Róisín Shortall (Dublin North West, Social Democrats)
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598. To ask the Minister for Health further to Parliamentary Question No. 552 of 24 October 2023, if by year-end he intends to implement any interim measures to address the concerns of GPs following the determination of the Tax Appeals Commission regarding GMS income; if he intends to await the outcome of the Strategic Review of General Practice, which is not due to be completed this year, before making an intervention; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [49939/23]

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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The collection of taxes and issues relating to the interpretation of tax law are a matter for the Revenue Commissioners. New guidance regarding the tax treatment of GP's GMS income has now been issued by the Revenue Commissions.

Officials from my Department and the HSE engaged with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance prior to publication to understand the context of the new guidance and to identify the potential operational issues which may arise following its publication. The guidance does not reflect a change in tax law, but clarifies how GPs’ GMS income should be treated for the purposes of tax under current tax law. To allow GPs and GP practices time to make any necessary adjustments to their arrangements to ensure compliance with applicable tax policy and legislation, Revenue have implemented transitional arrangements up to the end of 2023.

The Minister for Finance has announced 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.

My Department and the HSE continue to engage with the Office of the Revenue Commissioners and the Department of Finance, as well as with the IMO, on this matter.

The current contractual arrangements for the GMS, as well as other issues, will be examined under the Strategic Review of General Practice, which will propose measures necessary to modernise the contract.

Stephen Donnelly (Wicklow, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 600, 601 and 602 together.

As this is a service matter, I have asked the Health Service Executive to respond directly to the Deputy as soon as possible.

As the Deputy may be aware, management and administrative grade staff in the Fórsa union in the HSE commenced industrial action on Friday, 6 October. As a consequence of this industrial action, members in these grades are not engaging with political forums or processes. As a result, the question asked by the Deputy may be delayed in receiving a response directly from the HSE.