Dental Practice Bottom Line

If you’re a practice owner with a 401k, Cash Value, or Profit Sharing Plan, now is the time to look at your employer contributions to the plan.  Defined benefit, discretionary matches, and profit sharing contributions are based on last year’s compensation numbers. 

As a Dental Practice Owner, you have a huge advantage over a typical employee in your ability to fund a retirement plan, and the tax benefits are significant.  "Uncle Sam" is helping you fund your retirement in the form of tax deductions.  

Managing cash flow is key to being a financially healthy business.  Most dentists know their monthly cash flows, with a keen awareness of when payroll, credit cards, rent, labs and the other big bills are due each month.  But managing cash flow is not just about increasing next month’s production or reducing expenses.

Medical insurance continues to be challenging for small business owners; carriers are leaving the individual market in many states, forcing some of our clients to look at group insurance as an option.  While there are tax credits available for offices who qualify to help defray the cost, it is an additional staff cost and can be a compliance headache unless you have a knowledgeable agent.&

I received an email from David Harris at Prosperident offering free access to their Embezzlement Risk Assessment Questionnaire for free through the end of August.  This is a quick (15 minutes or less) online questionnaire that allows you to analyze if a staff member's behavior is consistent with embezzlement.

Generally, a dental practice is not required to issue a 1099-MISC to a corporation.  However, remember to track and report fees and proceeds paid to attorneys, as well as payments made to physicians, dentists, medical suppliers, proprietary hospitals, laboratories, and medical centers in excess of $600. 

When you set up or edit a Vendor in QuickBooks, click the “Tax Settings” tab to identify them as a 1099 Vendor. Make it a point to keep track of 1099-eligible vendors throughout the year.