Will GST on casino, online gaming, horse racing be hiked from 18% to 28%? Crucial GOM meet to decide today

New Delhi: The meeting of the Group of Ministers (GoM) will be held on Tuesday to decide on GST tax bracket for casinos, online gaming and horce racing. On May 29, while all eyes were set on extension of GST compensation mechanism for states and a highest 28 percent tax rate on online gaming, casinos and horse racing, a GoM report on online gaming, casinos, horse racing deferred. GoM will now submit suggestions on regulations in 15 days.

The GOM, headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, had recommended that online gaming should be taxed at full value of the consideration, including contest entry fee paid by the player on participating in the game.

In case of race courses, the GoM has suggested that GST be levied on the full value of bets pooled in the totalisators and placed with the bookmakers. In casinos, GoM recommended that the tax would be levied on the full face value of the chips/coins purchased from the casino by a player. No further GST would apply on the value of bets placed in each round of betting, including those placed with winnings in previous rounds.

The 47th GST Council chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state counterparts, last month decided to tweak tax rates of some goods and services, including bringing pre-packed and labelled food items under the tax net to check evasion. Besides, a host of procedural and legal changes, including monthly GST return form, and mechanisms for dealing with high-risk taxpayers were also discussed, reported PTI.

With PTI Inputs