Private ruling: Medical Aids
Published: June 2014

Ruling: Q1: Is a treatment table that is used to provide treatment to patients a medical aid that is GST-free? | A1: No

Relevant facts and circumstances: • You import a variety of adjustable medical beds/tilt tables. These tables are used in medical facilities. • You have provided photographs of the tables. • Your products are electronically operated, and allow the height to be adjusted. Furthermore, the head and foot of the tables can be adjusted so the person using it can adopt a variety of positions, such as sitting up, legs elevated, or lying down. • The tables are marketed to medical practitioners in a variety of fields and are specifically designed for use by medical practitioners. • These products are not used as furniture but in a specific manner as required by the practitioner • You do not have any agreement with the recipients of the supply of the above mentioned items that the supply of these items will not be treated as a GST-free supply.

Relevant legislative provisions: A New Tax System (Goods and Services Tax) Act 1999 9-5 | 38-45 | Schedule 3

Reasons for decision: Summary: Section 7-1 of the GST Act provides that GST is payable on taxable supplies. Taxable supplies are defined in section 9-5 of the GST Act, which 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 Australia; 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. Division 38 of the GST Act covers GST-free supplies. Section 38-45, relevantly, states: (1) A supply is GST-free if: (a) it is covered by Schedule 3 (medical aids and appliances), or specified in the regulations; and (b) the thing supplied is specifically designed for people with an illness or disability, and is not widely used by people without an illness or disability. (2) A supply is GST-free if the thing supplied is supplied as a spare part for, and is specifically designed as a spare part for, another thing the supply of which would be GST-free under subsection (1). (3) However, a supply is not GST-free under subsection (1) or (2) if the supplier and the *recipient have agreed that the supply, or supplies of a kind that include that supply, not be treated as GST-free supplies. Schedule 3 (medical aids and appliances) is a list of medical aids or appliances that are GST-free if they are specifically designed for people with an illness or disability, and is not widely used by people without an illness or disability. The items contained within the list are separated into 27 categories, with 158 separate items listed. Items 59 to 61 of Schedule 3 states: Item Category Medical aids or appliances … 59 Mobility of people with disabilities - physical: bedding for people with disabilities Manually operated adjustable beds 60 Electronically operated adjustable beds 61 Hospital-type beds The items you are importing are not 'beds'. They are treatment tables, which are designed for anyone to utilise for a variety of purposes, such as receiving a medical checkup, receiving medical treatment or receiving remedial massages. The treatment tables are not beds in the sense that they do not constitute bedding for people with disabilities. They are not beds as covered by items 59-61 of Schedule 3 of the GST Act, and are therefore not GST-free. There are no other items within Schedule 3 which the treatment tables could fall under. Furthermore, these items are not specifically designed for people with a disability, as required by subsection 38-45(1)(b) of the GST Act. They do not assist people with an illness or disability in, for example, getting into or out of bed, nor to these items undertake any function to assist a person with a disability to sleep. Therefore, the sale of these goods will therefore be subject to GST.