'Na koi tax dega, na sarkar ko milega': Ashneer Grover requests FinMin to repeal alleged Rs 55k-cr tax notice to gaming firms 
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'Na koi tax dega, na sarkar ko milega': Ashneer Grover requests FinMin to repeal alleged Rs 55k-cr tax notice to gaming firms BharatPe co-founder Ashneer Grover on Tuesday said an alleged Rs 55,000-crore Goods and Services Tax (GST) demand from online gaming companies won't help India reach its target of being a $5-trillion economy. Grover is also the founder of fantasy gaming app Crickpe.
In a post on X platform (formerly Twitter), Grover said "na koi tax dega, na sarkar ko milega (no one will pay tax and neither will government get any)". He said only lawyers stand to gain from this humongous tax notice, if true.
"₹55,000 crore GST demand! I am intrigued ki Tax vaalo ke dimaag mein kya chalta hoga aise notice bhejte samay. The only explanation is - kuchh nahi. Monopoly ki game chal rahi hai bas. Na koi tax dega itna - na Sarkar ko milega. Milegi sirf vakilo ko fees jo SC mein ise challenge karenge. Bas another day of harassing businessmen," Grover wrote on X.
The Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) has reportedly sent out a dozen pre-show cause notices to online real money gaming companies over alleged goods and services tax (GST) evasion of about Rs 55,000 crore. A GST notice of over Rs 25,000 crore has been sent to fantasy sports platform Dream11, led by Harsh Jain, which makes it possibly the largest indirect tax notice served in the country, The Economic Times reported citing people with knowledge of the matter. Apart from Dream11, pre-show cause notices have also been served to Play Games 24x7 and its affiliates, and Head Digital Works, as per the report.
Grover further asked if this much GST was to be paid, were the authorities sleeping all these years. He also said that sending these alleged notices is akin to casting aspersions at the 'Big 4' accounting firms.
"Agar itna GST banta tha to kya GST vaale 10 saal se so rahe the. Ya fir saare Big 4 accounting vaalo ko kuchh nahi aata ki woh companies ke tax audit pass kar rahe the," said Grover.
Grover said "restrospective tax" is not desirable and requested Ministry of Finance and Prime Minister's office to address this issue.
"This is called ‘retrospective tax’. Aaj notification nikal di (as clarification) ki pehle se aap ka tax banta tha 28% on face value. Congress had Vodafone retrospective tax - BJP has Gaming GST retrospective tax. Lot changes and sometimes nothing changes. Kind request to @FinMinIndia @PMOIndia to address this issue - not helping in our target of $5 trillion economy," posted Grover.
The alleged notices were sent after the GST Council decided to levy a 28% GST on online gaming on the full face value of bets at entry level.
Casino operator Delta Corp has received tax notices totalling Rs 16,822 crore from the Directorate General of GST Intelligence on Friday. This demand is for the period between July 2017 and March 2022.
One notice for Rs 11,140 crore has been raised against Delta Corp. The other notice for Rs 5,682 crore has been raised against three of its subsidiaries -- Casino Deltin Denzong, Highstreet Cruises and Delta Pleasure Cruises.
Delta Corp said that the GST notice is based on gross bet value and not gross gaming value. It said it would pursue legal remedies to challenge this order. It has also pointed out that such tax demands are not a company-specific problem, but an industry-wide phenomenon.
"Demand of GST on gross bet value, rather than gross gaming revenue, has been an industry issue and various representations have already been made to the Government at an industry level in relation to this issue," the firm said in a stock exchange filing.
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