Sales Tax State Activity Update - July 2005

Pennsylvania Rules on Automatic External Defibrillators

The Department of Revenue has issued a Letter Ruling to explain the taxability of automatic external defibrillators (AED's) and related accessories. During sudden cardiac arrest emergencies, an AED provides an electrical charge to the heart to stimulate a normal heartbeat. The use of an AED is not limited to licensed medical professionals, and the equipment can be purchased without a prescription. Accessories for AED's include hard paddles, disposable electrodes, adaptors, cables and batteries.

Pennsylvania tax law provides exemptions for many health care related items, including therapeutic devices and medical supplies. A Regulation defines therapeutic devices to mean devices designed for the use of a particular individual to correct or alleviate a physical incapacity, and medical supplies to mean tangible personal property used in the alleviation or treatment of injury, illness, disease or incapacity and which is consumed during its use.

The Department of Revenue concluded that the AED and its hard paddles are exempt therapeutic devices, since they are designed to correct abnormalities in the heart's electrical system. The disposable electrodes used and consumed in the treatment of an incapacity are exempt medical supplies. The adaptors and cables would not normally qualify as exempt therapeutic equipment; however either item would be exempt if it were designed exclusively for use with an exempt AED. The batteries would only be exempt if purchased from a medical supply house.

The full text can be accessed here.

(Pennsylvania Sales and Use Tax Ruling, SUT-05-011, 05/10/2005) 07/05

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