Starting a dental practice from scratch may offer the dentist a great opportunity for success. However, if they do not take the proper approach and do not have the proper team, it can also be a very stressful proposition. Unfortunately, the business side sometimes takes a back seat to the emotional side. In addition to needing demographic information, a dental attorney, a lease negotiator, a dental lender, etc., a knowledgeable dental CPA is a must. Our team of Dental CPAs has the industry experience that helps avoid unnecessary surprises during the process that many dentists may encounter when they try to handle the process on their own. Here’s some of the specifics we can offer the dentist who is looking to start a practice from scratch:
We will assist you with developing your initial practice cash flow projections and advise you in formulating reasonable patient production, collections, expense and debt service assumptions. We provide advice specific to your situation including capital and operating budgets. Many times the dentist will develop the initial projections and request that we look them over and advise on any changes, additions or deletions. However, sometimes the dentist wants us to create a set of initial projections which we will do, using our own excel worksheets then have the dentist look those over so we can talk about any required changes.
We will work with you and your legal advisor to determine which legal entity is best suited for you based upon your situation and federal & state income tax considerations. Many of the dental attorneys we work with want us to have the initial entity conversation with our clients so we can advise them which entity they need to create. Your attorney will create the entity and once we get state confirmation that the entity has been approved, we can prepare the necessary applications required to obtain your Federal EIN and state tax IDs that you will need for various reasons like banking, payroll, PPO credentialing, etc. We will also advise you on how you should be taxed initially and if any tax elections are needed.
We will assist you with setting up your initial bookkeeping software, set up the initial dental specific chart of accounts, and set up the connections with your business bank account and credit card. We can then provide up to one hour of training on the software so that you are acclimated with using all the features and you can begin to handle the bookkeeping side of the business, if you so choose. We will also assist in selecting an outsourced payroll provider to handle all of your payroll needs for the new entity.
We want to prepare income tax projections for the year your start-up will open its doors for several reasons. We do NOT like surprises and we want you to be prepared for the impact this endeavor will have on your income tax returns for that year. This will also allow us to advise you on various income tax strategies that we may deploy for the optimal income tax positioning, not only in your first year, for future years as well. We consider the timing of when deductions should be taken, how certain expenses should be categorized, such as capital and operating expenses, portions of the tax code that will benefit you like Code Sec 179 and 197 and so forth. Planning WHEN to take your deductions is imperative.
Lastly, we will be available to assist you with routine business matters on which you need assistance and seek our advice regarding your start-up project. We are here to help you through the process regardless of the questions you have.