The Centre has collected Rs 600 crore from the online gaming companies as Tax deducted at source (TDS) and Rs 105 crore from the cryptocurrencies in the current financial year, Chairman, Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) Nitin Gupta said Tuesday.
“We have collected Rs 600 crore from online gaming companies in the first six months,” Gupta said in an interaction with the media.
The CBDT Chairman said that while there was a rule earlier it was subject to diverse interpretations and now rules are simplified, this will ensure better compliance for both players and companies.
From April 1, the online game companies are required to deduct TDS on all winning over Rs 100 from an online game. The provision was introduced after the Income tax department detected that a large number of companies are not paying any tax on winnings from online gaming companies.
The centre made it mandatory for online gaming companies to deduct TDS at 30% of the winning amount under the newly introducing Section 194BA of the Income Tax Act, 1961.
Till the previous financial year (FY 2022-23), TDS on winnings from online games was applicable if the winning amount exceeded Rs 10,000 in a financial year.
In case if a user has multiple user accounts, each user account is considered for calculating net winnings. The deposit, withdrawal or balance will be on the aggregate basis of all user accounts.
The government had introduced the provision of deducting TDS on crypto transaction in the last budget.