On August 29, 2016, Canada Revenue Agency (“CRA”) released a ruling on the applicability of the Goods and Services Tax (“GST”) and Harmonized Sales Tax (“HST”) to the supply of dietetic services by a registered dietitian to a public sector body pursuant to a Service Agreement. In Ruling Document number 165366, CRA ruled that the dietetic services supplied were exempt from GST/HST in accordance with section 7.1 of Part II of Schedule V of the Excise Tax Act (“ETA”).
Part II of Schedule V of the ETA exempts certain supplies of health care services. Section 7.1 specifies that “[a] supply of a dietetic service rendered by a practitioner of the service” will be exempt “if the service is rendered to an individual or the supply is made to a public sector body or to the operator of a health care facility.” In this fact scenario, the individual requesting the ruling met the definition of a practitioner under section 1 of Part II and the recipient organization met the ETA’s definition of a public sector body. Additional factors considered by CRA included the type of services supplied under the Service Agreement, the province where the services were supplied, and whether the supply was a qualifying health care supply under the ETA.
Although a GST/HST ruling such as this one is binding on CRA so long as “none of the issues discussed in the ruling(s) are currently under audit, objection, or appeal; no future changes to the ETA, regulations or the CRA’s interpretive policy affect its validity; and all relevant facts and transactions have fully and accurately disclosed,” it is also fact specific. As such, organizations that are public sector bodies or health care facilities under the ETA and receive supplies of dietetic services may wish to review whether these services are also exempt in accordance with section 7.1 of Part II of Schedule V.