Parul
The GST council will make a final decision today on levying a 28 per cent GST on online gambling, casinos, and horse racing, amid demands from the gaming industry to rescind the decision, alleging that it will harm the growth of the embryonic sector. The GST council, which is chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will convene online.
On July 11, the GST council decided that there will be a 28 per cent GST levy on full value of gaming, horse racing and casinos.
The decision had disappointed the gambling sector, which had even written to the finance ministry pleading with it to reverse its decision.
On Wednesday, the meeting is likely to take a final call on the proposal to levy 28 per cent GST on online gaming, casinos and horse racing.
After last month’s meeting, a law committee consisting of Central and state tax officers, had prepared draft rules for consideration by the GST council, on computation of supply value for tax purposes.
The committee has suggested inclusion of a new rule under which the value of supply of online gaming would be the total amount deposited with the online gaming platforms by way of money or virtual digital assets on behalf of the player.
For casinos, the committee has proposed that the supply value would be the amount paid by a player for the purchase of tokens, chips, coins, or tickets.
The gaming industry has requested the government to make a distinction betweengames of chance like gambling and games of skill.
