Taxation of Lottery under GST Acts

Whether CGST Act, 2017 and IGST Act,2017 to the extent propos­ing to tax lot­tery is beyond the Con­sti­tu­tion­al def­i­n­i­tion of ‘goods’? Whether lot­tery is ‘goods’ or n ‘action­able claim’?

Held in the case of “Teesta Dis­trib­u­tors & Ors. v. Union of India & Ors., Order in W. P. No. 18424 (W) of 2017 dat­ed 10th Octo­ber, 2018” that A lot­tery tick­et can be held to be goods if at all only because it evi­dences the trans­fer of a right. Lot­ter­ies being action­able claims are gen­er­al­ly speak­ing “goods” or mov­able prop­er­ty. Since lot­ter­ies are gen­er­al­ly speak­ing ‘goods’ and come with­in the def­i­n­i­tion of ‘action­able claims’, and since, lot­ter­ies are kept out of the purview of ‘action­able claims’ which do not attract the CGST Act, 2017, lot­tery can there­fore be charged to tax Under the CGST Act, 2017.