Tax Planning & Preparation.
As a new business owner, you have significant opportunity to maximize your tax effectiveness in your first year of operation. We need to consider Roth Conversions, timing of depreciation recognition, capital gain harvesting, business loss carryforwards, and student loan optimization. This planning needs to begin well before the practice opens to maximize first year tax benefits.
Accounting.
Even as a start-up you still have significant business compliance requirements – in fact, it is the same (if not greater) than in established practices. You need to create accurate financial records through ongoing bookkeeping and generate dental-specific financial statements. Many times, this is a requirement from your lender.
Payroll.
You need to process payroll for your employees and account for all required tax withholdings. While there are many online payroll processing companies, start-up dental practices need to have professional oversight into the payroll functions of the practice to ensure compliance.
Entity Formation.
As you are opening your practice, you have key considerations behind entity formation decisions. In many states, dentists are required to work as professional corporations or professional LLCs, which strip away many liability protections for clinical negligence or malpractice. If you remain as an associate as you ramp up the practice, we also must consider the overall business and entity level planning decisions with multiple sources of income. Lastly, your initial entity formation election and timing will have a significant impact on your tax bill for years to come.