Dentist
We have experience gained over many years of advising dentists. From advising associates in practice, to single dental practitioners and partnerships, we can provide you with both general business advice and assistance with matters unique to you.
Our particular areas of expertise include the following:
Accounts
You need to be able to monitor the practice’s performance without spending a lot of your valuable time getting the information together. We can assist you in establishing/tailoring your systems so that this management information is readily available in the appropriate format for you.In addition, we provide a comprehensive set of annual accounts detailing your practice’s performance.
As part of our accounting service we meet with you to discuss these accounts to help you in reaching conclusions about ways to improve in the future.
Recent guidance on generally accepted accounting practice relating to when you recognise income may mean you are understating your profits. Have you considered this? It could have a significant impact on your tax liabilities. You need clear procedures in place for recognising work in progress and debtors in your accounts. We can advise you on this.
Employment advice
If you employ associates we can help you determine how profitable they are to you and if necessary help you to determine a more profitable arrangement.If you are a self employed associate, you may need guidance on keeping records, and advice on claiming for business expenses and paying your tax liabilities.
Can you treat your hygienists as self-employed rather than employed, so avoiding putting them on the payroll? This is not straightforward and getting it wrong could mean HM Revenue & Customs comes after you for the tax and National Insurance you should have deducted.
Your future
Are you aware currently what your projected benefits will be on retirement? This is something to check sooner rather than later. We can advise you of the effect on your future benefits of buying added years or making additional voluntary contributions. You may also wish to consider making pension contributions based on your private income. You may be wasting valuable tax relief!Premises
If you are considering new premises, have you looked at all the financing options? There are specialist lenders with a particular interest in dentists.Financial planning
Do you plan for future tax payments? We will calculate these and advise you well in advance of the payment dates, to help you plan the practice’s cashflow. In some cases, our clients prefer that we make provision for future tax liabilities in their accounts, reflected in partners’ drawings. This helps them monitor drawings and avoids partners drawing excessive amounts, not leaving enough to cover their tax payments.Taking financial planning a step further, we can assist you in establishing a structure for partners’ capital and current accounts, determining appropriate amounts for partners to leave in the practice as capital and establishing what is available for them to draw out on a monthly basis. A clear policy on partners’ drawings greatly assists in managing cashflow.
Practice finance
Have you considered obtaining or restructuring finance for the practice / partners. You may be paying more than you need to in bank charges and interest. We can introduce you to alternative lenders. Through careful planning it may be possible for you to get tax relief on your borrowings, where you have not previously done so. We have done this many times in the past.Other partnership matters
We can assist you in drafting partnership agreements, with partnership negotiations and with dispute resolution. You may have issues with the ongoing running of the practice, or perhaps succession planning for new partners or retiring partners, including the structuring of a deal. We can assist you in all these areas. |  | Related literature: |
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