GST Council to virtually meet tomorrow, discuss taxation on online gaming

New Delhi [India], August 1 : A meeting of the GST Council is set to be held on Wednesday via videoconferencing, where the members will discuss and take a final call on the proposal to levy 28 per cent GST on online gaming, casinos and horse racing, finance ministry officials told ANI.
Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, who heads the Council, will chair the meeting.
At July 11 meeting, the GST Council decided to levy a uniform 28 per cent tax on full face value for online gaming, casinos and horse racing.
The members, at tomorrow’s meeting, will discuss to approve the changes proposed in the GST law.
A Group of Ministers (GoM) was constituted to look into the issues related to taxation on casinos, horse racing and online gaming. The GoM submitted its first report in June 2022 and it was placed before the GST Council in its 47th GST Council meeting wherein, it was decided that the GoM may relook into all the issues once again.
The GoM submitted its report and it was placed before the recently held 50th GST Council meeting. The GoM, in its second report, recommended that since no consensus could be reached on whether the activities of online gaming, horse racing and casinos should be taxed at 28 per cent on the full-face value of bets placed and left it on the GST Council to decide.
Goods and Services Tax was introduced in the country with effect from July 1, 2017.