Tax authorities are auditing the country’s largest private hospitals to ascertain whether they should pay goods and services tax on food provided to admitted patients.
According to current regulations. GST does not apply to any service provided by hospitals unless they are related to cosmetics, including cosmetic surgeries. Most hospitals include food charges in the room rent for inpatients.
The tax department is ascertaining the proportion of the food component in room rent and wants to charge GST on that.