A working guide to eway bill generation software for anyone moving goods. The threshold, the two parts, validity by distance, and the one mismatch that causes most of the problems.
Part A and Part B
Part A is the consignment: consignor and consignee with GSTINs, place of delivery, invoice or document number and date, value of goods, HSN, and the reason for transportation.
Part B is the movement: the transporter ID, or the vehicle number if you are moving the goods yourself.
An e-way bill without Part B is not valid for movement. Part A can be filled in advance and Part B added when the vehicle is known, which is how most despatch desks work.
What your billing system needs to get right
- Invoice value that matches the e-way bill. This is the single most common cause of trouble in transit.
- Correct GSTINs for both parties, in valid format.
- HSN on every line, since it is reported on the bill.
- Correct place of delivery, which is not always the customer’s registered address.
- A stable invoice number — the e-way bill references the document, so renumbering after the fact breaks the link.
- Billixo keeps all of these on the invoice by design, so the data the e-way bill needs is already correct and consistent.
Generating one, step by step
- Raise the invoice first. The e-way bill references it, so it has to exist and its value has to be final.
- Log in to the e-way bill portal, or generate from your billing or accounting system if it connects.
- Fill Part A: parties, GSTINs, place of delivery, document number and date, value, HSN, reason for transport.
- Fill Part B: transporter ID, or the vehicle number for own transport.
- Generate, and keep the e-way bill number with the consignment.
- If the vehicle changes mid-journey, update Part B. If validity is running out, extend it within the permitted window rather than letting it lapse.
Validity, and what expiry actually means
Validity runs by distance and is counted in days from generation, with the exact calculation set by rule and differing for over-dimensional cargo.
Expiry is not administrative. Goods moving on an expired e-way bill are treated as moving without one, with the consequences that follow — detention, penalty, and a delay far more expensive than the extension would have been.
Extension is permitted within a window around expiry. The practical discipline is simple: whoever tracks the vehicle should also be watching the clock on the bill.
The mismatch that causes most problems
The value on the e-way bill and the value on the invoice must agree. When they do not, it is almost always because the invoice was amended after the bill was generated, or because someone typed the taxable value where the total was required.
That is a workflow problem rather than a rules problem, and the fix is order of operations: finalise the invoice, then generate, never the other way round.
CGST, SGST and IGST — worked out, not chosen
Whether a sale attracts CGST and SGST or IGST is not a preference. It follows from the place of supply: same state as your registration means the tax splits into central and state halves, a different state means one integrated tax at the combined rate.
That sounds simple and goes wrong constantly, because it is a dropdown in most billing software and a dropdown is something a tired person clicks past. In Billixo the split is derived from the state on the customer record against the state on your registration, and it changes the moment either does.
The consequence of getting it wrong is real: an IGST invoice raised as CGST/SGST has to be credited and reissued, and if the return has already gone in, amended.
HSN and SAC codes, and how many digits you need
Every line on a tax invoice needs an HSN code for goods or a SAC for services. How many digits depends on your aggregate turnover in the preceding financial year — smaller businesses report fewer digits than larger ones, and B2B and B2C invoices are treated differently.
Because the requirement is tied to turnover and has been tightened in stages, the practical answer is to store the fullest code you can against each product once, and let the software report at the level required. A six-digit code can always be truncated; a two-digit one cannot be expanded.
Billixo keeps the code on the product record and carries it onto every line automatically, and its AI HSN lookup will suggest one from a plain description when you genuinely do not know.
Bill scanning, in practice
The single largest time cost in most small businesses is not raising invoices — it is entering purchases. A photograph of a supplier bill goes in and a structured draft comes out: supplier, GSTIN, line items, rates, tax split and total.
You check it. That is the workflow, and it is deliberate: an extraction you did not read is a liability, not a saving. But checking a filled form takes fifteen seconds and typing one takes three minutes, and that difference compounds over a month of purchases.
A note for accountants and CAs
If you are the person who has to make sense of a client’s billing at the end of the month, what you need from their software is narrow and specific: a complete outward supply summary, correct place-of-supply treatment, HSN present on every line, and an export you can open without repair.
Billixo produces GSTR-1 and GSTR-3B summaries and exports to CSV, Excel and JSON. Client-side, the invoice fields cannot be skipped, which removes the category of problem where the data was never captured in the first place.
The price, plainly
Free is ₹0 and stays ₹0. The paid plans are bought for a fixed term, paid once, with no auto-renewal and no card kept on file — when a term ends the account drops back to Free until you decide to buy again.
There is no per-invoice charge, no per-user surprise on the free plan, and no feature that is technically included but practically throttled. What the plan says you get is what you get.
Compare the plans on the home page, or just start free now and look at the ceiling from the inside.
Reliability, backups and getting your data out
Cloud billing software is only as good as its worst day. Two things matter more than any feature list: that your data is backed up somewhere you can reach, and that you can export it in a format something else can read.
Exports here are CSV, Excel and JSON, on every plan including the free one, covering customers, products, invoices and payments. That is the honest test of whether software respects you — not what it promises, but what it lets you take when you leave.
Frequently asked questions
Does Billixo generate e-way bills?
It produces the invoice the e-way bill is generated against, with the GSTINs, HSN codes, place of delivery and value that the bill needs, correct and consistent. Generation itself happens on the e-way bill portal or through whatever route you already use.
Do I need one for goods moving within my own state?
Often yes, but the threshold and exemptions for intra-state movement are set state by state and differ. Check the notification for your state rather than applying the general figure.
When is an e-way bill required?
Broadly for movement of goods where the consignment value exceeds ₹50,000, whether or not in relation to a supply. Intra-state limits and exemptions are set by each state, so check your own state’s notification for movement within the state.
Are the invoices valid for GST?
Yes. Every invoice carries the fields Rule 46 requires — GSTIN, HSN/SAC on each line, place of supply, the correct CGST/SGST or IGST split, and a consecutive invoice series that restarts each financial year.
Can I move my existing customers and products in?
Yes. Bulk import from CSV or Excel on any paid plan, and export back out in CSV, Excel or JSON at any time, including on Free. Most people bring their party and item lists across in one pass and carry outstanding invoices as opening balances.
See it working on your own bills
The fastest way to judge billing software is to bill with it. Photograph one supplier invoice, raise one sales invoice, and look at the PDF your customer would receive.
Open the software demo → — free account, no card, about a minute to set up.
More details on the home page → — what it does, what it costs, and where the limits are.
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