Legally Qualified Medical Practitioner

Legally Qualified Medical Practitioner

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INDUSTRY NEWS
Meaning of “Legally Qualified Medical
Practitioner” (ATO ID 2015/11)
The ATO has interpreted the expression “legally qualified medical practitioner” in the
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) as referring to persons who have general or
specialist registration with the Medical Board of Australia.
The tax implications for a superannuation benefit differ
depending upon whether or not the benefit is a “disability
superannuation benefit” within the meaning of the
Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 (Cth) (ITAA).
Under the ITAA, “disability superannuation benefit” means:
(a) the benefit is paid to an individual because he or she
suffers from ill-health (whether physical or mental);
and
(b) two legally qualified medical practitioners have
certified that, because of the ill-health, it is unlikely
that the individual can ever be gainfully employed in
a capacity for which he or she is reasonably qualified
because of education, experience or training.
As a result, the ATO will not consider a superannuation
benefit to be a “disability superannuation benefit” if at
least one of the two certificates received was completed
by a member of a different health profession, such as
a chiropractor, dentist, nurse, midwife, pharmacist or
psychologist.
This decision is consistent with the decision of the
Administrative Appeals Tribunal in VBI and Commissioner
of Taxation [2005] AATA 683 which found that the
expression “legally qualified medical practitioner” under a
different Act referred to a practitioner qualified under the
relevant legislation to practise medicine.
On 6 March 2015, the ATO issued an Interpretative
Decision, ATO ID 2015/11, which decided that the
expression “legally qualified medical practitioner” in
paragraph (b) referred only to persons who have general
or specialist registration with the Medical Board of
Australia. In the ATO’s view, this is the ordinary meaning
of the expression “legally qualified medical practitioner”
as only members of the medical profession can use the
title of “medical practitioner” under the Health Practitioner
Regulation National Law. As the expression is not defined
in the ITAA, the ordinary meaning should apply.
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