The GST Council, chaired by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is scheduled to meet on June 22 in the national capital after a gap of eight months. The council is expected to review the implementation of the 28 per cent GST on the online gaming sector. The agenda for the 53rd meeting is yet to be circulated amongst the Council members.

The 52nd meeting of the GST Council was held on October 7, 2023.

Notably, this would be the first Council meeting after the Lok Sabha elections. The results of the elections were declared on June 4, and Sitharaman was sworn in as a Cabinet minister in the new Modi Government on June 9.

Council to review GST on online gaming

The GST Council is expected to review the decision to levy 28 per cent GST on the full value of bets for online gaming companies, which has been in effect since October 1, 2023. 

In its July and August meetings, the GST Council approved amendments to include online gaming, casinos, and horse racing as taxable actionable claims, and clarified that these would attract a 28 per cent tax on the full bet value. 

A review of the implementation was planned for April 2024, but as no GST Council meetings have occurred since then, the upcoming June 22 meeting is anticipated to address the taxation of the online gaming sector.

Another significant issue before the GST Council is rate rationalisation, overseen by a panel led by Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna. The Council, in its June 22 meeting, may expedite this process by setting a timeline for the panel to submit its final report.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) on GST rate rationalisation was established in September 2021 and submitted an interim report in June 2022. This report proposed changes to tax rates for some goods and services to rationalise the levy. The GoM's mandate includes suggesting necessary rate rationalisation, correcting the inverted duty structure, simplifying the rate structure, reviewing the GST exemption list, and enhancing GST revenues.

Currently, the GST regime includes five broad tax slabs: zero, 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent, with a cess applied over the highest 28 per cent rate on luxury and demerit goods.

Source: IndianTV