The world of VAT can be confusing in everyday life, but even more so in the aesthetics world. Medical treatments and health services are exempt from VAT, meaning those offering them do not have to pay tax on their supply.1-4 However, this has led to some confusion among the specialty as to whether aesthetic treatments are classed as medical and are therefore exempt from tax.
According to HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC), services are exempt when both of the following conditions are met:5
Unfortunately, HMRC does not provide more detail on which treatments are qualified as ‘protecting, maintaining or restoring a person’s health’. Accountant Samantha Senior, founder of The Aesthetics Accountant and member of the Association of Accounting Technicians, notes that practitioners should be careful when splitting their treatments into ‘medical’ or ‘cosmetic’, as it is dependent on the diagnosis and…
