Which countries in Europe charge VAT on Chiropractic services?

---

Request for Question Clarification by mwalcoff-ga on 10 Jul 2004 11:42 PDT

By "Europe," do you mean the 25 EU countries or every European country
from Andorra to Albania?

---

Clarification of Question by nelizabeth-ga on 11 Jul 2004 01:06 PDT

Just the 25 European Union countries

The answer to this is proving more difficult than I thought it would be.

EC Directive 77/388/EEC says that member states should not tax medical services.

However, the following document says that in Greece, Spain, France and
Slovenia, there is no VAT exemption for any medical expenses:

Source:
European Commission, "VAT RATES APPLIED IN THE MEMBER AND ACCESSION
STATES OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY," 30 Oct. 2003,
http://europa.eu.int/comm/taxation_customs/publications/info_doc/taxation/tva/taux_tva-2003-10-1_en.pdf.

Then there's the question as to whether chiropractic counts as a
medical expense. You'd think it would, but until a few years ago, it
was not counted as such for VAT purposes in the UK.

Source:
Her Majesty's Stationery Office, "Statutory Instrument 1999 No. 1575,"
http://66.102.9.104/search?q=cache:JnOxpiQCFPsJ:www.legislation.hmso.gov.uk/si/si1999/19991575.htm+VAT+chiropractor&hl=en.

In Greece, Portugal, Italy and Spain, chiropractic is not legalized.

Source: European Chiropractic Union, "The 2003 ECU Survey on the laws
and regulations regarding chiropractic in Europe,"
http://www.chiropractic-ecu.org/Documents/ECUSurveyOfChiropracticLegislation.pdf.

I've sent an e-mail to the ECU asking for help on this matter.

The head of the ECU just got back to me. She said:

----------------------------

I can only reply for ECU (European Chiropractors' Union) member 
countries and this is based on a survey done about 3 years ago.

The following do not pay VA
Belgium
Cyprus
Denmark
Finland
Germany
Greece
Ireland
Norway
Spain
Sweden
Switzerland

Since the survey was done Iceland and Portugal have joined the ECU and 
I am not sure of the situation but I would think they probably don't pay 
VAT. Denmark was a member of the ECU when the survey was done but are no 
longer.

The following pay VAT
France - 20.6%
Great Britain - 17.5%
Italy - 20%
Netherlands - 17.5%

I am afraid I can't help with those countries who are not ECU members 
but I do know that that in some there are very few chiropractors practicing.

Anyway, I hope this helps.

Anne Kemp
------------------------------

Note that the UK doesn't charge VAT on chiropractic anymore (see above).