6 NEWS
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6 NEWS
6 OCTOBER 2023 ausdoc . com . au
GP clinic faces $ 450k tax bill
Mathew Simpson .
Sarah Simpkins DR Tonya Coren and her husband , Mathew Simpson , were issued a $ 450,000 retrospective payroll tax bill in August and a three-week deadline to pay in full .
The owners of First Light Healthcare , which runs two GP practices in Byron Bay and Ballina , started dealing with the audit from Revenue NSW in 2022 before their organisation received the bill approximately
12 months later .
Having endured the Northern Rivers floods in early 2022 , which forced the Ballina practice to temporarily shut down , Mr Simpson said he was more disappointed than shocked to receive the tax bill .
“ The NSW Government has demonstrated that it does not possess a thorough enough appreciation for the challenges in primary healthcare ,” he said .
“ Nor does it have a genuine desire to set aside the pursuit of payroll tax as other states and territories have had the good sense to do .”
Even with the pause in audit activity announced by NSW Minister for Finance Courtney Houssos , Mr Simpson said the $ 450,000 tax bill remained a “ contingent liability ” on the group ’ s balance sheet , hanging over its head for the next year at least .
First Light Healthcare was
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“ Our experience was a gradual and cumbersome interaction with Revenue NSW , and it has cost us a reasonable amount of money in direct and indirect costs ,” Mr Simpson said .
Since the couple acquired the Byron Bay practice in 2016 , they expanded it from a three-doctor practice to its current position : two clinics with around 25 GPs and an extensive allied health , pathology and specialist team .
Mr Simpson did not know why their practices had been targeted for an audit despite asking Revenue NSW for an explanation .
“ The lack of consultation between the states and territories and their respective primary care constituents is appalling ,” he added .
‘ It has cost us a reasonable amount of money in direct and indirect costs .’
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“ They have pieced together an opportunistic policy on the run , which is extremely disappointing , particularly given how depleted the primary healthcare workforce is post-COVID-19 .”
He said he “ would like to think ” the NSW Government would follow Queensland and SA in “ shelving this ill-conceived policy aside for a period so that the industry can make appropriate structural changes ”.
“ It has cast a cloud over the viability and appeal of the sector to practice owners , to lenders and investors , and it introduces an array of totally unnecessary overheads , such as legal and accounting fees , bank payment system and IT subscriptions .”
He challenged state and territory ministers to “ adopt a bipartisan stance alongside crossbench and federal counterparts to bring logical , innovative and long-overdue structural changes to the healthcare system ”.
“ The pursuit of payroll tax will prove to be a political misstep ,” he said .
“[ It will prove to be ] an unnecessary distraction for the sector at a time when bold leadership is required to rapidly transition consumers and service providers away from our antiquated fee-for-service system to outcome-orientated , value-based models of care .”