Charities and non-profit groups engaged in non-commercial activity are exempt from VAT under the EU VAT Directive, with which Irish VAT law must comply. This means they do not charge VAT on the services they provide and cannot recover VAT incurred on goods and services that they purchase. In this regard, where a hospital or a charity purchases a good or engages a service, any VAT liable in the charge for that good or service must be borne by the hospital or charity.
However, there is provision for the refund of VAT incurred on the purchase of a new medical instrument or appliance by a person who donates such equipment to a hospital. The main conditions relating to this refund scheme are that: the appliance or instrument is new and is donated to a hospital; the appliance costs €25,390 or more in value (exclusive of VAT); the appliance is designed and manufactured for use solely in medical research or in diagnosis, prevention or treatment of illness; the appliance is purchased through voluntary donations, such that no part of the funds used in the purchase is provided directly or indirectly by the State, a State body or any public or local authority; and, the appliance is subject to a recommendation by the Minister for Health and Children that, having regard to the requirements of the health services in the State, a refund of tax would be appropriate.
The VAT refund Order was introduced to help defray the cost of more expensive items purchased by voluntary donations. Items costing less than the threshold of €25,390 are excluded from the relief in order to limit the relief to more expensive medical equipment.
The current threshold level has not changed since the refund was introduced in 1987 at £20,000, which was translated to €25,390 to coincide with the introduction of the euro in 2002. Given inflation since the introduction of the current threshold, in real terms the value of threshold has reduced significantly. Taking inflation into account the 1987 threshold would equate to around €46,500 in 2009 values. In this context a greater level of lower priced medical appliances now qualify under the Order than when the relief was originally introduced.
In the circumstances there are no plans to change the current threshold.