The Finance Ministry has announced that the new GST law's provisions for taxing horse racing, casinos, and online gaming would go into effect on October 1.

These supplies will now be regarded as ‘actionable claims’ comparable to lottery, betting, and gambling and subject to 28 percent Goods and Services Tax (GST) on the entire face value of bets, under the amendments to the Central GST Act.

Offshore online gaming platforms must register in India and pay taxes in accordance with domestic law as a result of the Integrated GST (IGST) Act's changes.

The GST Council, made up of the finance ministers of the federal government and the states, approved changes to the law in its meetings in July and August, adding online gambling, casinos, and horse racing as taxable actionable claims and stating that such supplies would be subject to a 28 percent tax on the full bet value.

Concerns have been raised over the government's decision to permit the enforcement directorate (ED) to share information with the GST Network in a number of states ruled by the opposition. Prior to this, FinMin proposed a modification to the Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA), 2002, under which ED will exchange data with GSTN, which manages the technology infrastructure of GST.

To explain the reasons for the difference or take corrective action regarding the difference, the Council has recommended a mechanism for system-based intimation to the taxpayers regarding the excess ITC availment in FORM GSTR-3B compared to that made available in FORM GSTR-2B above a certain threshold.

For this reason, rule 88D and FORM DRC-01C will be added to the 2017 CGST Rules, and rule 59(6) will be modified. This will aid in lowering ITC mismatches and ITC facility abuse under GST.

To implement the Council's decision, the Central GST and Integrated GST statutes were amended by the Parliament last month.

Now, the Finance Ministry has announced that October 1 will be the set date for putting these regulations into effect.

The GST Council resolved that the revised provision to classify these supplies as actionable claims and to clarify the taxation laws would go into effect on October 1 during its meeting in August.

After six months, in April 2024, it was suggested to conduct an evaluation of the implementation.