Qld GP tax scrapped: Battle over higher doctor fees won

Queenslanders won’t be slugged extra fees to see a GP after the state government and doctors reached a compromise on a heated payroll tax stoush.

Queenslanders won’t be slugged extra fees to see a GP after the state government and doctors reached a compromise on a heated payroll tax stoush.

And the peak body for GPs across Australia is now warning other states to follow suit or risk losing doctors to Queensland, after a survey found a third of GPs were willing to move where payroll tax settings were more favourable.

The state government and GPs have been locked in a battle over the application of payroll tax laws since January, when the Sunday Mail highlighted doctors’ warnings that clinics would have to shut shop or hike costs if authorities made them pay.

Queensland Treasurer Cameron Dick.

Peak bodies representing doctors — including the Royal Australian Collage of General Practitioners (RACGP) and Australian Medical Association Queensland (AMAQ) – had been adamant the state had started auditing clinics to glean payroll tax based on a new interpretation of law sparked by a NSW tribunal ruling.

The state government maintained nothing had changed since 2008, only that clinics liable for tax didn’t realise they were.

But the stoush is expected to be resolved when the Queensland Revenue Office issues a ruling next week to clarify that under normal business arrangements, patient fees and out of pocket expenses aren’t subject to payroll tax when GPs are paid directly.

Treasurer Cameron Dick said he expected the move would be a “viable option” for GPs moving forward.

RACGP Queensland chair Dr Bruce Willett said GPs across Queensland would be “celebrating” and the community should too as the move meant certainty for practices which now “won’t need to increase out-of-pocket fees to cover a new tax, because there is none”.

“It will help to keep general practice care affordable, which means healthier people and less spending on expensive hospital care. It is smart, future-focused reform for our community,” he said.

Victoria and NSW state revenue offices published rulings in August confirming for the first time that many independent GPs working in medical centre would be subject to payroll tax.

RACGP President Dr Nicole Higgins, a practice owner based in Mackay, called on the other states to follow Queensland’s lead or risk losing out.

It comes after RACGP survey found a third of GPs would consider moving interstate for favourable payroll tax settings, and that more than half would have to increase out-of-pocket fees by $20 or more if they were slugged by authorities.

The state government earlier this year put in place a two-and-a-half-year grace period for GP clinics unaware they were liable for payroll amid coverage from the Courier-Mail and Sunday Mail.

Dr Willett said the grace period would now act as a buffer for doctors and practice owners to adjust to any new operation methods that need to be put in place.