Last year has been challenging for everyone, and some professionals, more than others, need to be praised for their amazing job and strength to face this situation. Doctors are at the frontline facing COVID and other diseases, risking themselves in order to protect others (as they have always done in their career), helping and saving lives. Carrying such an important mission, you don’t have to also face a hard time when doing your tax return; you can count on us. We act on behalf of numerous medical professionals from nurses, Dentist’s, GP’s, Specialist doctors and surgeons.
If you run your own medical practice or a clinic, we can help you with your clinic’s accounting affairs too.
As a doctor, you might work as an employee, sole trader, own your own company or maybe have a family trust. If you are an employee, you will receive your payslips and your employer will hold a portion of your income as tax, of which you could get some back as a refund.
As a contractor, you need to register for an ABN and GST (in case your turnover is higher than $75,000), and you are responsible for your own working expenses. However whether you are a contractor or working under a TFN arrangement the concept of claiming deduction is the same. You claim for all your work related expenses on the doctor’s tax return.
Due to the nature of the profession, doctors usually incur a high number of work-related expenses that can be claimed as a tax deduction. In order to claim these deductions, you must keep a record to prove the expenses, the money should be spent by yourself and not have been reimbursed by your employer; in addition, only expenses related to your work and earning your income can be claimed as deduction.
What expenses can a doctor claim on the doctor’s tax return?
- Work-related self-education expenses: the medical profession usually requires that the person is always studying and updating their knowledge, hence there is a continuous education process happening. Educational expenses can be claimed as a tax deduction, and it involves expenses with course fees, and textbooks.
- First aid course if you are a designed first aid person or completed the course with the purpose of assisting in an emergency work situation.
- Both uniforms or protective clothes and their cleaning
- Car expenses if you travel between different workplaces; however, normal trips from home to work cannot be claimed as a deduction.
- Travel expenses when you travel for attending a conference, working in regional or remote areas, or other work-related functions.
- Parking fees incurred during work-related trips.
- Other working-related expenses that occur in the process of earning assessable income may also be tax-deductible such as work tools, medical equipment and their insurance, telephone expenses (excluding for particular purposes), technical journals and reference books costing less than $300, medical journal subscriptions and publications, professional body’s membership fees, the cost of renewing your annual practicing certificate, etc.
- Home office expenses such as electricity, phone and internet expenses, the decline in value of furniture or equipment.
- Cost of managing tax affairs such as the fees paid for your accountant to lodge your last tax return
- Professional indemnity insurance expense that is required to be maintained by medical practitioners
- Gifts and donations
- Lease costs: if you rent a room within a medical center complex such expenses will be claimable on a doctor’s tax return.
- Medical Centre’s or the clinic’s service fees, which is generally a percentage of your gross income. This could be anywhere between 30%+GST to 60%+GST depending on the contract of engagement with the medical center.
- Books & Subscriptions if you purchased any books or maintained any subscriptions to upgrade/update your knowledge in relation to your line of work. Online subscriptions such as audible could be claimable too.
- Working from home, if you provided telehealth services and had to work from home you may be eligible to claim work from home related deductions on your tax return.
Here at A One Accountants, our team has experience in preparing and lodging tax return for doctors, so it’s one less concern to worry about. You can contact us by calling on 0386091889 to know more or make a booking to see one of our accountants.