The Indian Chemical Council (ICC) has requested the Department of Revenue in the Ministry of Finance to exempt it under the service tax category.

In a letter to the Department of Revenue, ICC said that the government has exempted associations, councils or chambers representing industry or commerce from June 16, 2005 to March 31, 2008 from service tax on the membership, subscription fees, grants received from centre and other overseas bodies.

However, during the intervening period of three financial years, i.e., 2008-09, 2009-10 and 2010-11, the chambers of commerce and associations were unclear about the position and have not taken registration under the service tax, the ICC said and requested for extending the date of exemption.

?For helping the industry, ICC with the support of the Ministry of Chemicals and Fertilisers has set up Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) help desks at Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad, Mumbai and Vadodara. These help desks have been set up through the Ministry?s grants to the Council,? it said.

The ICC further said that it also works in cooperation with overseas organisations of UN and receives grants from these bodies for promoting common cause in India.

?In view of these, we sincerely request to exempt ICC under the Service tax category. Such exemptions are also given to some of the export councils. Until then, period for service tax needs to be extended. This will definitely go a long way for the Council to start complying with the provision of act for our future transactions,? it said.