No One Would Pay So Much Tax Nor the Govt. Would Get Anything:Ashneer Grover On Rs. 55000 Cr GST Demand

Bharat Pe's founder Ashneer Grover on Tuesday lashed out at the government after the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) sent out 12 pre-show cause notices to online real money gaming (RMG) companies.

On Twitter (formerly X), Grover wrote, "₹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."

He further questioned GST and Big 4 accounting companies's competency and said, "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."

As per Grover, it was a "restrospective tax" which was also something that happened against Vodafone in the Congress regime. "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." added the Bharat Pe founder.

Reportedly, the Directorate General of GST Intelligence (DGGI) sent out 12 pre-show cause notices to online real money gaming (RMG) companies. This was over alleged Goods and Service Tax (GST) evasion of about Rs. 55,000 crores. Fantasy sports platform Dream 11, led by Harsh Jain got a GST notice over Rs. 25,000 crores. This possibly makes it the largest indirect tax notice ever served in the country as reported by Economic Times citing people with information on the matter.

Industry executives also told ET that with more notices expected in the coming weeks, total GST demand raised by DGGI from real money gaming companies might be about Rs. 1 lakh crore.

Dream11 has reportedly moved to the Bombay High Court against the pre-show cause notice issued to it.

The Economic Times quoting one of its sources said, "While Dream11 has been served a pre-show cause of over Rs 25,000 crore on Monday, a similar notice seeking GST dues of Rs 20,000 crore has been issued to Play Games24x7 and its affiliates, including RummyCircle and My11Circle. A pre-show cause notice raising a demand of over Rs 5,000 crore has been served to Head Digital Works,"

There are a variety of online games where users can wager on the outcome run by Play Games 24x7. My11Circle, a competitor of Dream11, Rummy Circle a competitor of Gameskraft game RummyCulture are amongst the company's major products.

Reportedly, the DGGI's Mumbai unit alone has issued around seven pre-show cause notices in the last 3 days asking companies why a GST demand should not be raised. "More pre-show cause notices will follow suit, including from Delhi, Hyderabad and Bengaluru units. These companies now have five to seven days to reply to the notices. Once their replies are studied, show cause notices with GST demand will be raised," said the same source ET quoted.