Australia Amends GST Act to Include Another Category of Drugs and Medicine Preparations that are now GST-Free

July 26, 2017

Kaitlyn Smethurst

Author

Sovos

This blog was last updated on June 26, 2021

The Australian Parliament recently amended the GST Act of 1999, to add an additional category of drugs and medicine preparations, which are now included in the list of GST-free goods seen in section 38-50(6)(b) of the Australian GST Act. The new section, 38-50(6)(ba), states that a supply of a drug or medicinal preparation is GST-free, if that supply is authorized by the rules stated in sub-section 19(7A) of the Therapeutic Goods Act of 1989.

Sub-section 19(7A) of the Therapeutic Goods Act includes, drugs or medicine preparations made by “any health practitioner who is included in a specified class of health practitioners to supply: (a) specified therapeutic goods for use in the treatment of humans; or (b) a specified class of such goods”. Additional information, as well as the language of sub-section 19(7A) of the Therapeutic Goods Act can be seen here.

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Kaitlyn Smethurst

Katie Smethurst is a Regulatory Counsel at Sovos. Within Sovos' Regulatory Analysis function, Katie focuses on global sales tax and VAT issues, supporting both the tax determination and reporting engines. Katie received her B.A. in International Relations and Spanish from Roger Williams University and her J.D. from Suffolk University Law School. She is a member of the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Bars.