The decisions of the 47th GST Council meeting in Chandigarh were announced by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Wednesday. The two-day meeting that began yesterday saw participation by the Union Ministers of State for Finance and Finance Ministers of states and Union Territories as well as senior officials from the Centre and states.
In a press briefing, Sitharaman said that the Council has decided to maintain status quo on taxing online gaming, casinos and horse racing. It was earlier anticipated that the GoM was considering taxing these elements on the highest 28 per cent tax rate.
A group of ministers headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma has been asked to submit its report to the valuation mechanism by July 15, and they have been asked to consider submissions of stakeholders.
She said that the council will meet again in the first week of August to decide on the issue.
After Goa requested special treatment for casinos, it was decided that Group of Ministers GoM will give one more hearing for online games and horse racing, as well as a discussion on the tax decision on casinos, according to Sitharaman.
The Finance Minister said that the rate rationalization aspect of the GoM headed by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai was not taken up and that the decisions were on corrections of inverted duties.
The Council decided to bring pre-packed and labeled food items under the tax net to check evasion on the first day of the meeting.
A number of procedural and legal changes, including monthly GST return forms and mechanisms for dealing with high-risk taxpayers, were also discussed.
While proposing a uniform tax rate and valuation method for these activists, the Group of Ministers, headed by Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma, said that no distinction should be made in these activities merely because an activity is a game of skill or chance or bot.
On Tuesday, the West Bengal government had written to Sitharaman requesting her to make decisions at the ongoing GST Council meeting by consensus, shunning majororianism' Separately, West Bengal Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya, who is attending the congregation in Chandigarh told PTI that the Council besides approving changes in tax rates on some goods and services, also allowed states to issue an e-way bill for intra-state movements of gold and precious stones.