The reports of the Group of Ministers (GoM) on online gaming, casinos, and GST have been postponed. The Appellate Tribunals have pushed the goods and service tax (GST) council meeting to September 2022 at this point.
As GoMs are as yet not prepared with their reports, the GST Council is probably going to meet at the end of September, CNBCTV18 shared in a tweet, citing sources.

The GoM, framed by the Finance Ministry to survey the GST rate for online gaming, casino, and horse racing, should present its last report on the issue before the second week of August.

On July 12, the GoM met to talk about the issue. In any case, the meeting arrived at no resolution on concluding the GST rate because of the absence of certain members and information around then.

Presently, the GST rate for online gaming is at 18%, whereas it is at 0% on the contest entry fee. The GoM suggested that a 28% GST be imposed on online gaming with the full value of the consideration, including the contest entry fee paid by the player for participation in such games.

The stakeholders in the online gaming industry expressed concern about the increase in the GST rate, and many of them believed that such a tax rate would have an impact on the business case in the long run, leading to the closure of many gaming startups.

In any case, in what could be a major help to the industry, the GoM is probably going to impose a 28% tax on gross gaming revenue (GGR), according to reports.

Although the final recommendations are still awaited, the 28% GST only on GGR rather than imposing a blanket 28% GST on online gaming will be a big boost for the industry, said All India Gaming Federation CEO Roland Landers to Inc42 earlier.

“Our (AIGF) only request has been to charge GST on the gross gaming revenue, which is the practice that has always been followed and is also globally accepted,” he said.

The GoM was formed last year to analyze the valuation issues of services given by casinos, race courses, and online gaming, and if any change is expected in the legitimate arrangements to embrace any better method for valuation of the equivalent.

Credit: Inc42