- Moving goods worth more than ₹50,000 generally needs an e-way bill.
- Goods sent by a principal in one state to a job worker in another need one whatever the value. The principal, or the job worker if registered, generates it.
- Inside one state, the limit is set by that state. Check yours.
- Stitchfloor files the e-way bill for a lot sent to a printer or job worker from the dispatch's challan, as it does for a sale from the invoice.
- Separately, the challans for goods sent to and received from job workers go on FORM GST ITC-04: every six months if last year's turnover was above ₹5 crore, once a year otherwise.
This is a summary, not tax advice. Confirm your own case with your CA.
Who this is for
A garment factory that sends work out: fabric to a printer, cut panels for embroidery, garments for finishing. Especially one whose job workers sit across a state border, as they often do for factories around Delhi.
What the law says
The rule
The e-way bill rule is Rule 138 of the CGST Rules, 2017. Its first part sets the general limit:1
"Every registered person who causes movement of goods of consignment value exceeding fifty thousand rupees" must furnish Part A of FORM GST EWB-01 before the movement begins.
A proviso to the same rule deals with job work, and it is the part garment factories most often miss:1
"where goods are sent by a principal located in one State or Union territory to a job worker located in any other State or Union territory, the e-way bill shall be generated either by the principal or the job worker, if registered, irrespective of the value of the consignment".
Three things follow from those two passages.
- Across a state border, value does not matter. Fabric worth ₹8,000 going to a printer in another state needs an e-way bill as much as fabric worth ₹8 lakh.
- Either side can generate it. The principal (you), or the job worker if they are registered.
- ₹50,000 is the inter-state limit. For movement within one state, each state sets its own limit and some differ. Ask your CA what applies in yours.
And e‑invoices?
A different rule, about sales rather than movement. Since 1 August 2023, a registered person whose aggregate turnover has exceeded ₹5 crore in any financial year from 2017-18 must issue e-invoices for B2B supplies.2 Sending goods out for job work is not a sale, so it is the e-way bill rule that matters for the movement.
Worked examples
The factories, places and amounts below are made up for this guide, and the cases are simplified. They show how the rule reads, not what your case needs.
| Movement | Value | Across states? | E-way bill? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Knitted fabric from a Ludhiana factory to a printer in Delhi | ₹38,000 | Yes, Punjab to Delhi | YesJob work across a border, at any value |
| Cut panels from the same factory to a printer in Ludhiana | ₹38,000 | No, within Punjab | CheckDepends on Punjab's own limit |
| Finished garments sold to a buyer in Jaipur | ₹1,20,000 | Yes, Punjab to Rajasthan | YesValue over ₹50,000 |
| Finished garments sold to a buyer in Jaipur | ₹42,000 | Yes, Punjab to Rajasthan | Not on valueUnder ₹50,000; ask your CA about anything else that applies |
ITC-04: the job-work return
The law
The e-way bill covers the journey. ITC-04 covers the record. Rule 45 of the CGST Rules says goods go to a job worker under a challan issued by the principal, and that the details of the challans for goods sent to a job worker, or received back, are included in FORM GST ITC-04 by the 25th of the month after the period they fall in3. Since 1 October 2021 the period depends on your turnover4:
| Aggregate turnover in the previous financial year | Period | Due by |
|---|---|---|
| Above ₹5 crore | Each half year: April to September, and October to March | 25 October, and 25 April |
| ₹5 crore or less | The whole financial year | 25 April |
A factory turning over around ₹5 crore should check which side of the line last year fell on, because it decides whether the return is due once or twice a year. And goods that do not come back from the job worker within the time section 143 of the CGST Act allows are treated as supplied to the job worker on the day they went out, with tax and interest to pay3.
Where Stitchfloor fits
Our product
Stitchfloor files and cancels e-way bills on a live workspace (your company's own Stitchfloor, as opposed to the public demo), from a sale invoice and from a job-work challan. You register once on the e-way bill portal, choose the GST Suvidha Provider (GSP) we name during setup, and set your own portal login. Before anything is sent, Stitchfloor names what would make the filing fail: a missing pincode at either end, the distance, an HSN on a line. That covers rows one to three, and row four if you raise one anyway.
A lot sent to a printer goes out on the Operations desk's Lots Sent/Received screen, and the e-way bill is filed from that dispatch's challan: supply type outward, sub-type job work, document type challan, with no tax on the lines. Stitchfloor says when the movement needs one (across a state border at any value, or above ₹50,000 inside one) and why, and the value declared opens on the cost of the cloth in that dispatch, where the cloth is priced, for you to check before filing.
A printer with no GSTIN is filed as an unregistered job worker. The bill's number and its validity show on the dispatch, beside the record you will want with it: which lot went to which printer, on which day, with which parts in the bundle, and when it was counted back in.
Also worth knowing before you rely on it:
Stitchfloor does not furnish ITC-04; your accountant does. What the return needs is already on each dispatch: which lot went to which job worker, on which day, with which parts and how many pieces, and when they were counted back in. Lots still out are listed by job worker, so anything nearing the time limit is easy to find, and every register exports to CSV for your accountant.
- An administrator files the bill, on the web or the Android app. The Operations supervisor can record the number of a bill filed on the portal against the dispatch.
- Only the outward leg is filed from Stitchfloor. Cloth coming back travels on the job worker's own document.
- Inside your own state, check your state's limit: Stitchfloor prompts at ₹50,000 and never refuses to file below it.
- In the public demo an e-way bill number is typed in by hand.
- E-way bills for job work are part of the Factory plan.
Check with your CA
Rule 138 has more to it than this page covers, including exemptions, Part B and the vehicle details, how long a bill stays valid, and each state's own limits. Rules also change by notification. Read the current text through the link below, and confirm your own movements with your CA before you change how you send work out.