GST Council Meeting 2023 Highlights: Here are the key points to know

The 51st GST Council meeting 2023 was held yesterday via video conferencing. The government stands its ground with its 28 per cent GST charge on casinos, race courses, and online gaming

The 51st GST council meeting was held on Wednesday, 2nd August 2023, through video conferencing, and the finance minister Smt Nirmala Sitharaman chaired the meeting. 

Along with the finance minister, other senior government officials, such as Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary and senior officers from Union Government & States, were also present in the meeting.

The government is not budging from its decision of imposing a 28 per cent GST on online games, horse trading and casinos. 

The agenda of the meeting was to discuss and clarify the government's stance over the 28 per cent GST charge levied on full face value, which the government levied in the 50th GST council meeting held on 11th July.

51st GST Council meeting: Outcomes

The GST council is standing its ground on its earlier points. The council decided that the tax will be applicable on the amount paid or payable to or deposited with the supplier of services by or on behalf of the player and not on the total face value of the bet placed. This will not include the amount entered into games or bet from previous games' earnings.

The statement ends the online gaming fear of repetitive taxation.

The finance minister cleared the government's stance by giving an example where she said if a bet is placed, for say Rs 1000, and the player wins Rs 300, and the player again places a bet of Rs 1300, then the GST will not be charged on the winning amount.

The minister also said that the council will review the taxation of online gaming and casinos after 6 months or April 2024 to understand if any changes are required.

Taxing online games wouldn't make them legal, says Rev Sec Sanjay Malhotra

In the press conference, Revenue Secretary Sanjay said that taxing online games wouldn't legalise them in the states where the games are banned. According to Malhotra, "Betting is already liable to GST today and it does not make it legal... Betting and gambling are illegal and liable to tax. Taxing online gaming will not result in legalising online games in those states which have banned them."

Guidelines on foreign gaming Platforms 

The council will also develop a framework for overseas online gaming platforms. 

However, the government has made it clear in the GST Council Meeting that foreign gaming platforms have to register themselves with the GST authorities. In case, the platforms failed to do that, the government will invoke IT Act provisions to block those sites.