The 51st meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council was conducted on August 2nd 2023 through video conferencing in New Delhi, with Nirmala Sitharaman, the union Finance Minister, presiding over the session along with Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudary and other state ministers too.
In response to inquiries from overseas gaming platforms that try to evade detection through changing IP addresses, the Revenue Secretary explained that the government will establish a DGGI (Directorate General of GST Intelligence) office cell to monitor websites and portals that provide services without paying taxes. The same will be penalised or take actions under the IT Act.
The secretary further assured that this monitoring will not be limited to online gaming websites alone but will extend to all websites and portals.
The GST council also informed that there will be no changes in the GST rates fixed on the online gaming, horsing and betting games. The implementation of the same will be done soon. And the same will be subjected to review after its 6 months’ implementation.
The main topics discussed during the 51st Council meeting included the implementation of decisions made in the previous meeting regarding online gaming and the enabling provisions in the GST law, as well as the subsequent implementation of these decisions by the states.
The Council took into account the concerns raised by states like Goa, Sikkim, and Tamil Nadu to reevaluate the rates. On the other hand, states such as Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh supported the decisions made in the previous council meeting and gave their approval for implementation. As a result, the Council adopted a neutral stance and decided to implement the decisions, with a review scheduled after 6 months.
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