Surgeon who f ixed Jackson’s face is tax defaulter
CELEBRITY cosmetic surgeon Dr Patrick Treacy may have a furrow in his own brow this week after being named on the latest Revenue tax defaulters list.
The Irish Mail on Sunday can reveal that Dr Treacy – who once treated Michael Jackson – has been hit with a tax bill of over €135,000 for under-declaration of VAT.
The physician, who treats some of Ireland’s leading ladies at his Ailesbury Clinic, was named this month after Revenue audited his Dublin 4 cosmetic business.
Dr Treacy told the MoS that the VAT bill relates to prescription drug Botox, which he argues should not be subject to VAT.
‘This is mostly regarding a VAT issue on Botox that we are presently defending in the courts,’ Dr Treacy claimed.
‘Similar cases have also been taken by doctors in Sweden and the UK in European Courts [to decide] whether a doctor should be zero rated. We will, as ever, engage with the Revenue authorities to reach a fair conclusion of these issues.’
Doctors contend Botox should be tax exempt as it is a prescribed drug and administered by a doctor. Revenue Commissioners don’t subscribe to this idea and have hit Dr Treacy with three bills for €81,183, €32,359.32 and €24,354.90 – a total of €137,897.22 – for underdeclaration of VAT. Dr Treacy is not the only medical professional facing a hefty tax bill following Minister for Finance Michael Noonan’s decision to initiate a full tax audit of the medical sector. Responding to a parliamentary question from Fianna Fáil’s finance spokesman Michael McGrath, Mr Noonan said: ‘At end March 2016, a total of 752 Revenue compliance interventions had been opened on medical consultants and their controlled companies, with some 370 of these interventions having been finalised, resulting in settlements of almost €46.5million, including tax, interest and penalties.
‘I am aware that Revenue continues to evaluate the programme towards targeting specific tax risks in the sector and leveraging Jackson heard Dr Treacy on RTÉ
‘This is regarding an issue with Botox’
tax compliance generally.’ Dr Treacy is a Botox and fillers specialist who hit headlines a decade ago after becoming Michael Jackson’s surgeon of choice.
Last year, he published his autobiography, Behind The Mask, detailing his life and friendship with Jackson.
They met in 2006 after Jackson, who was living in Ireland, heard Treacy speak on the Ryan Tubridy Show. Jackson later arranged to meet him through an assistant.
‘We opened the clinic late at night to avoid the press but at this stage I didn’t know who to expect,’ Treacy later explained. When he arrived he said, “Hello, I’m Michael Jackson”.’
Dr Treacy was singer’s physician of choice