New Delhi, June

Healthcare service will include occupation health check-up service by the hospital and will not attract Goods and Services Tax, Gujarat’s Appellate Authority for Advance Ruling has upheld.

The appellant, Baroda Medicare which runs Sunshine Global Hospitals at Manjalpur, Vadodara and Surat moved to AAAR after Gujarat AAR said that it will be liable to pay GST at the rate of 18 per cent on the payment received directly from the business entity for health services in relation to Occupational Health Check-up (OHC) or preventive care along with ambulance facility and allied medical services under “human health and social care services”.

The AAAR observed that the Occupational Health Check-ups is covered under Service Code 999312. This code includes, general medical services consisting of the prevention, diagnosis and treatment by doctors of medicine of physical and/or mental diseases. These services are not limited to specified or particular conditions, diseases or anatomical regions. They can be provided in general practitioner’s practices and also delivered by outpatient clinics at home, in firms, schools etc. or by phone, internet or other means.

It also clarified that any service by way of diagnosis or treatment or care for illness, injury, deformity, abnormality or pregnancy in any recognised system of medicines in India is covered under the definition of “health care service.”

Beneficial for employees

Sandeep Sehgal, Tax Partner with AKM Global, a tax and consulting firm, says AAAR has rightly enunciated that preventive check-up and early diagnosis, especially for the employees facing certain occupational hazards, is also an important part of health care irrespective of the places wherever it is provided and the meaning can’t be restricted to only the diagnosis contained within the hospital. Hence, such services would not be subject to GST. “This ruling will benefit the businesses who provide this facility to their employees as the cost for these services will remain low especially since GST paid on the same would be ineligible as an input tax credit being a block credit u/s 17(5) of CGST Act. This would indirectly benefit such employees as well,” he said.

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