When a person attends a GP or goes under the knife, Vat isn’t usually payable on the doctor’s fees.  The service is exempt from Vat. The same is the case with many transactions in the course of a life – from nappies (zero rated) to the services of undertakers (exempt).  Vat rates and charging conditions are set out in EU as well as Irish law because Vat is fundamentally an EU tax – it is harmonised to help equalise the EU single market and because a sliver of Vat collected by each member state (about a third of a per…