Ophthalmic Surgeon’s Chairs and Eye Operating Tables Are Medical Furniture at 18%: AAR Gujarat

The Gujarat Authority for Advance Ruling rejected the applicant’s plea for heading 9018, holding that motorised chairs, refraction units, instrument tables and trolleys fall under heading 9402, taxable at 18%.

The Gujarat Authority for Advance Ruling has held that specialised ophthalmic chairs, stools, refraction chair units, operating tables, instrument tables and phaco trolleys are medical or surgical furniture under heading 9402, and not instruments or appliances under heading 9018. They attract GST at 18% under Entry 611 of Schedule II to Notification No. 09/2025-Central Tax (Rate) dated 17 Sep 2025. [In Re: Myvision Medical Gidc, 2026-juristway.com-3272-AAR(Gujarat)-GST]

Sushma Vora, Member (SGST), and Vishal Malani, Member (CGST), gave the ruling on an application by an Ahmedabad manufacturer that supplies motorised surgeon’s chairs, doctor’s sitting stools, ophthalmic instrument tables, refraction chair units, eye operating tables and instrument trolleys exclusively to eye hospitals, surgical centres and clinics.

The applicant argued that the products, with motorised controls, precision adjustment systems and medical-grade construction, are integral components of ophthalmic diagnosis and surgery and fall under heading 9018 as ophthalmic medical apparatus. It offered heading 9402 as the alternative, given the products’ structural resemblance to furniture.

The Bench observed from the photographs and descriptions that the products prima facie appear to be furniture used in the medical and surgical fields. Examining Chapter 90, it found no mention of such products in heading 9018, whose HSN Explanatory Notes expressly exclude medical or surgical furniture such as operating tables, examination tables and hospital beds, and point to heading 94.02.

The HSN Explanatory Notes to heading 9402 cover operating tables, beds and seats for use in eye treatment, special seats for doctors and surgeons, and small tables and trolleys specially designed for instruments. On a plain comparison, the Bench held that all the applicant’s products are covered by heading 9402.

It classified the motorised surgeon’s chairs, doctor’s sitting stools and ophthalmic refraction chair units under sub-heading 94021090, and the eye operating tables, ophthalmic instrument trolleys and ophthalmic instrument tables under sub-heading 94029090. All of them fall under Entry 611 of Schedule II, which covers heading 9402, and attract GST at 18% (9% CGST and 9% SGST).

2026-juristway.com-3272-AAR(Gujarat)-GST