The proposal from the centre-right: «Abolish VAT on cosmetic surgery services»
"Health - argue the signatories - also includes psychological well-being"
(Handle)
The centre-right presented a motion asking the government to intervene with a provision to remove VAT from cosmetic surgery operations , while guaranteeing regulatory certainty for operators in the sector, who have been struggling with the Revenue Agency for some time.
«Medicine and cosmetic surgery services - explains the first signatory Annarita Patriarca (Forza Italia) - must fall within the category of health services not subject to VAT treatment. The concept of health includes any state of complete physical, mental and social well-being which does not consist merely in the absence of disease or infirmity".
"Applying the tax today - continues Patriarca - even requiring payment for the past, represents a critical issue for sector operators and for the patients themselves, as well as contradictory conduct on the part of the tax authorities".
Among the signatories of the motion also the Northern League Simona Loizzo and the FdI deputy Luciano Ciocchetti .
The theme has been at the center of a legal dispute for years: in 2005 a circular from the Revenue Agency certified the services of cosmetic surgery as exempt from VAT, as they are "connected to psychophysical well-being" . However, some local offices of the Revenue Agency contested the lack of payment of VAT in the light of a ruling by the EU Court of Justice according to which aesthetic operations fall within medical treatment, exempt from VAT, only if they have to do with trauma, handicaps and illnesses . Finally, the Cassation also intervened which, endorsing the European sentence, established that it is up to the taxpayer-doctor to demonstrate that the conditions exist which legitimize the request for exemption.
The motion therefore calls for an end to this dispute by exempting all aesthetic interventions from VAT.
The leader of the Italian Left Nicola Fratoianni is critical: «While they are preparing to remove the superbollo for those who own a 300 thousand euro Ferrari, they are asking the government to remove the VAT on cosmetic surgery. I would expect greater attention to those who can no longer afford dental care, or those who can no longer afford to pay for medicines or who wait months if not years to be able to be examined ».
(Unioneonline/L)
