has been originally conceived and written to provide an authentic commentary on the law, procedure and practice vis-a-vis nature and scope of levy of GST on the goods and passenger transportation services, provisions relating to inspection, detention and release of goods vehicles and the scheme of generation of E-way bill.

This book is thoughtfully divided into four parts, namely;

Part I--GST Law Basics

Part II--GST on Goods Transportation Services

Part III--GST on Passenger Transporation Services

Part IV--E-Way Bill

Part I of the Book comprising seven chapters, provides an overview of GST law i.e. levy and collection of tax, meaning and scope of supply, composite and mixed supply, levy of tax on Reverse Charge Basis, time of supply of services and value of taxable supply.

Part II of the Book seeks to provide analytical study of scheme of levy of GST on the goods transprtation services provided by various means of transportation of goods i.e. transportation of goods by road, railways, aircrafts, vessels, etc. The scheme of levy of GST on transporation of goods by courier agencies and storage and warehousing of goods have also been discussed in separate chapters.

Part III of the Book is devoted to discussing the nature and scope of levy of GST on Passenger Transporation Services via four specific Chapters on Transporation of Passengers by Road, Rail, Air and Vessel.

The last but not the least, Part IV of Book deals with the law, practice and procedure relating to generation, assignment and cancellation of E-way Bill. E-way Bill provisions attain importance in view of the fact that transporation of goods without prescribed documents (i.e., invoice/delivery challan and E-way Bill) would render the goods liable for detention and attract penalty upto 50% of the value of the goods being trasported. Practical issues vis--vis E-way Bill, as discussed in the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) on E-way Bill under GST Regime, issued by the Central Board of Indirect Taxes (CBIC), have also been incorporated at relevant places.

Each chapter of the Book contains a detailed commentary on the related subject-matter. The object behind this is to provide the readers complete details relating to a particular topic under the GST law. The text has been updated with the relevant Notifications and Circulars issued till 10th August, 2018, as and where applicable.

Notwithstanding the best of our care, the likelihood of certain shortcomings having crept into this book cannot be ruled out. We, therefore, solicit creative feedback from our esteemed readers to bring to our notice any mistakes, errors, omissions or discrepancies, as and where noticed by them.

JODHPUR	Dr. AVADHESH OJHA
26 AUGUST, 2018	CA. SATYADEV PUROHIT
RAKHSA BANDHAN