The short answer: Podiatry services are generally GST-free, but the orthotics and footwear you sell are a mix of GST-free medical aids and taxable retail, income comes from private health (HICAPS), Medicare chronic disease items and DVA, and the main bookkeeping job is separating service income from product sales and tracking your consumables and orthotics stock properly.
Key takeaways
- Podiatry treatment is GST-free, but whether a product is GST-free depends on what it is: custom orthotics can be GST-free medical aids, general footwear is taxable.
- That mix makes most established podiatry clinics a mixed-GST business that must register and split its BAS.
- Income comes through private/HICAPS, Medicare CDM (up to 5 allied health visits on a GP plan) and DVA, each reconciled differently.
- Orthotics and consumables are real stock: track cost of goods sold, not just sales, or your margin is a guess.
On this page
GST: service versus product
The treatment is the easy part: podiatry care is a GST-free health service under the ATO's GST rules. The retail counter is where it gets technical. Certain medical aids and appliances are listed as GST-free, and custom foot orthoses supplied as part of treatment can fall into that category. General retail footwear, insoles sold off the shelf and comfort products usually do not. Practically, that means a podiatry clinic across the Geelong and Bellarine region is almost always a mixed business: some GST-free income, some taxable, and a BAS that has to reflect both.
| Item | Typical GST treatment | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Podiatry consultation and treatment | GST-free | Recognised health service |
| Custom orthotics as part of treatment | Often GST-free | As a listed medical aid/appliance |
| Off-the-shelf insoles and footwear | Taxable | General retail sale |
| Nail care products, creams for resale | Taxable | Retail unless specifically listed |
The income streams
Like most allied health, podiatry income lands through several doors for the same appointment. Private patients pay a fee with a HICAPS rebate on the spot. Patients on a GP Chronic Disease Management plan can claim a Medicare benefit for up to five allied health visits a year. DVA covers eligible veterans. Each of these settles on a different timeline, so record the appointment once and reconcile each funder against its own remittance.
Orthotics and stock
Orthotics are the number most podiatry practices get wrong. A pair of custom devices has a real cost: the lab fee or the raw materials and machine time. If you record only the sale and never the cost of goods sold, your reported profit is inflated and you cannot see your true margin on devices versus consults. Set up a simple stock and COGS approach in your books so every device sold carries its cost with it.
Software and Xero
Practice software such as Cliniko or Nookal runs the diary and billing; Xero is the accounting record. Post a daily takings summary split by payment type and GST rate, and reconcile the bank feed against it. Keep orthotics lab invoices in Xero as bills so the cost and the sale can be matched.
Staff, contractors and payday super
An associate podiatrist working set sessions in your rooms is usually an employee, with PAYG, leave and super under the Health Professionals and Support Services Award published by Fair Work. From 1 July 2026, super is paid on each payday, not quarterly, at the 12 per cent super guarantee rate, so payroll data has to be right every run.
| Metric | Why podiatry owners watch it | Healthy signal |
|---|---|---|
| Device margin | Orthotics can be profit or a hidden loss | Sale price well above lab + chair time |
| GST-free vs taxable split | Wrong split means a wrong BAS | Reviewed whenever product lines change |
| Medicare/DVA debtor days | Funders pay on their schedule | Reconciled to remittances, chased weekly |
| Consult vs product revenue | Shows what really pays the rent | Reviewed each quarter |
Getting paid: Medicare, DVA and private
Podiatry income arrives through several doors on different timelines, and treating them as one lump is where reconciliation falls apart. Private patients pay a fee with a HICAPS rebate on the spot, so that money is in the account the same day. Medicare Chronic Disease Management benefits are paid on Medicare's own batch schedule. DVA pays eligible veterans' accounts on its cycle, often weeks after the appointment. Record the appointment once, then reconcile each funder against its own remittance rather than against the day you did the work. Keep an eye on debtor days for the slower funders, because a clinic that is busy every day can still be short of cash if a large Medicare or DVA batch is running late. The discipline is the same as any allied health practice: book the work, watch the receivables, and never assume the invoice figure and the paid figure are identical.
Setting up your Xero accounts
A podiatry clinic's books only stay clean if the chart of accounts is built for a mixed business from the start. Give consultations, orthotics and product sales, DVA and Medicare their own income accounts so you can see at a glance what is service and what is retail. Create a separate cost of goods account for orthotics lab fees and materials, so every device sale carries its cost. Set the correct GST tax rate on each product line, because that single setting is what makes your BAS accurate without a monthly untangling exercise. Add a tracking category per practitioner if you have more than one, so revenue and margin can be read per clinician. Half an hour spent structuring this properly saves hours every quarter and removes the guesswork about whether it is consults or orthotics actually paying the rent.
One more habit protects your margin over time: review your product price list against your latest lab and supplier costs at least twice a year. Orthotics and consumable costs creep up quietly, and a price that made sense eighteen months ago can slip below its true cost without anyone noticing. Because your books already separate device sales from their cost of goods, that review takes minutes rather than a full stocktake, and it keeps the retail side of the clinic genuinely profitable rather than quietly subsidised by your consultations.
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Podiatry books that separate service from stock?
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Book a Free 20-Minute CallThe bottom line
A podiatry clinic in Geelong is a health service and a retail shop under one roof. The treatment is GST-free, the products are a case-by-case mix, and the orthotics you sell are stock with a real cost that has to be tracked. Get the GST rate right on every product, reconcile each funder to its own remittance, and cost your devices honestly. Then you can finally see whether it is consults or orthotics actually paying the bills.