Revenue eBrief No. 237/23

10 November 2023

General Medical Service (GMS) Scheme payments to medical practitioners (Part 04-01-15)

Tax and Duty Manual Part 04-01-15 - General Medical Service (GMS) Scheme payments to medical practitioners - has been updated to provide guidance on the correct tax treatment of income received by medical practitioners under the GMS contract entered into with the Health Service Executive (HSE).

It is important to note that the guidance contained in this manual does not set out a new tax treatment for such income, it confirms the applicable tax treatment under existing law. The manual does, however, take account of the recent announcement by the Minister for Finance of his intention to bring forward an amendment at Report Stage of the Finance (No. 2) Bill 2023 to provide that where individual General Practitioners (GPs) enter into contracts with the HSE to provide certain medical professional services, and provide those services in the conduct of a partnership profession with other individual GPs, the income from those professional services can be treated for income tax purposes as income of the partnership. The proposed amendment is subject to Cabinet approval.

To allow GPs and GP practices time to make any necessary adjustments to their arrangements to ensure compliance with the correct tax treatment of GMS income, Revenue will implement transitional arrangements up to the end of 2023. The transitional arrangements will apply where conditions outlined in the guidance are met.