Govt serves tax notice of Rs 1 lakh crore to online gaming companies
Companies such as Dream11 and Gameskraft have been issued show-cause notices for alleged short payment of taxes.
The Central government on Wednesday served show-cause tax notices of upto Rs 1 lakh crore to multiple online gaming companies for alleged tax evasion, reported Reuters while citing government sources. “The amount for which show cause notices have been issued to online gaming companies is around ₹1 lakh crore,” a government official told Reuters.
However, government sources are denying that there is any information regarding any foreign online gaming companies being registered in India since 1st of October. Earlier this month, it was reported that more than 100 online gaming applications, operating in India are under the scanner of the Directorate General of Goods and Services Tax Intelligence (DGGI) for alleged tax evasion.
Several online gaming companies such as Dream11 and Gameskraft have been issued show-cause notices for paying less taxes. Similarly, last week, Delta Corp received a GST notice for short payment of tax to the tune of Rs 6,384 crore, taking the overall tax demand on the company to over Rs 23,000 crore. Separately, a show cause notice was sent to Gameskraft in September last year for alleged GST evasion of Rs 21,000 crore. While the Karnataka High Court has ruled in favour of Gameskraft, the Central government in July filed a Special Leave Petition (SLP) in the Supreme Court.
This comes after the GST council clarified in August that 28% Goods and Services Tax (GST) would be levied on full value of bets placed on online gaming platforms. According to the GST authority, the amendments to the integrated GST would make it compulsory for foreign online gaming platforms to register in India and pay taxes in accordance with domestic law.
