Edited version of private advice

Authorisation Number: 1052361802668

Date of advice: 6 March 2025

Ruling

Subject: GST - health services

Question

Are you making a GST-free supply of specified allied health services (specified health services) under section 38-10 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act)?

Answer

No.

Relevant facts and circumstances

You are registered for GST.

You operate a business in Australia.

You provide specified health services to individuals, including initial consultations, treatment planning and ongoing therapeutic interventions.

You provided a list of services that you provide.

Your patients include individuals of diverse demographics and patients who may have specified problems.

You receive referrals from general practitioners, psychologists, physiotherapists or via self-referral.

You have been providing the specified health services since a specified date and have been paying GST on the supply of these services.

You have specified qualifications relevant to your field.

You are a member of and operate in compliance with professional standards and codes of conduct set by the Australian Psychological Society (APS) and other specified bodies.

Your formal qualifications are equivalent to (and beyond) that required of other allied health professionals.

While the relevant associations in Australia continue to create professional standards, you are already working with a high level of psychological, medical and other specified expertise.

The services you provide are accepted as necessary for the appropriate treatment of patient's conditions and align with standards for recognised psychological interventions, such as Cognitive Behavioural Therapy, Mindfulness-Based Cognitive Therapy and other evidence-based approaches.

You are aware that your supply of the specified health services is not GST-free under section 38-7 of the GST Act because:

•                     no medicare benefit is payable in respect of your services, and

•                     you are not a medical practitioner/doctor nor do you supply your services on behalf of a medical practitioner/doctor.

You are not registered with the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) to practice as a psychologist.

The following is on the Australian Psychological Society's website[1]:

Psychology is a regulated profession, like medicine, psychiatry and law.

To call yourself a psychologist and to practise as one, you need to register with the http://www.psychologyboard.gov.au Psychology Board of Australia (PsyBA), which is part of the https://www.ahpra.gov.au Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA), formed in July 2010.

Relevant legislative provisions

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 9-5

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 38-10

A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 195

Reasons for decision

All legislative references in this ruling are to the GST Act, unless otherwise stated.

Section 9-5 provides that you make a taxable supply if:

(a)          you make the supply for consideration

(b)          the supply is made in the course or furtherance of an enterprise that you carry on

(c)          the supply is connected with the indirect tax zone (Australia), and

(d)          you are registered or required to be registered for GST.

However, the supply is not a taxable supply to the extent that it is GST-free or input taxed.

Based on the information you provided, your supply of the specified health services satisfies paragraphs 9-5(a) to 9-5(d) as you supply these services for consideration, in the course of your enterprise, these supplies are connected with Australia, and you are registered for GST.

However, your supplies will not be a taxable supply to the extent that they are GST-free or input taxed.

Your supply of the specified health services is not input taxed under any provisions of the GST Act or any other Act. Therefore, we need to consider whether the supply of the services is GST-free.

Division 38 provides that certain supplies relating to health are GST-free. In your case, the only relevant provision to examine is section 38-10.

Other health services

Subsection 38-10(1) provides that a supply of health services is GST-free if:

(a)          it is a service of a kind specified in the table in this subsection or of a kind specified in the regulations

(b)          the supplier is a recognised professional in relation to the supply of services of that kind, and

(c)          the supply would generally be accepted, in the profession associated with supplying services of that kind, as being necessary for the appropriate treatment of the recipient of the supply.

All three requirements in subsection 38-10(1) must be satisfied for a supply of health services to be GST-free under this subsection.

The first requirement in paragraph 38-10(1)(a) is that you must supply one of the services listed in the table referred to in this subsection.

You are supplying specified health services. The specified health services are not of a kind of services listed in the table in subsection 38-10(1).

Where a service is not a supply of a kind specified in the table in subsection 38-10(1), the requirement in paragraph 38-10(1)(a) will be satisfied if the service is a standard technique or a component of the supply of one or more of the services listed in the table and is supplied by a 'recognised professional' as defined in the GST Act.

Psychology services are listed in the table. However, you are not supplying 'psychology' services, as to call yourself a psychologist and to practise as one, you need to register with PsyBA, which is part of the AHPRA. Therefore, you are not a recognised professional in relation to psychology.

Further, you are not supplying any of the other services listed in the table in subsection 38-10(1).

As you do not satisfy all the requirements under subsection 38-10(1), your supply of the specified health services is not GST-free under section 38-10.

Conclusion

As it is determined that your supply of the specified health services to your patients is not GST-free under section 38-10, your supply is a taxable supply because all the requirements under section 9-5 are satisfied.

[1] Australian Psychological Society website href="https://psychology.org.au/psychology/careers-and-studying-psychology/registering-psychologist">https://psychology.org.au/psychology/careers-and-studying-psychology/registering-psychologist, accessed 3 March 2025.