UK Cosmetic Surgery Gains Value Added Tax

United Kingdom’s new VAT guidelines reveal than cosmetic surgery costs will increase by 20% in the country. Any surgeon who performs surgery purely for cosmetic reasons needs to register for VAT, which is similar to the US Sales Tax, and charge it to the patient.

The HM Revenue and Customs explains that this isn’t a new law, but rather a clarification about existing laws, and that significant trade players have been given the new guidance.

People in the cosmetics field say this motion should add £500 million (or $780 million) in government income. After all, the UK government, like the others, is constantly looking for ways to decrease its deficit.

Until recently, VAT has only been added to Botox injections, chemical peels, and other simple treatments in beauty salons. A breast enhancement will incline by about £1,000 (or $1,600). If the cosmetic procedure is being sought out for therapy, UK authorities say the VAT can be bypassed.

According to UK officials, “…cosmetic services which are performed mainly for beautification or rejuvenation purposes, or done out of the individual’s free choice rather than out of medical necessity, are liable to VAT at the standard rate. Such services may include: face lifts, tummy tucks, female breast enlargement, liposuction, hair and tattoo removal using lasers and intense pulse light source machines.”

The guidance emphasizes that people won’t be exempted from VAT if their primary reason to have the surgery is to feel good about themselves.

Fazel Fatah, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (BAAPS), reacts to HMRC’s guidelines, saying it could cause more damage to patients and that they’re ruling out any procedure focused on correcting the appearance than function as a medical need, based on their definition.

“We can only hope that common ground can be found that protects the wellbeing of patients while balancing the obvious need to increase tax revenues. With surgery, we are dealing with human lives,” Fatah added.

Plastic surgeons in the UK are already having difficulty, sometimes, in classifying which plastic surgical procedure can be considered as therapeutic and which can’t. For instance, with a woman having asymmetric breasts, at what degree of asymmetry would exempt patients from VAT? The same can be asked for the correction of prominent ears.

Plastic surgery has two branches: cosmetic surgery and reconstructive surgery. Cosmetic surgery entails improving an appearance considered normal to begin with; reconstructive surgery entails the correction of body parts that don’t appear normal, and it’s the surgeon’s objective to give them an appearance closer to the natural.

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