Service Tax applicability - Membership Fees, exhibition fees and advertising

[Guest]

1. Whether an assocaition of specific industry is liable to Service tax on Membership fee collected from its members? 2. Whether an assocaition of specific industry is liable to Service tan on exhibition of its products and services? 3. Whether an assocaition of specific industry is liable in respect of advertisement of products and services advertised in the monthly journal issued by the association? The above assocition is not a club and it is a association of a particular Industry.

[Surender Gupta]

An association is liable to pay service on the membership fees collected from its members. The fees or charges received from members towards exhibition of its products, shall also be liable to service tax. However, the charges for publication of advertisement in the Monthly Journal is to be looked into with more details, purpose, and status in which journal is issued.

AI Summary

Service tax liability extends to association membership and exhibition charges; advertising receipts depend on journal purpose and status. Service tax liability attaches to fees collected by an industry association for membership and for charges levied from members for exhibiting products and services. The taxability of amounts received for advertisements in the association's monthly journal requires analysis of the publication's purpose and the association's status to determine whether those receipts constitute a taxable service.