GST authorities will now get real-time data of commercial vehicles on highways with the integration of e-way bills (EWBs) with FasTag and radio-frequency identification (RFID). This is an initiative to assist in the live vigilance of vehicles and check GST evasion. Extra features are added to the e-way bill mobile app of tax officers. It will provide them with real-time tracking information of e-way bills and vehicles to get hold of the tax evaders who are misusing the e-way bill system. Under the GST regime, the e-way bills are made compulsory for inter-state transportation of goods of cost more than Rs 50,000 from April 2018, but gold is exempted. In the e-way bill system, businesses and transporters have to present the e-way bill before the GST officer if asked. The integration of the e-way bill with RFID and FasTag enables the GST officer to take live vigilance concerning the e-way bill compliances by business and help in prevention of revenue leakage by real-time identification of commercial vehicles. The officer can access reports on the vehicles passed through the selected tolls without e-way bills a few minutes back. Vehicles carrying crucial commodities particular to a state that have passed the tolls can also be accessed. Abhishek Jain, EY India Tax Partner, had earlier told the media that the firm intends to further digitise the e-way bill provision under the GST law. The e-way bill system is now integrated with FasTag and RFID and Management Information Systems (MIS), through which the reports will be made available on the officer's mobile application. In the fiscal year 2020-21, end of March 2021, Rs 61.68 crore of e-way bills were generated, out of which Rs 2.27 crore picked up for verification by officers. In 2019-20, end of March 2020, Rs 62.88 crore of e-way bills were generated, out of which RS 3.01 crore picked up for verification. Since 1 January 2021, the government has integrated the e-way bills with RFID and FasTag. A transporter should have an RFID tag on his vehicle, and an e-way bill to be generated for carrying goods in the vehicle is uploaded in the RFID. When the vehicle passes through the RFID tag on the highway, the information gets uploaded on the government portal. The revenue officers then use this information to validate the supplies made by the GST authority. Additionally, the e-way bills enable the automatic calculation of distance based on the PIN codes. The system will calculate the distance between the source and the destination with the help of PIN codes. Image Source Also read: FASTag records highest ever collection in a day Also read: India set to be free of toll booths in two years