The GST Council’s 50th meeting was held in Delhi on July 11, 2023, under the chairmanship of the Union Finance & Corporate Affairs Minister Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman.
Background:
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.
Recommendations:
Since no consensus could be reached on whether the activities of online gaming, horse racing and casinos should be taxed at 28% on the full-face value of bets placed or on the GGR, The GST Council has deliberated on the issues and has recommended the following:
- Suitable amendments to be made in GST law to include online gaming and horse racing in schedule III of the CGST Act, 2017 as taxable actionable claims.
- All three namely Casino, Horse Racing and Online gaming to be taxed at the uniform rate of 28%.
- Tax will be applicable on the face value of the chips purchased in the case of casinos, on the full value of the bets placed with bookmaker/totalisator in the case of Horse Racing and on the full value of the bets placed in case of the Online Gaming.
The Press Release can be accessed at: https://www.pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1938812