Lok Sabha Passes Amendments to GST Bills, Levies 28% Tax on Online Gaming, Casinos, and Horse Race Clubs

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman introduced two bills, namely the Central Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023, and The Integrated Goods and Services Tax (Amendment) Bill, 2023, in the lower house earlier today.

Proposed Changes

The proposed modifications involve adding clauses to Schedule III of the CGST Act, 2017, with the intention of providing clear instructions for the taxation of activities within casinos, horse racing, and online gaming.

Likewise, an amendment to the IGST Act aims to establish GST responsibilities for foreign entities involved in online money gaming, requiring them to register for GST in India. Furthermore, these changes include provisions to block access to offshore online gaming platforms if they fail to comply with registration and tax payment obligations.

These changes to the Central GST (CGST) and Integrated GST (IGST) laws received approval from the GST Council last week.

Significantly, the council approved the implementation of a 28 percent GST on the total nominal value of initial bets in the realms of online gaming, casinos, and horse racing.

The Bills can be accessed at:

CGST (Amendment) Bill, 2023

IGST (Amendment) Bill, 2023