Medical practitioners and dentists in New Jersey offering cosmetic procedures, such as electrolysis or tooth whitening, are required to pay a cosmetic tax. The tax, which began in 2004, is on any cosmetic procedure performed in order to improve the patient’s appearance without significantly serving to prevent or treat illness or to promote proper functioning of the body. Gross receipts from such procedures were taxed at a rate of 6% until this year.
On January 17, 2012, Governor Christie signed a bill to phase out the tax, as it imposes too much of a burden not only on patients, but on the medical offices that must collect the tax and state agencies that enforce it. As part of the phase-out, on July 1, 2012, the rate was decreased to 4% until July 1, 2013, when it will completely disappear.