International schools in the United Kingdom should be exempt from the government's plan to levy a 20 percent tax on private education, several nations have contended.

The new tax will come into force in January, after the Labour Party government decided to apply value added tax, or VAT, to private education. VAT had not applied to any kind of education in the past, but the government said private education should be seen as a luxury enjoyed by families that opt out of free, state-funded education and should be taxed.

But several embassies have pointed out that families posted to the UK from overseas do not see international schools as a luxury but a necessity that ensure their children can learn their national curriculum in their own language.

Countries have also pointed out that it would be unfair to tax international schools when British overseas schools are not subjected to such taxes.

France is among nations that have expressed concern, according to the Financial Times newspaper, which quoted France's embassy as saying that, while it "does not seek to interfere in the legislative process" of the UK, diplomatic officials have "expressed concerns" about the proposed new tax.

France currently oversees 11 schools in the UK, including the Lycee Francais Charles de Gaulle, in west London, which charges annual fees of almost 17,000 pounds ($22,730).

The proposed new tax would push those fees up to more than 20,000 pounds per student if passed on to parents.

"They are not typical private schools", the embassy told the paper. "We have been in contact with the British government and hope that the implementation of the reform will take into account the very distinctive nature of these schools."

An unnamed official from Spain's embassy also told the Financial Times the nation has called on the UK to exempt schools, including the Spainfunded Instituto Espanol Vicente Canada Blanch.

"It operates as a not-for-profit public school, providing free education to Spanish nationals resident in the UK and very reduced fees to British and other nationalities," the official told the paper.

Germany's embassy is also lobbying the UK over the issue.

The UK's finance minister has said the nation could collect 1.5 billion pounds a year from the new tax.

While a small number of the UK's private education facilities are international schools, most are British institutions attended by around 6 percent of the UK's school-age population.

Research by the Institute for Fiscal Studies think tank found 75 percent of children at private schools in the UK are from the nation's wealthiest 30 percent of households.