51st GST Council Meeting Expectations

On 2nd August 2023, the 51st GST Council convened in New Delhi, with Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs, Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman, leading the meeting via video conferencing. Notably, Union Minister of State for Finance, Shri Pankaj Chaudhary, along with Finance Ministers from States & UTs (with legislature) and senior officers from the Ministry of Finance & States/UTs also participated in the session.

51st GST Council Meeting Key Highlights

In its 51st meeting, the GST Council proposed amendments in the CGST Act 2017 and IGST Act 2017. These amendments aim to provide clarity on the taxation of supplies related to casinos, horse racing, and online gaming. Additionally, the Council recommended the inclusion of a specific provision in the IGST Act to address the GST liability on the supply of online money gaming services by suppliers located outside India to individuals in India.

The proposed amendments also introduce a simplified registration scheme for such suppliers in India and establish measures to block public access to any information related to online money gaming if the supplier fails to comply with registration and tax payment provisions.

The Council recommended a simplified method for valuing the supply of online gaming and actionable claims in casinos. According to the recommendation, the valuation should be based on the amount paid or payable to the supplier by the player, excluding any amount entered into games/bets from previous winnings. This new approach replaces the previous method of valuing each individual bet placed.

To implement this recommendation, the Council suggested amending the CGST Rules, 2017, and issuing relevant notifications. Furthermore, it was decided that efforts would be made to expedite the process of amending the Act, with the aim of having the amendments in effect from 1st October 2023.

Watch the 51st GST Council Meeting here:

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Expectations from the 51st GST Council Meeting

The Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman will preside over the 51st GST Council Meeting, which is most likely to take place on August 2nd, 2023, via video conference. This is seen as a significant move after the decisions made in the 50th GST Council meeting on July 11, 2023.

The council is meeting again to discuss the issue of GST rates for online gaming.
The council announced that online gaming will be categorized under the 28% GST slab, calculated based on the full-face value amount.

As a result of this decision, an amendment will be made to Schedule 3 of the GST Act. Nevertheless, officials have clarified that there will be no alteration to the initially proposed GST rate for online gaming, which was recommended during the 50th GST council meeting.

The gaming industry had expressed considerable disappointment with the decision taken by the GST Council.

During this meeting, the officials will meet via video conferencing to deliberate on the legal amendments based on the Council’s recommendations. The ministry is anticipated to present these changes before the parliament during the session and will also address the issues affecting the industry.

We will update this page with the highlights of the upcoming 51st GST Council Meeting soon. So, stay tuned!

You can find the highlights of the past GST council meetings here –

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