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A review of the scope of the VAT exemption for
medical services
LEGAL REFERENCES
European Law
Article 13A(1) provides:
1. Without prejudice to other community provisions,
Member States shall exempt the following under conditions which
they shall lay down for the purpose of ensuring the correct and
straightforward application of such exemptions and of preventing
any possible evasion, avoidance or abuse:
(b) hospital and medical care and closely related
activities undertaken by bodies governed by public law or, under
social conditions comparable to those applicable to bodies governed
by public law, by hospitals, centres for medical treatment or diagnoses
and other duly recognised establishments of a similar nature;
(c) the provision of medical care in the exercise
of the medical and paramedical professions as defined by the Member
State concerned;
UK Law
Item 1 of Group 7 of Schedule 9 to the VAT Act
1994 exempts:
The supply of services by a person registered
or enrolled in any of the following –
(a) the register of medical practitioners or
the register of medical practitioners with limited registration;
(b) either of the registers of ophthalmic opticians
or the register of dispensing opticians kept under the Opticians
Act 1989 or either of the lists kept under section 9 of that Act
of bodies corporate carrying on business as ophthalmic opticians
or as dispensing opticians;
(c) the register kept under the Health Professions
Order 2001;
(ca) the register of osteopaths maintained in
accordance with the provisions of the Osteopaths Act 1993;
(cb) the register of chiropractors maintained
in accordance with the provisions of the Chiropractors Act 1994;
(d) the register of qualified nurses and midwives
maintained under article 5 of the Nursing and Midwifery Order 2001;
(e) the register of dispensers of hearing aids
or the register of persons employing such dispensers maintained
under section 2 of the Hearing Aid Council Act 1968
Health Professions Order 2001
Professions which have registers kept under the Health Professions
Order 2001 are:
- arts therapists;
- podiatrists and chiropodists (Chiropody: the examination,
diagnosis, treatment and prevention of diseases and malfunctions
of the foot and its related structures);
- clinical scientists;
- dieticians (Dietetics: the application of nutritional science
to the maintenance or restoration of health);
- biomedical scientists;
- occupational therapists (Occupational therapy: treatment
aimed at enabling people disabled by physical illness or a serious
accident to relearn muscular control and co-ordination, to cope
with everyday tasks, such as dressing, and when possible to resume
employment);
- orthoptists (Orthoptics: a technique used to measure and
evaluate squint, mainly in children. It includes assessment of
monocular and binocular vision, eye exercises and measures to
combat lazy eye);
- paramedics;
- physiotherapists (Physiotherapy: treatment of disorders
or injuries with physical methods or agents);
- prosthetists and orthoptists;
- radiographers (Radiography: the use of radiation to obtain
images of parts of the body. Radiotherapists are included in this
register);
- speech and language therapists; and
- operating department practitioners.
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