The tax council was checking out the country’s biggest Pvt hospital to find that they have to file the GST on food provided to get admitted the patients.
As per the present guidelines GST will not be applied towards any service which is given by the hospitals except they are concerned with cosmetics, including cosmetic surgeries. Majority of the hospitals engaged within the food costs for the room rent for patients.
The tax council is finding the proportion of the food component in room rent as well as urged to impose GST on the same. Legal experts direct that it can go towards the hardships and should be challenged.
Abhishek A Rastogi, a partner at Khaitan & Co. stated that “As the medical services qualify for exemption, any incidental and ancillary services such as serving food to the inhouse patients would fall within the purview of exemption. It must be noted that these are naturally bundled in the ordinary course of business and hence any denial of exemption must be challenged,”
The hospital authorities have been asked by the tax council upon the same subject and in certain cases have provided the notices to some hospitals.
GST is the harder matter for the hospitals as they are concerned about accumulated tax credits because they cannot set off the payable GST 
MS Mani, a partner at Deloitte India said that “The GST exemption for primary healthcare services does not permit healthcare establishments to avail input tax credit on their procurements unless they are engaged in providing taxable healthcare services, which are relatively few. In the absence of an end-use-based exemption on medical devices and equipment, the healthcare establishments would be required to treat a large proportion of the GST paid on procurements as a cost in the absence of any offset,”
GST to which the hospital filed on the buy of the stent is not passed towards the patient who is going through heart surgery, thus the amount lasted is entitled to be non utilized in the hospital record.
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The hospitals are being questioned how they provide and charge for food whether an outside caterer is included and if the food is moved on to patients on the straight cost. According to the tax council, the food provided to the patient in the hospital is not part of the essential services and must be taxable.
The experts said that food that comes beneath the room price GST is not applicable.“There is no separate additional consideration charged for the food and this means that there should not be any tax applicability on this portion,” said Rastogi.
