SC directs collective hearing for online gaming GST cases
NEW DELHI : The Supreme Court has consolidated multiple pleas challenging the 28% GST on online gaming companies, ordering the transfer of 27 writ petitions to be heard together. During a hearing led by a three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Friday, the Supreme Court ordered the transfer of 27 writ petitions pending in 11 high courts across the country.
These petitions will now be tagged and heard collectively with a petition filed by Gameskraft and writs by EGF and Play Games24x7. The top court also asked the Union government to file counter affidavits in all writ petitions within three weeks. The consolidated case is scheduled to be heard during the last week of April.
A final hearing in the matter is expected to end the prolonged tax overhang on the online gaming sector, and clarify conclusively if these are games of skill or chance, and if they would come under the ambit of betting and gambling. Several online gaming companies including Dream 11, Games 24x7, and Head Digital Works have filed writ petitions with the Supreme Court contesting the imposition of GST. The top had earlier refused to allow an interim stay on the tax notices to gaming companies.
In the Gameskraft matter, the Supreme Court had stayed the Karnataka High Court's judgment quashing a GST intimation notice to the tune of ₹21,000 crore. The issue originated in August when the GST Council amended the law to enforce 28% tax on the “full face value" of bets or entry amounts in online games. This was to become effective from October 2023.
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