New Delhi, Sep 7 (IANS): The government has notified amendments to GST law in relation to the valuation methodology to be adopted by online gaming companies and casinos for calculating tax.

The finance ministry notified on September 6, the amendments to the Central GST law for calculating value of supply in case of online gaming and casinos as per the decision of the GST council taken last month in its meeting on August 2.

The notification clarified that winnings by any player would remain tax-neutral, as the entire tax is collected at first stage only.

The changes have been introduced as a part of amendments made to the Central Goods and Services Tax (CGST) rules 2017, updated in CGST (Third Amendment) rules, 2023.

This means that the total amount deposited with a platform or online gaming service will be considered taxable sales value, and any amount returned or refunded by the casino or gaming portal shall not be deductible from the value of the supply of online money gaming.

Simply put, once a given amount is deposited with the platform, tax will be imposed on the whole amount, irrespective of the part of the deposit returned to the player at a later point.