Ankur Gupta, Practice Leader (Indirect Tax), SW India, said that while the GoM is still deliberating on levying 28 percent GST on online gaming, the industry is also making an attempt to make tax rate the status quo of 18 percent. “The industry is making representations on the ground that grouping online games with betting/gambling would be a big hit to all market players,” he said.
Gupta added that in most countries, the online gaming industry is taxable, more or less, at par with the current taxability of 18 percent, which is why it is a disadvantage for the Indian game companies if the taxability moves to 28 percent. “Now, what has to be seen is the valuation of these services. It should be applied only on margin/platform fee because in case it is applicable on the entire pool value then it would adversely impact the customers as well as they would get less playable value,” he said, adding that they were hoping that in the final report submitted by the GoM, all aspects including valuation are addressed.
