Private ruling: GST - other health services
Date of advice: 8 April 2026
Published: 15 June 2026
Ruling period: XX/XX/XXXX to XX/XX/XXXX
Date scheme commenced: XX/XX/XXXX

Ruling: Q1: Are the counselling services you provide to your clients GST-free supplies under Subdivision 38-B of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act)? | A1: No, you are not making GST-free supplies under Subdivision 38-B of the GST Act when you supply counselling services to your clients. You are making taxable supplies under section 9-5 of the GST Act which are subject to GST.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are a qualified counselling therapist and a registered member of a professional association. You are not registered as a psychologist or a social worker. You are required as part of your professional registration to maintain recognised minimum qualification standards. You are required to participate in regular clinical supervision to maintain your professional registration. You operate a private counselling practice as a sole trader and are registered for GST effective XX/XX/XXXX. You provide counselling services. Clients contact you directly and you receive referrals from other health practitioners. You provide X counselling services independently and not at the direction of referring health practitioners. You may share information with referring health practitioners where the client provides informed consent or where there are concerns regarding client safety. You undertake a structured treatment process. You do not involve third parties in the clinical intake process, clinical assessment, treatment delivery, or therapeutic decision-making. You provide counselling services in a confidential therapeutic setting. You receive direct payment from clients for your counselling services. Your services are not eligible for Medicare benefits. You do not provide services to participants under the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). You attend regular clinical supervision sessions with a registered health professional. The supervising health professional does not attend any of your client counselling sessions. You pay directly for the clinical supervision sessions, and you do not charge clients for the supervision sessions. You maintain that the nature of your services is psychological, therapeutic, and treatment-focused.

Relevant legislative provisions: A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 subsection 7-1(1) | A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 9-5 | A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 subdivision 38-B | A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 subsection 38-10(1) | A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 195-1

Reasons for decision: Summary: All references are to the GST Act, unless otherwise stated. Subsection 7-1(1) provides that GST is payable on taxable supplies. Under section 9-5 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. You supply counselling services for consideration in the course of carrying on your GST-registered enterprise in Australia, and these supplies are taxable to the extent that they are not GST-free or input taxed. Your counselling services do not fall within any provision that makes your supplies input taxed. It is necessary to consider whether your supplies are GST-free under Subdivision 38-B which encompasses GST-free health supplies. As your services are not eligible for a Medicare benefit and you do not currently provide services to NDIS participants, the only GST-free provision under Subdivision 38-B that may apply to your services is subsection 38-10(1). | Detailed Reasoning - GST-free 'other health services': Subsection 38-10(1) provides that a supply is GST-free if: a) it is a service of a kind specified in the table in subsection 38-10(1), or of a kind specified in the GST 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. The health service must satisfy all of these elements to be a GST-free supply. | Detailed Reasoning - Listed Health Services: The services specified in the table in subsection 38-10(1) are: | Detailed Reasoning - Service: 1 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander health 2 Acupuncture 3 Audiology, audiometry 4 Chiropody 5 Chiropractic 6 Dental 7 Dietary 8 Herbal medicine (including traditional Chinese herbal medicine) 9 Naturopathy 10 Nursing 11 Occupational therapy 12 Optometry 13 Osteopathy 14 Paramedical 15 Pharmacy 16 Psychology 17 Physiotherapy 18 Podiatry 19 Speech pathology 20 Speech therapy 21 Social work Goods and Services Tax Industry Issue - Health Industry Partnership - Section 38-10 Other health services advises that to qualify as a 'service of a kind specified in the table', the service must be the provision of one of the services listed and a service that is similar to a listed service does not satisfy this requirement. It explains that the list must be strictly interpreted as referring to the specific services listed because if the list was not intended to be interpreted strictly, there would be no necessity, for example, to include audiometry alongside audiology under item 3 of the table. One of those terms would be superfluous. Item 16 of the table in subsection 38-10(1) specifies psychology. To practise as a psychologist in Australia, you must be registered with the Psychology Board of Australia. This is done via the Australian Health Practitioner Regulation Agency (AHPRA) which maintains a register of health practitioners including psychologists. Therefore, to operate as a registered psychologist in Australia, you must be registered as a psychologist with AHPRA. While we acknowledge the value of counselling services, you are not a registered psychologist with AHPRA. As such, you do not satisfy item 16 of the table in subsection 38-10(1). You utilise psychotherapy in your practice. Goods and Services Tax Industry Issue - Health Industry Partnership - Are the services of psychotherapists and psychoanalysts GST-free? advises that psychotherapy is not a service of a kind specified in the table in subsection 38-10(1). Rather, psychotherapy may be considered a technique of one or more of the services listed in that table. Counselling services are not listed in the table in subsection 38-10(1) or in the GST regulations.Therefore, your counselling services do not satisfy the requirement in paragraph 38-10(1)(a) even though you utilise psychotherapy in your services. As counselling services are not a service of a kind specified in the table in subsection 38-10(1) or specified in the GST regulations, your supplies of counselling services are not GST-free under subsection 38-10(1). Your counselling services are taxable supplies under section 9-5 and therefore, subject to GST.