Centre, states to informally discuss online gaming tax

livemint.com:

New Delhi: The implementation of 28% goods and service tax (GST) on online gaming, horse racing and casinos will informally figure in discussions at Saturday’s GST Council meeting as the Centre is keen to see the new regime takes effect without hassles, said a person informed about Centre-state discussions. The idea is to see how far states have put their legislative changes in place for the contentious tax regime change which had dragged for several months before a divided GST Council cleared the new regime at its meeting on 2 August.

As of 29 September, in the case of over a dozen states including National Capital Territory of Delhi, Punjab and Rajasthan, the respective legislative assemblies had not passed amendments to State GST laws. Although Goa had sought a review of the decision, it has notified the required changes.

The person quoted above said that the discussions will remain informal, given that the Council has already approved the tax regime changes. According to industry experts, states making the required legislative changes in a staggered manner poses confusion for businesses with respect to their liability to collect the state GST component and also about the valuation on which the tax is to be levied.

One favourable decision from the Council was that redeployed winnings by players will be excluded from taxation. However, experts said that all legislative changes required may fall in place in due course.

“When Central GST changes are introduced through union budget in February, it has been seen that some of the legislative assemblies take a few months to get the corresponding State laws amended. It has never happened that a decision approved by the GST Council has not been passed by state legislative