New Delhi: As the new government’s actions take shape in Modi 3.0, the 53rd meeting of the goods and services tax (GST) Council, chaired by Union finance minister Nirmala Sitharaman, has been scheduled for June 22, 2024 in the national capital. After a gap of eight months, the GST Council is likely to review several key pending issues, including the taxation of the online gaming sector and rate rationalisation among others.
The last meeting of the Council was held on October 7, 2023 under the chairmanship of the finance minister. “The 53rd meeting of the GST Council will be held on 22nd June, 2024 at New Delhi,” the GST Council Secretariat said in a post on X. The agenda for the 53rd meeting is yet to be circulated amongst the Council members. This would be the first Council meeting after Lok Sabha elections.
As per the sources, the GST Council is likely to review the decision to levy 28 per cent GST on full value of bets for online gaming companies, which came into effect from October 1, 2023. “Another key pending issue before the GST Council is rate rationalisation and a panel under Uttar Pradesh finance minister Suresh Kumar Khanna has been mandated to suggest required rate rationalisation. Besides, the Council may also clarify the procedure for payment of GST by companies winning the bids during the spectrum auction in the telecom sector as the auction will begin on 25th June,” the sources said.
As far as the issue of online gaming is concerned, in its meetings in July and August, the GST Council had approved amendments to the law to include online gaming, casinos and horse racing as taxable actionable claims, and clarified that such supplies would attract 28 per cent tax on full bet value. At that time, it was said that a review of the implementation would be carried out after six months, which is April 2024.
The GST Council in its June 22 meeting may also decide to fasttrack the process and set a timeline for the panel to submit a final report. The GST Council set up the group of ministers (GoM) on GST rate rationalisation in September 2021. The panel had submitted an interim report to the GST Council in June 2022, proposing changes in tax rates for some goods and services to rationalise the levy.
Currently, the GST regime has five broad tax slabs of zero, 5, 12, 18, and 28 per cent. A cess is levied over and above the highest 28 per cent rate on luxury and demerit goods. The GoM was mandated to suggest required rate rationalisation and correction of inverted duty structure with an objective of simplifying the rate structure, reviewing the GST exemption list and enhancing GST revenues.
