28% GST Decision "Will Wipe Out Entire Industry": Online Gaming Firms

Online gaming companies on Tuesday said that levying of 28 per cent GST will limit their ability to invest in new games, impact cash flows as well as business expansion.

The all-powerful Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council on Tuesday decided to impose a 28 per cent tax on the turnover of online gaming companies, horse racing and casinos, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said.

Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal alleged today that with the Goods and Services Tax (GST) being linked with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), even those traders paying the tax can be arrested by the federal agency.

Delhi minister Atishi today said that the linking of Goods and Services Tax (GST) with the Enforcement Directorate (ED), could lead to the arrest of even those traders who pay tax.

The Kolkata Zonal Unit of the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has arrested one person for his alleged involvement in operating syndicates in 19 states, officials said Monday.

The central government on Saturday issued a notification to bring the Goods and Services Tax Network (GSTN) under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA).

The GST Council at its next meeting on Tuesday is likely to exempt cancer medicine Dinutuximab imported by individuals from tax, decide on applicability of GST on food or beverages served in multiplexes and come out with a clear definition of utility vehicles for levying a 22 per cent cess, sources said.

GST collections in Delhi NCT have been rising consistently over the past several years.

The GoM on online gaming, horse racing and casinos had a broad agreement that a 28 per cent GST should be levied on all the three supplies.

GST authorities have so far cancelled over 4,900 GST registrations and detected tax evasion of over Rs 15,000 crore during the ongoing two-month drive to weed out fake GSTINs which will end on July 15, a senior tax official said on Wednesday.

A 34-year-old alleged mastermind of a fake input tax credit racket, which caused a loss of Rs 176 crore to the government by floating fictitious companies in the names of poor people, has been arrested while attempting to flee the country.

GST collections rose 12 per cent to over Rs 1.61 lakh crore in June, the Finance Ministry said on Saturday.

Six years after Goods and Services Tax revenue of Rs 1.5 lakh crore every month has become a new normal and tax officers are focusing on dealing with fraudsters who are adopting newer modus operandi to game the system, causing loss to the exchequer.

The GST Council on July 11 will discuss some more measures to tighten the noose on fake registration and fraudulent generation of input tax credit (ITC) as it looks to check tax evasion, a top official said on Friday.