By Tamara Cohen
Last updated at 9:31 AM on 17th October 2011
The cost of cosmetic surgery is set to rise by 20 per cent under plans to levy VAT on operations.
Facelifts, breast enlargements and tummy tucks will all be subject to the tax, making them hundreds of pounds more expensive.
The move, which could raise up to �500million a year for the Treasury, has been condemned by the cosmetics industry as a ?boob tax?.
Mark up: The cost of breast enlargements is set to rise 20 per cent after Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs released new guidelines for surgeons
Under guidelines from HM Revenue & Customs, doctors performing cosmetic operations must register for VAT and pass the charge on to patients unless they can prove the procedures are being carried out for medical reasons.
This would raise the cost of a typical breast enlargement ? the most popular cosmetic procedure ? from �5,000 to �6,000.
Fazel Fatah, president of the British Association of Aesthetic Plastic Surgeons, said: ?The proposals being put forward by HMRC will potentially harm large numbers of patients.
?They imply that, by definition, any procedure that corrects appearance rather than function is not a medical need. There has been no meaningful discussion with the professional bodies involved.
?We can only hope common ground can be found that protects the wellbeing of patients while balancing the obvious need to increase tax revenues. With surgery, we are quite literally dealing with human lives.?
The updated guidance says patients will avoid paying VAT only if a doctor or psychologist has diagnosed them with a medical condition.
It states: ?Cosmetic services are usually performed so that the individual concerned may feel better about their appearance.
?The mere fact that a cosmetic treatment may make a person feel more confident about their appearance is not in itself sufficient to make the treatment exempt.?
It considers non-essential procedures to include facelifts, tummy tucks, breast enlargements, liposuction, and hair and tattoo removal using lasers.
Non-essential procedure? Facelifts are to be regarded as operations undergone solely for vanity
Treasury minister David Gauke is understood to have written to concerned MPs defending the proposed policy.
It lays the Government open to accusations of profiting from the success of the cosmetic surgery industry, which is thought to be worth �2.3billion a year and has grown by 17 per cent since 2008.
More than 38,000 procedures were carried out last year, including 9,430 breast enlargements on women.
Eyelid surgery was the next biggest category, carried out on 5,779 people, followed by facelifts on 4,756, nose jobs on more than 4,000 and 1,000 operations to correct ears that stick out.
The price of a facelift would rise from around �6,000 to �72,000 under the proposals.
Sky News presenter Kay Burley, who has had the procedure, said: ?These proposals are an attack on women at an incredibly vulnerable time in their lives.?
VAT is currently charged only on minor beauty treatments such as Botox and chemical peels carried out in High Street clinics.
Consultant plastic surgeon Douglas McGeorge, a former president of the BAAPS, criticised the new guidance, saying cosmetic surgery could help prevent psychological problems.
He said: ?Everyone is in uproar about this. The amount of money HMRC will make out of this is astonishing.
?Should prominent ear correction be taxed; an operation performed on young children to prevent them being bullied and developing psychological problems?
?What level of asymmetry or abnormality is required to justify breast surgery? When do large breasts create enough of a physical problem to allow treatment?
?Large noses will kill no one on their own, but can create major problems in life that prevent individuals contributing to society and, indeed, have been known to result in self-harming.
?Our role is to make sure patient needs justify treatment. Any justification to HMRC of our decisions on VAT will be impossible unless patient confidentiality is breached.?
But HMRC said the guidance sent to trade professionals was simply clarifying existing rules.
The rules set out in a 2007 document state that cosmetic surgery could be subject to VAT but that ?each case will need to be considered on its individual merits?.
Accountants have been advising plastic surgeons that they are therefore exempt from VAT.
An HMRC spokesman said there was ?no change in government policy on VAT for cosmetic surgery?.
He added: ?It is not charged on surgery for medical reasons, and is charged for surgery for aesthetic reasons.?
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