September 3, 2020: The Central Board of Indirect taxes and Customs (CBIC) extended the validity of e-way bills till November 30, while extending the due date for certain compliances under customs, central excise and service tax laws till the same date. “Provided that where, any time limit for completion or compliance of any action, by any authority, has been specified in, or prescribed or notified under section 171 of the said Act, which falls during the period from the 20th day of March, 2020 to the 29th day of November 2020, and where completion or compliance of such action has not been made within such time, then, the time-limit for completion or compliance of such action, shall be extended up to the 30th day of November, 2020,” the Board said in a notification on Tuesday.
The extension is valid for e-way bills issued pre-lockdown, the validity of which was subsequently extended several times since the lockdown began in March-end and even after the lockdown was lifted towards the end of May. Easing the validity limit of e-way bills – document needed for transportation of goods of over Rs 50,000 in value – will help industry that is facing labour as well as transportation issues, as several states have imposed mini-lockdowns or weekend-lockdowns to control the spread of COVID-19.
The extension also applies to completion of any proceeding or passing of any order or issuance of any notice, intimation, notification, sanction or approval or such other action, by any authority, commission or tribunal, under the provisions of the GST, IGST and UTGST Acts. The extension is also applied on filing of any appeal, reply or application or furnishing of any report, document, return, statement or such other record. The Board had issued similar guidelines in the past to ease compliance for industry and tax authorities.
Source: Economic Times
