Content
Brave New World
Business Not Pleasure
Summertime Blues
All That Glitters...
Casting The Net
Trust Gordon?
It Ain't Over...
One In The Eye
Keep Your Nose Clean
Foreign Affairs
When Is A Car...
Don't Walk Away
Avoiding, The Issue
Brown Is Anti-PC
VAT's Up Doc?
Fuel's Gold
An Age-old Question?
That's Unfair!
Year In Year Out
How Hard To Try?
It's A Rip-Off!
Outlaws Win
Show Some Restraint
Not Our Problem
They Cannot Be Serious?
Merry-Go-Round
Pension Disappointments
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A number of doctors' practices have registered for VAT for the first time in April this year. This won't make much difference to the patients - most of what a doctor does isn't VATable - but it will make a bigger difference to the practice, which will have to get used to filing VAT returns. The reason is a change in the way the NHS reimburses doctors for the drugs they use. Drugs are bought with VAT attaching, and sometimes that VAT is recoverable from Customs - if the doctor is registered for VAT. The NHS used to reimburse the VAT to doctors who weren't registered, but their new line is: "if you could get it back from Customs, you can't get it back from us". This seems pointless, as one government department or the other should be picking up the bill, and the poor doctors are stuck in the middle. But that's how it is. There is a possible problem with being VAT-registered. If you do something which isn't covered by the normal VAT exemption for medical care, you will have to charge VAT on it, even though it's only a small amount and below the normal registration threshold of £61,000 a year. Customs have been carrying out a consultation on whether doctors should charge VAT on some fringe activities such as examinations for insurance policies or legal claims. They haven't yet published the results, but it's possible that doctors who registered in April - to recover some VAT on the cost of drugs - may later this year find that they have to start accounting for output tax on some of the things they have traditionally not charged VAT on. If you are a doctor and need help with your VAT, we will be happy to help.  |
© Bayar Hughes & Co., 2010.