The Finance Ministry is expected to review the goods and services tax (GST) rates applied on digital news subscription, as per sources.

This comes after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry made the recommendation to the Finance Ministry to reduce the GST rate on digital news subscription, sources added.

The online media outlets have been demanding for a reduction in the GST rate from 18 per cent to five per cent.

The Information and Broadcasting Ministry said that the GST on the digital news outlets needs to be reduced, else their revenue model will change, which will impact the quality of the stories that they deliver.

The upcoming meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council is scheduled to take place in New Delhi on September 9, 2024.

The announcement was made via a post on X on August 13, which said, “The 54th GST Council Meeting will be held on 9th September 2024, in New Delhi.”

Currently, printed newspapers, journals, and periodicals are exempted from the GST.

Under the IGST Act, online news subscriptions are taxed at 18% as Online Information Database Access and Retrieval (OIDAR) services, that is, an internet service that has no physical interface between the supplier and recipient of the service.

Online news subscriptions are included in the sub-category of services for “supply of images, text, and information and making available of databases.”

Source: India Today