Bhubaneswar: Two-wheelers were shown as transporting goods while stolen, scrapped and surrendered vehicles were used to generate e-way bills (EWBs), the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has flagged in the latest audit report on the e-way bill system under GST.An e-way bill (EWB) is an electronic document required for the movement of goods worth more than ₹50,000 under the Goods and Services Tax (GST) regime. It contains details of the goods, consignor, consignee and the vehicle transporting the consignment.The audit found that 14 taxpayers under six GST circles generated 1,113 EWBs involving an assessable value of ₹80.30 crore and tax implications of ₹13.78 crore using 235 suspicious vehicles. These included vehicles reported stolen, vehicles that had been surrendered by their owners, vehicles whose registrations had been cancelled, scrapped vehicles and even two-wheelers used for transport of commercial consignments.Several EWBs were generated using the same vehicle number in different states on the same day, raising suspicion over the genuineness of the transactions.The audit pointed out that six taxpayers generated 38 EWBs showing that they had transported goods worth Rs 2.44 crore. According to the report, two taxpayers generated EWBs using stolen vehicles, two used surrendered vehicles, two used vehicles with cancelled registrations and one taxpayer generated two EWBs using a scrapped vehicle. The audit also detected 1,065 EWBs generated using 193 vehicles that were shown as starting journeys from locations thousands of kilometres apart on the same day, indicating possible misuse of vehicle numbers.The CAG noted that such transactions carry a risk of tax evasion and highlighted the need for better integration between the e-way bill portal and the Vahan vehicle registration database to identify suspicious transactions in real time. It recommended that the state GST department strengthen oversight and verification mechanisms to prevent misuse of vehicle details in e-way bill generation.The CAG found that Odisha’s EWB system, meant to track goods movement and prevent GST evasion, suffered from multiple loopholes. The audit flagged EWBs generated by non-filers, nil-return filers and cancelled taxpayers. It also found weak monitoring and poor integration with the Vahan database, exposing the system to potential tax evasion and revenue leakage.
