VAT ruling on cosmetic procedures slammed by surgeons

Government plans to add VAT onto cosmetic surgery procedures have been heavily criticised by surgeons across the UK.

Currently, cosmetic surgery is exempt from VAT so long as its primary purpose is for the 'restoration' or 'maintenance' of health.

However, new regulations will now mean that customers booking procedures that are not considered to be part of a treatment programme for a recognised medical condition must fork out an additional 20 per cent tax on top of the purchase price.

Some of the procedures that will fall under the new VAT rules include such as breast augmentation, liposuction and rhinoplasty.

However, according to The British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons (Baaps) working out which customers should pay the VAT and which should be exempt from it will be extremely difficult, as many people undergo cosmetic procedures for psychological reasons.

Baaps claims that the government are simply levying the tax in order to raise extra funds from the cosmetic surgery sector – it has been predicted that the hike could result in an additional £500 million for government coffers each year.

However, HMRC reports that the new guidelines are simply "clarifying an existing rule", according to the BBC.

The former head of Baaps and consultant plastic surgeon, Douglas McGeorge, told the news provider, “If you make surgery 20 per cent more expensive it will push people abroad into cowboy clinics and as a result we'll see more damaged patients coming back. It will cost us a lot more in the long run.”

One customer, fitness instructor Kerry Gibson, 22, told the BBC that she is "desperate" to have a tummy tuck but that the new VAT ruling may leave her being unable to do so. “I've always been very big, when I was 15 my dad left. I emotionally ate and I ended up weighing 22 stone. I have loose skin after losing all that weight,” she said.

“I am trying hard to raise the money but adding VAT to it would just make it impossible. I can't afford that and I don't think it's fair I should have to pay more,” added Ms Gibson.