Your Practice Manager Wasn't Hired to Be Your Accountant. Here's What Outsourcing Frees Up.

GST. Most medical services are GST-free, but not everything a practice supplies is. Some services and products are taxable, and the mix affects your BAS and the GST credits you can claim. Coding this wrongly is a common and costly error.

Practitioner arrangements. Doctors may work as employees or as independent contractors, often under a service or facilities agreement where the practice charges a fee for rooms, staff and equipment. The way these are structured, priced and documented affects tax, super and payroll obligations.

Payroll tax. State revenue offices have taken a close interest in payments between practices and contracting practitioners, so the arrangement needs to be assessed properly in your state.

Superannuation. Payments to contractors who are engaged mainly for their labour can still carry super obligations, even where they are treated as contractors for other tax purposes.

Service entities. Where a service entity or trust is used, the ATO expects the fees charged to reflect real, commercially reasonable arrangements, supported by documentation.

Complex payment flows. Patient fees, Medicare and other rebates, merchant fees, practitioner distributions and locum payments all pass through the books and need clear reconciliation.

Assets. Medical equipment, fit-outs and vehicles raise depreciation, instant asset write-off and fringe benefits questions.

• Bookkeeping and monthly reconciliations, including patient fee income and rebates
• Payroll, super and STP for clinical and administrative staff
• BAS, with attention to GST-free and taxable supplies
• Practitioner payments and reporting
• Tax returns and financial statements for each entity
• Management reports, such as income by practitioner and by service
• Advice on structure, service arrangements and planned purchases

1. Do you work with medical or health practices, and with which types of arrangements?
2. How do you code and check GST-free and taxable supplies?
3. How do you assess contractor, employee and service entity arrangements, including payroll tax and super?
4. How is patient and staff data protected?
5. Who will be my contact, and how often will we meet?

Ask for a review of how GST is coded, how practitioner arrangements are documented and whether payroll tax and super have been assessed. It often surfaces issues before they turn into a bigger problem.

RBizz works with medical and professional practices and provides outsourced accounting, payroll, compliance and CFO support. Book a free discovery call to talk through your practice's set-up.