On 2nd August 2023, the 51st meeting of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council took place in New Delhi via video conferencing. The meeting was chaired by Nirmala Sitharaman, the Union Finance Minister, and attended by other officials including Revenue Secretary Sanjay Malhotra, Union Minister of State for Finance Pankaj Chaudhary, and various state ministers.
Addressing concerns raised by international gaming platforms attempting to avoid detection by constantly changing IP addresses, the Revenue Secretary disclosed the government’s plan to establish a dedicated office cell under the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI). This office cell will closely monitor websites and portals that offer services without paying the required taxes. Any such entities found guilty will face penalties or other appropriate actions under the IT Act.
The secretary further assured that the monitoring activities will cover all websites and portals and would not be limited to just online gaming websites.
The GST Council also affirmed that the current GST rates that apply to online gaming, etc won’t change. These unchanged rates are expected to go into effect in the near future, and six months after that, a revision will also take place.
The implementation of decisions made in the previous meeting regarding online gaming and enabling provisions in the GST law, along with the subsequent implementation of these decisions by various states, were the main agenda that were discussed during the 51st GST Council meeting.
The Council meeting considered the concerns raised by states like Goa, Sikkim, and Tamil Nadu to a reevaluation of the rates. On the other hand, Maharashtra and Uttar Pradesh accepted the decisions made in the previous meeting and approved for implementation of the decisions. As a result, the Council standing neutral decided to implement the decisions, with a revision to be held six months later.
