- A hospital employs medical specialists and also works with independent medical specialists organized in the Medical Specialist Company (MSB).
- Hospitals are legally co-liable for the medical actions of these specialists and thus have liability insurance (WA-verzekering).
- The hospital passes on part of the insurance premiums to the MSB.
- The tax inspector claims this is a taxable service, requiring the hospital to pay 21% VAT.
- The Zeeland-West-Brabant court disagrees, ruling that the hospital does not provide a taxable service to the MSB.
- The court states that the insurance service is provided by the insurer, not the hospital.
- The hospital merely passes on a contribution to the insurance costs for covering its liability for the MSB specialists’ medical actions.
- Even if the hospital were providing a service, it would be an insurance service, which is VAT-exempt.
- Advice: If you have hospitals in your client portfolio paying VAT on passed-on liability insurance premiums to independent medical specialists, advise them to contest their VAT returns.
- The Tax Authority is likely to appeal this decision, and any potential refunds will be held pending the outcome.
Source: fiscount.nl
Note that this post was (partially) written with the help of AI. It is always useful to review the original source material, and where needed to obtain (local) advice from a specialist.