Page 18 - Tax

Players optimistic about online gaming's potential despite high tax: Report

A study by the Electronic Gaming Foundation in consultancy with the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI) has found that, despite a high tax rate, the players are optimistic about the potential of the online skill gaming industry in India. Skill gaming is a game in which the outcome is impacted by the player's skill and not chance or luck. The study, titled "Unveiling the Potential and Scope of the Online Skill Gaming Industry", comes at a time when the sector is facing taxation similar to sin goods at 28 per cent, which has called into question the survival of many entities, mainly the smaller ones. The survey, advised by two ISI professors, Diganta Mukherjee and Subhamoy Maitra, surveyed 4,644 engineering students and professionals across five states - Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Kerala, Karnataka, and Tamil Nadu - to explore their perceptions, aspirations, and preferences regarding the online skill gaming sector. The study found that the majority of respondents are optimistic about

Govt notifies valuation methodology for calculating GST on online gaming

The government on Friday notified amendments to GST law in relation to the valuation methodology to be adopted by online gaming companies and casinos for calculating tax. The Ministry of Finance notified amendments to Central GST law for calculating value of supply in case of online gaming and casinos as per the decision of the GST Council last month. EY Tax Partner Saurabh Agarwal said this shall effectively settle the ambiguity and uncertainty around this issue. "However, the aspect of whether mere deposit of money in a wallet qualifies as a supply is unclear, and may possibly be challenged by industry," Agarwal added. AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said under the valuation rules, the full tax rate would be applicable on the total amount paid to online gaming company/ casinos, without any relief to the taxpayer in case of refund/return of money. Notification clarified that winnings by any player would remain tax-neutral, as the entire tax is collected at first ...

IMF, FSB to lay down crypto regulation framework for G20 discussion

On international taxation, the sources state that India under the G20 Presidency has recommended
a pillar taxation system on
international taxation

Arunachal assembly passes amended GST Bill, changes made in APGST Act

The Arunachal Pradesh assembly on Wednesday passed the Goods & Services Tax Bill, 2023 in its amended form. The Bill has 26 clauses amending various sections of the Arunachal Pradesh Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 either for inserting new provisions, substituting existing rules or omitting some provisions. Certain changes have been made in the APGST Act based on recommendations made by the GST Council. These changes will come into effect from October 1 this year, Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein said. It is mandatory on our part to amend the Arunachal Pradesh Goods & Services Tax Act, 2017 as done by the central government and other state governments by enacting the Arunachal Pradesh Goods & Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023, he said. GST is administered by both Centre and state and so any change or amendment required in the Act has to be carried by both central and state governments. The GST legislative changes recommended by the GST Council and vetted by Union Law

EPFO issues fresh guidelines for granting exemption to establishments

The new procedure contains direction for the establishments, regional offices, zonal offices and head office

Around 500,000 taxpayers get I-T department alert for low advance tax

'Intimation' comes ahead of tax payment due date

Biz can claim ITC on goods procured for distribution to dealers: GST AAR

Businesses can claim input tax credit on items, like gold coins and white goods, procured for distribution to dealers upon achieving pre-specified sales targets as part of promotional schemes, a GST advance ruling authority has ruled. The Karnataka-bench of the AAR (Authority for Advance Ruling) ruled that ITC can be availed on taxes paid for procurement of white goods or gold coins for the purpose of incentive to dealer as it is a supply. Orient Cement Ltd had approached the AAR seeking ruling in whether ITC can be claimed on distribution of gold coins and white goods to its dealers upon achieving a specified target fixed under the scheme. The company also offers various promotional schemes "Monthly/ Quarterly Quantity Discount Scheme", etc. The said sales promotion scheme helps the company in achieving their sales and collection targets. The AAR noted that the applicant is issuing these gold coins and white goods so procured as incentives as per the agreement reached between himse

Specially abled people exempted from payment of motor vehicles tax in WB

Divyangjan ownership type motor vehicles will be exempted from payment of motor vehicle tax in West Bengal, a state transport department notification said. All motor vehicles registering authorities in the state have been directed to act accordingly, the notification dated August 29 said. The notification issued by transport secretary Saumitra Mohan said motor vehicles registered under the ownership type Divyangjan are exempted from payment of the tax under the West Bengal Motor Vehicles Act till the date a Divyang person is its registered owner. It also said that applications are being received from persons with benchmark disabilities for recording the ownership type as 'Divyangjan' in registration certificates of motor vehicles owned by them to avail various exemptions granted by the government. The notification said the central ministry of heavy industries has facilitated motor vehicles of persons with minimum 40 per cent orthopaedic physical disability to be considered as ...

Tech giants to face 3% digital tax in New Zealand, will begin in 2025

It would be applied at 3% on gross taxable New Zealand digital services revenue, similar to the taxes adopted by other jurisdictions such as France and the UK

About 55 million might opt for new tax regime, says revenue department

Majority of them have a taxable income of upto 7 lakh- 7.5 lakh

Centre imposes 40% export duty on onion to improve local supplies

The government on Saturday imposed a 40 per cent duty on the export of onions to check price rise and improve supplies in the domestic market. The Finance Ministry through a notification imposed a 40 per cent export duty on onions till December 31, 2023. The export duty comes amid reports that onion prices are likely to rise in September.

Beware tax refund fraud: Verify your source before clicking on links

Verify source before clicking on links; enter address of tax dept's official website directly into browser

Govt saves Rs 2.73 trn in last 9 years by adopting DBT: FM Sitharaman

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday said the government has saved Rs 2.73 lakh crore of taxpayers' money in the last nine years by adopting Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) to send money to targeted beneficiaries and weeding out bogus accounts. It has helped plug leakages and better targeting of genuine and deserving beneficiaries of the government scheme, she said at an event organised by NGO Disha Bharat. Talking about various initiatives taken by the government, Sitharaman said, "Efficiency in governance in the last nine years has improved the possibilities for more money available for, let us say, education and health because we adopted DBT". With DBT in place, pension, money for work, interest subvention and LPG gas subsidy transfer are being credited to Aadhaar-verified bank accounts of deserving beneficiaries, and all bogus accounts have been weeded out, she noted. "Since 2014, by gradually increasing the number of schemes under DBT, we have saved Rs 2.73 lakh crore..

Ad revenue income sharing by X liable to GST, if exceeds threshold: Experts

Remuneration received by individuals from X (formerly Twitter), as part of its advertisement revenue sharing plan, will be treated as supply under the GST law and will be subject to 18 per cent tax, experts said. The tax will kick in if the total income from various services, including rental income, interest on bank fixed deposit, and other professional services, rendered by an individual exceeds Rs 20 lakh in a year. In recent times, X (formerly Twitter) has started advertisement revenue sharing for its X Premium subscribers or verified organisations. The account needs to have 15 million organic impressions on the posts in the last three months and have at least 500 followers to be able to be part of this revenue sharing programme. Content creators on X are able to set up Ad Revenue Sharing and Creator Subscriptions independently. Many social media users have in the recent past posted tweets about receiving revenue share from X. Experts said it is not only the revenue share earn

Finance ministry cautions people against 'matrimonial dating scam'

The Ministry of Finance said that customs will never call or send a text message asking people to pay customs duty through a personal bank account

CBIC mulling organisational restructuring to make it more effective

The CBIC is mulling a comprehensive restructuring of the organisation, set up 6 decades ago, to make it more effective and remove overlapping, if any, as many of its functions have undergone transformation following introduction of new technologies, abolition of service tax and roll-out of GST which has subsumed several levies. The Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs or CBIC (formerly knows as Central Board of Excise and Customs) was set up in 1964. Last in 2014, a cadre restructuring and reorganisation of field formation was undertaken under which 23 central excise zones, 4 service tax zones, 11 customs zones, 60 appeal commissionerates, 45 audit commissionerates, 8 large taxpayer units and 20 directorate generals/directorates were approved to be set up. Extensive use of big data analytics, introduction of faceless assessment in Customs and electronic filing of various documents, claims and payment of taxes have made this organisational restructuring a necessity, an officia

Pak imposed PKR 215 bn additional taxes to meet IMF condition: Ishaq Dar

Although Pakistan was able to secure the IMF deal just in time, the conditions imposed by the body are turning out to be tedious to implement

GST Council meet on Wednesday to finalise modalities for taxing gaming

The GST Council in its meeting on Wednesday is likely to finalise the modalities for determination of supply value in online gaming and casinos for levying 28 per cent tax. The Council, chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman and comprising state ministers, in its last meeting on July 11 approved levying 28 per cent tax on full face value of bets in online gaming, casinos and horse racing. Subsequently, the Law Committee, comprising Centre and state tax officers, have prepared draft rules for consideration of the GST Council with regard to computation of supply value for tax purposes. The committee has suggested insertion of a new rule under which value of supply of online gaming would be the total amount deposited with the online gaming platforms by way of money or virtual digital assets on behalf of the player. With respect to casinos, the committee has proposed that the supply value would be the amount paid by a player for purchase of tokens, chips, coins or ...

Automated IGST refunds on pan masala, tobacco to be restricted from Oct 1

Automated refund of Integrated GST (IGST) on export of pan masala, tobacco, and similar other items will be restricted from October 1, the finance ministry has said. Exporters of such items will have to approach jurisdictional Tax officers with their refund claims and get them cleared, as per a notification dated July 31. The changes in the notification will come into effect from October 1. Tax experts said the move is aimed at checking tax evasion in the sector, as there might be over-valuation of goods which are being exported, thus leading to higher IGST refund outgo. Manual checking of refunds will ensure that valuation is optimally done and taxes are paid at all stages. The items on which automated IGST refund restriction has been imposed include pan masala, unmanufactured tobacco, hookah, gutkha, smoking mixtures for pipes and cigarettes and other items, including mentha oil. Such items attract 28 per cent IGST, plus a cess. AMRG & Associates Senior Partner Rajat Mohan said

Govt hikes windfall tax on petroleum crude to Rs 4,250 per tonne from Aug 1

A windfall tax on diesel has been increased to 1 rupee per litre from nil earlier, according to a government notification on Monday