NHS economic regulator Monitor has said private firms such as InHealth, Specsavers and Virgin Care could be exempt from the tax in line with public sector hospitals to rectify the problem of an “unfair playing field” in health care.
Currently public sector hospitals do not pay corporation tax and VAT on supplies, unlike private companies.
You can imagine the screams, eh?
But Jamie Reed, the shadow health minister, urged the Government not to let “tax avoiders into the NHS.”
Quite. Not that it would be tax avoidance: it would be a specific provision of law and even Ritchie says that\’s not tax avoidance.
The VAT one looks a bit strange. It should really only be a cash flow issue. Unless medical care when billed is VAT exempt (is that right?) in which case they can\’t claim back VAT spent on supplies.
Exempting them from paying VAT doesn\’t look right therefore: making sure they can reclaim it would solve any serious problem.
As to corporation tax: stop whining for God\’s sake.
….not to let “tax avoiders into the NHS.”….
Seeing as the NHS is apparently not paying tax that like not letting violent crooks into the mafia
Provision of medical care is indeed a VAT exempt activity, well mostly. In which case all the VAT on purchases becomes an irrecoverable cost.
http://customs.hmrc.gov.uk/channelsPortalWebApp/channelsPortalWebApp.portal?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pageVAT_ShowContent&propertyType=document&id=HMCE_CL_000121#P8_250
Yup, it’s exempt.
Medicines are zero-rated, so VAT on supplies, expenses, overheads can be reclaimed, but medical services are exempt so it can’t be.
And no, you can’t just load all the costs onto the drugs rather than the services; they’re wise to that one.
The difference between VAT exemption and zero-rating distorts the market in favour of private-sector suppliers.