The Finance Ministry on Tuesday informed the Rajya Sabha that 158 cases involving GST dues of ₹1.53 lakh crore have been registered till January.
In a written reply, Minister of State in the Finance Ministry Pankaj Chaudhary said that during July 2017 and January 2025, 91 show- cause notices were issued to online gaming companies. These involve amount of over ₹1.44 lakh crore. These notices issued as the government is firm that online gaming should attract 28 per cent GST from July 1, 2017. Gaming companies contradict this decision.
“On the recommendations of the GST Council, the valuation of supply of actionable claims involved in online money gaming is done based on the amount paid or payable to or deposited with the supplier (initial deposit), by or on behalf of the player (excluding the amount entered into games/ bets out of winnings of previous games/ bets). As per the recommendations of the GST Council, ‘online money gaming’ is treated as a ‘specified actionable claim’ and GST at the rate of 28 per cent is levied on the same,” Chaudhary said.
When asked about total tax revenue collected from online gaming companies, including real money gaming and e-Sports, since 2017, Chaudhary said that as there is no business code in the ‘nature of business’ field of the Income Tax Return (ITR) for online gaming companies, the details of the taxes paid by such companies cannot be sourced from the ITR filed by such companies. “Under GST, there is no distinct tariff item or service code for the supply of online gaming, including real money gaming and e-Sports,” he said.
It stayed show cause notices to 50 online gaming companies and casinos amounting to over ₹1 lakh crore. In the same ruling, it simultaneously ensured that these notices do not become time-barred during litigation.
