Gaming tax & duties
Deposit tax base
A gambling tax computed on money paid into the player account, rather than on stakes, turnover or gross win.
Definition
A tax base measured by what a player deposits into a gaming account rather than by what is staked or by what the operator keeps. Argentina's federal indirect tax is the clearest example: art. 4 of Decreto 293/2022 defines the base as the valor neto del depósito and grosses the tax up as deposit multiplied by the rate divided by one plus the rate. Because liability attaches when funds are loaded, tax is owed on deposits that are never staked and on deposits withdrawn untouched, and the burden scales with player churn rather than with betting activity or hold. Expressed as a share of net revenue a deposit tax has no fixed ceiling, and it rises exactly when payouts rise. Kenya's excise moved to a comparable base. It should never be modelled as a variant of turnover tax.
Regulatory citation