29/10/2025
Justice, it seems, wears a very well-arched brow.
The long-awaited Illuminate Skin Clinics v HMRC ruling has arrived, and with it comes a gust of fresh, fair British logic. The tribunal made clear what many have quietly anticipated: medical registration alone does not grant exemption from VAT or accountability.
HMRC’s position is delightfully plain. Treatments intended primarily to enhance appearance are cosmetic, not medical. Only in the rarest circumstances, where a procedure treats a diagnosed disease, disorder, or clear medical condition, can it be considered therapeutic and exempt from VAT.
In other words, your average wrinkle-softening, filler-smoothing, or fat-melting service? It’s VAT-able. And rightly so.
Just as the NHS may fund a breast reduction for health reasons but not a cosmetic enlargement for preference, HMRC has drawn a similar line. Beauty, for all its joy and artistry, is a luxury, not a necessity. And luxuries, as every Brit knows, come with a little tax tag attached.
So what does this mean for our world of injectables and skin artistry? It means the scales are finally balancing. The field is levelling. The rules that have long applied to one side of the industry are now being recognised across the board, with fairness, clarity, and a welcome sense of equality.
Day by day, the industry is realigning. Small changes, perhaps, but unmistakable ones. We are witnessing the quiet restoration of fairness and accountability.
So, dearest practitioner, take heart. The cosmetic aesthetics industry in the United Kingdom has been formally recognised for what it is: an art, a skill, and yes, a luxury. Not medicine, not mandatory, but a service of choice.
And when the taxman himself agrees that vanity is not medicinal, perhaps we can all agree that honesty has, at last, entered the dialogue.
https://www.gov.uk/tax-and-chancery-tribunal-decisions/illuminate-skin-clinics-limited-v-hmrc-2025-ukut-00341-tcc
