Private ruling: GST and the supply of home care
Date of advice: 20 October 2015
Published: October 2015

Ruling: Q1: Is GST payable on your supply of services provided to the recipients of Home Care Packages? | A1: GST is not payable on your supply of services of providing personal care. The service is covered by item 2.1 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Quality of Care Principles (item 2.1); and thus, is GST-free. GST is payable on your supply of services of providing home care, meal preparation, shopping, assistance during appointments, home maintenance and gardening. The services are not covered by item 2.1; and thus, is not GST-free. The supply is a taxable supply. Your supply of providing respite care, overnight care and 24-hour care is a mixed supply where they incorporate personal care. The supply is GST-free only to the extent of personal care provided. The remainder of the supply is taxable.

Relevant facts and circumstances: You are registered for goods and services tax (GST). You provide the following services: • Personal care - showering, dressing, shaving, grooming • Transfers and lifts • Hoisting/using mechanical aids • Toileting • Bowel care • Catheter care • Transporting (non-ambulatory clients) • Peg feeds (nurse trained) • Home care - dusting, vacuuming, sweeping hard floors, washing floors • Sweeping small porches or verandahs • Removing cobwebs from ceilings and walls • Making beds • Ironing • Laundry (washing and hanging out/bringing in, putting away clothes) • Cleaning toilets and commodes • Cleaning bathrooms including shower, bath, basin and floors • Washing dishes, drying and putting away (if required) • Wiping down benches • Tidying and wiping out the refrigerator • Maintenance of oven cleanliness • Reading and writing correspondence • Meal preparation - cooking a meal from scratch • Meal planning • Reheating a pre-prepared meal • Shopping - accompanied shopping or bill paying (where authorised) • Unaccompanied shopping • Appointment - assisting a client to attend an appointment either medical or personal • Respite care - recreation assistance (e.g. attending aquarobics) • Socialisation/companionship • Shifts usually incorporate personal care and/or home care tasks • Overnight care - assistance and monitoring overnight with varying degrees of personal care activity based on the client's condition and requirements • 24 hour care - Assistance and monitoring for a 24-hour period with varying degrees of personal care activity based on the client's condition and requirements • Home maintenance - spring cleaning, cleaning and defrosting the refrigerator • Oven cleaning, window washing, changing lightbulbs • Moving furniture, gutter cleaning, fence building • Installation of OH&S equipment • All handyman jobs and repairs • Pest control (rats/mice, cockroaches, bees/wasps) • Smoke alarms (supply and install) • Carpet cleaning, Industrial cleaning • Electrical work, Plumbing work • Gardening - pruning, lawn mowing, weeding, rubbish removal, planting • Other garden maintenance You do not receive government funding in connection with your supply of services. You enter into contracts with government-funded entities who acquire your services on behalf of individuals with care needs. Under the contracts, you provide your services to those individuals.

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 subsection 38-30(3) and | A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 section 195-1.

Reasons for decision: Summary: GST is payable on a taxable supply. Section 9-5 of the A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 (GST Act) states: You make a taxable supply if: (a) you make the supply for *consideration; and (b) the supply is made in the course or furtherance of an *enterprise that you *carry on; and (c) the supply is *connected with the *indirect tax zone; and (d) you are *registered, or *required to be registered. However, the supply is not a *taxable supply to the extent that it is *GST-free or input taxed. (*denotes a term defined under section 195-1 of the GST Act). Based on the information provided, you supply your services for consideration and in the course of carrying on your enterprise. The supply is connected with the indirect tax zone as your services are done in the indirect tax zone. Furthermore, you are registered for GST. Thus, the requirements of paragraphs 9-5(a) to 9-5(d) of the GST Act are satisfied. Accordingly, the supply of your services is a taxable supply unless the supply is GST-free or input taxed. Subsection 38-30(3) of the GST Act provides that a supply of home care is GST-free if the supply is of services: (a) that are provided to one or more aged or disabled people; and (b) that are of a kind covered by item 2.1 (daily living activities assistance) of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Quality of Care Principles. Based on the information provided, you provide your services to one or more aged or disabled people. Thus, what remains to be determined is whether your services are covered by item 2.1 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 to the Quality of Care Principles (item 2.1). If a particular service is covered by item 2.1, your supply of that service is GST-free. If the service is not covered by item 2.1, then the supply of the service is a taxable supply. Item 2.1 relates to personal assistance, including individual attention, individual supervision, and physical assistance with the following: (a) bathing, showering, personal hygiene and grooming; (b) maintaining continence or managing incontinence, and using aids and appliances designed to assist continence management; (c) eating and eating aids, and using eating utensils and eating aids (including actual feeding if necessary); (d) dressing, undressing, and using dressing aids; (e) moving, walking, wheelchair use, and using devices and appliances designed to aid mobility, including the fitting of artificial limbs and other personal mobility aids; (f) communication, including to address difficulties arising from impaired hearing, sight or speech, or lack of common language (including fitting sensory communication aids), and checking hearing aid batteries and cleaning spectacles; but excludes hairdressing. The personal care that you provide is covered by item 2.1; thus, your supply of providing personal care is GST-free. Home care, meal preparation, shopping, appointment, home maintenance and gardening are not covered by item 2.1; thus, your supply of providing these services is not GST-free. Your supply of providing respite care, overnight care and 24-hour care is a mixed supply where they incorporate personal care. The supply is GST-free only to the extent of personal care provided. The remainder of the supply is taxable.