Is This GST-Free? Quick Check
Answer one question about a specific service, procedure or item and see whether it is likely GST-free, taxable, or genuinely borderline.
Is this GST-free?
Pick the area of practice, then the closest match to what you are invoicing.
What are you invoicing?
Likely GST-free
Dental is a listed health service under section 38-10. Clinical treatment, including restorative work that follows decay, trauma or a medical condition, is GST-free regardless of which procedure is used.
GST Act s 38-10
This is a quick, general check against the two purpose tests in sections 38-7 and 38-10 of the GST Act. It is not a ruling on your specific facts. Once you know which of your income is GST-free, use the GST & BAS calculator to see your BAS position.
GST-free or taxable often turns on why a service was provided, not what it was called on the invoice. This quick check walks through the same fact patterns covered in the GST & BAS calculator's own reasoning, by area of practice, and gives you a fast answer with the section of the GST Act behind it.
Why this is a separate question from your BAS
The GST & BAS calculator takes your GST-free and taxable income as inputs; it assumes you have already sorted your income into the right buckets. This tool is for the step before that: working out which bucket a specific service, procedure or item belongs in.
Get the classification wrong here and the BAS calculation downstream is wrong too, however carefully it is done. A dollar of cosmetic work booked as GST-free understates the GST payable; a dollar of genuine clinical treatment charged with GST overcharges the patient and misstates the BAS in the other direction.
The purpose test, not the procedure
Sections 38-7 and 38-10 of the GST Act do not classify by the name of a procedure. They classify by its purpose. Clinically necessary treatment of a diagnosed condition, provided by a registered health practitioner, is GST-free. The identical-looking procedure performed for appearance, convenience or retail reasons is not.
That is why the same crown, the same massage, or the same orthotic can sit on either side of the line depending on why it was provided. This tool asks for the fact pattern rather than the procedure name for exactly that reason.
Four professions, four places practices get caught
Dental, physiotherapy, psychology and podiatry each have their own recurring trap, and each is covered here with the specific scenarios most likely to come up: cosmetic dental work dressed up as restorative, stand-alone massage booked as if it were clinical treatment, psychology reports commissioned by the wrong payer, and orthotics sold off a shelf versus fitted after an assessment.
A general medical category covers everything else: clinical treatment, cosmetic procedures, prescriptions, retail sales and non-clinical work such as medico-legal reports.
Where "it depends" really means depends
A few scenarios here return "it depends" rather than a clean answer, and that is deliberate rather than a cop-out. A clinical assessment bundled with ongoing coaching is two supplies, not one, and needs to be invoiced as two. A workers compensation report sits closer to GST-free than one commissioned by a solicitor, but the specific engagement still decides it.
Treat a "depends" result as a signal to read the reasoning shown, not as a coin flip. Most of the time the deciding fact is one you already know: who is paying, and whether what you did was treatment of the patient or something else wearing a clinical hat.
What this calculator does not do
It does not issue a ruling. It applies the same purpose test the ATO applies, to the closest matching fact pattern, and shows the reasoning so you can check it against your own facts.
It does not cover every possible scenario in every profession. Where nothing here matches closely, that is itself useful information: the answer is genuinely unclear enough to be worth a specific question to your accountant or tax agent rather than a guess.
Where the amount at stake is material, confirm the classification before you rely on it for a lodgement.
Frequently asked questions
Why does the same procedure sometimes come back GST-free and sometimes taxable?
GST classification follows the purpose of the work, not the procedure's name. The same crown, massage or orthotic is GST-free when it treats a diagnosed condition and taxable when it is chosen for appearance, convenience or sold at retail with no clinical assessment behind it.
What does an "it depends" result mean?
It means the scenario turns on a specific fact the quick check cannot see, such as who is paying or whether the work is genuinely treatment of the patient. Read the reasoning shown for that scenario before invoicing it either way.
Does this replace the GST & BAS calculator?
No. This tool classifies one service, procedure or item. Once you know which of your income is GST-free and which is taxable, use the GST & BAS calculator to see your actual BAS position.
Related calculators
This calculator provides general information only and is not tax advice. It does not account for your individual circumstances. Confirm figures against the relevant legislation or with a registered tax agent before relying on them for a lodgement.
Reviewed by eHealth Systems Pty Ltd