47th GST Council Meeting on June 28-29; Decision Likely on imposition of GST on Online Gaming

The 47th GST council meeting, which will be chaired by Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, will be held in Srinagar on June 28 and 29.

The Finance Minister’s office tweeted, “The 47th meeting of the GST Council will be place on June 28-29, 2022 (Tuesday and Wednesday) in Srinagar.”

The GST Council meeting is being held in Srinagar for the second time. The 14th meeting of the Council was conducted in the city on May 18 and 19 prior to the implementation of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on July 1, 2017. During the two-day meeting, GST rates for 1,211 goods were authorised.

The council meeting is significant because it is expected to consider a report by a panel of state ministers on rate rationalisation, the GST rate on casinos, race courses, and online gaming, and certain procedural simplifications.

With inflation at an all-time high, sources in the finance ministry previously stated that there is now little room for GST rate rationalisation on goods and services.

A four-rate structure under the GST exempts or taxes basic commodities at a low rate of 5%, while luxury and demerit goods are taxed at a peak rate of 28%. The other two tax brackets are 12 and 18 percent.

The panel of State Ministers on GST rate rationalisation is expected to meet on June 17 ahead of the Council meeting to examine possible tax rate adjusting, according to sources.

The Group of Ministers (GoM) is expected to debate prospective adjustments in tax slabs, according to sources, adding that the panel’s final report will take some time.

Last year, the Council convened a seven-member council of State Ministers, led by Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, to recommend measures to increase revenue by lowering tax rates. The last time the GoM met was in November 2021.