GST Council to Review 28% Online Gaming Tax in First Meeting Post-Elections

The GST Council, led by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will meet on June 22, 2024, to review the 28% GST on online gaming. The meeting will also address rate rationalisation and other industry tax issues. The Council has not met since April, and this will be the first meeting after the recent Lok Sabha elections.

The GST Council, under the leadership of Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, is set to convene on June 22, 2024, after an eight-month hiatus. The meeting will focus on assessing the implementation of the 28% GST on online gaming, a tax introduced in October 2023. This session marks the Council's first gathering following the Lok Sabha elections, where results were declared on June 4, and Sitharaman was reappointed as a Cabinet minister on June 9.

In previous meetings, the GST Council endorsed amendments to categorize online gaming, casinos, and horse racing as taxable actionable claims, attracting a 28% tax on the total bet value. A review of this implementation was scheduled for April 2024, but no meeting took place, making the upcoming June 22 gathering crucial for this agenda.

Besides the gaming sector, the Council will deliberate on rate rationalisation, a pressing issue tasked to Uttar Pradesh Finance Minister Suresh Kumar Khanna. The panel may expedite its recommendations on simplifying the tax structure, reviewing exemptions, and correcting inverted duty structures. Other industry tax matters, including ESOPs and corporate guarantees, will also be discussed in light of recent litigations.