PC faces tax bill for brain surgery
A Police officer faces a £4,800 tax bill for surgery to remove a brain tumour that was paid for by his force.
Hampshire Police paid £12,000 for the operation to be carried out privately after the officer was told there was an eight month wait on the NHS.
But the Inland Revenue decided the treatment was a taxable benefit and presented the officer with a bill.
Chief Constable Paul Kernaghan said the Revenue’s actions were a ‘public disgrace’.
‘Brain surgery is not performed on a whim, nor is it a cosmetic procedure, it is a procedure no one undertakes lightly,’ he said.
‘The NHS should have treated the officer much quicker, it failed to do so and we were able to step in. Yet the officer is now being penalised. That is just plain wrong.’
However, the Revenue said it was normal to tax such procedures as benefits given to employees in the same way as company cars are levied.