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As a dental practice owner, it’s important to stay up-to-date on best tax practices to ensure you’re taking advantage of all available opportunities and
benefits outlined in the U.S. tax code.

Each of the following tips can help you legally minimize taxes and fall within the letter of the law, statutes and IRS code.

1. Build a more profitable practice by planning ahead. Following your annual filing, it’s imperative to look ahead to the upcoming tax year to identify
   both problems and solutions to your tax strategy. By examining areas of opportunity, you’ll be able to develop and put in place a strategy
   to pay the least amount of taxes while also improving profitability. 
2. Select the right business entity to minimize taxes. Contact your CPA to determine the payroll tax savings available from electing Subchapter S Corporation
   status for your practice. Doctors are able to significantly reduce payroll taxes (including the 3.8% Medicare payroll tax on rents and personal
   investment income) by taking a lower salary, with the remaining profit distributed as a dividend (not subject to payroll taxes). S status can also
   reduce income and payroll taxes on their practice sale, and lower IRS audit risk and exposure. 
3. Increase business deductions by having your practice reimburse you for all business expenses paid personally. Business travel, meals and entertainment,
   business use of automobiles, dues and subscriptions, advertising and promotion, continuing education, tax planning fees and health insurance premiums
   that are paid with personal funds should be reimbursed with business funds to ensure all business deductions are reported on tax returns. 
4. Determine which retirement plan is best for your practice. When investing in a retirement plan for your business, it’s important to consider your budget.
   Ask yourself questions such as how much you’d like to contribute annually, your total budget and how much of your total contribution is for you.
   For business owners looking for flexibility, profit sharing plans may be a top retirement plan option to consider. 
5. Consider adding family members to your payroll. By hiring family members such as your spouse or children over the age of six, you can increase your
   tax savings while minimizing payroll taxes. For your spouse, a minimum salary of $3,000 can qualify the spouse for minimum Social Security benefits,
   the Child Care Credit and fully deductible practice travel and fringe benefits. Additionally, by employing your children, you can take advantage
   of IRS-sanctioned tax savings while also helping the child earn money for college or other expenses. 
6. Evaluate your charitable contributions. Businesses can increase charitable contribution deductions through the donation of property such as stocks,
   bonds, artwork or real estate in place of financial donations. The full market value of the gift is tax-deductible as a charitable contribution
   if held for at least 12 months and the gain is not subject to income tax.

Investing in new equipment for your practice can not only help grow your business and improve your patient’s dental experience, but it can also provide
added tax advantages when it comes time to file your annual tax return.

Making the decision to purchase new technology and equipment for your practice may not come easy, but under the Section 179 Tax Deduction, it may be more
lucrative.

The Section 179 Tax Deduction allows a business to deduct the full purchase price of financed or leased equipment and off-the-shelf software. The equipment
or software must be within the specified dollar limits, which has a maximum spend of $2,000,000, to qualify. Additionally, the new goods must be placed
into service in the same tax year that the deduction is being taken.

Stipulations under the Section 179 Tax Deduction include a maximum deduction of $500,000 with a maximum spend on eligible equipment and software limited
to $2,000,000 to qualify for the full deduction. The new equipment must be purchased for at least 50 percent business use. Finally, you must elect
to take the deduction when filing your taxes.

Before taking advantage of the Section 179 Tax Deduction, it’s vital to take a look at your dental practice’s economic position prior to the purchase of
new equipment and technology. If you’re ready to upgrade your practice, the tax benefits under this deduction can make the additional savings beneficial
to your bottom line come tax season.

If you can’t tell from the early morning and late night office hours occupied by your favorite CPA, tax season is here and in full swing. Although financial
accountability is a full year job, tax season is undoubtedly our busiest time of the year.
As a trusted advisor, we take great care to stay on top of the changes in tax, business, and related law and policy. No matter the change, we make sure
that our clients are in compliance and taking advantage of any deductions or credits available to them. As this year will most likely be a year full
of tax and policy changes, you can look for more information about these changes on our website.

Looking ahead this tax season, there are a number of important deadlines that have changed this year:

• March 15, 2017: Partnership tax returns are due, a shift from the previous deadline of April 15^th.

• April 18, 2017*: Federal tax returns for calendar-year regular corporations are due (a 2015 law pushed back the filing deadline from March 15, starting
  with 2016 returns to be filed in 2017). Normally, federal tax returns are due on April 15, but due to the weekend and observance of the Emancipation
  Day holiday in D.C., that deadline is delayed.

*Please note: Typically, state tax deadlines mimic federal dates, but there are a few states that mandate an earlier filing date. If you have questions about your state’s filing deadlines, feel free to reach out to us!

Thankfully, with tax season in full swing, there shouldn’t be any further substantial changes to take note until after federal deadlines have passed.
 

Since childhood, we have been told to stay away from strangers, don’t offer personal information to people you don’t know, and protect yourself from dangers,
both visible and obscure. So it’s a wonder that since 2013, more than two million people reported monetary losses stemming from phone call solicitations
from strangers posing as agents from the Internal Revenue Service. Recently, federal authorities arrested nearly two dozen people across the United
States for telephone fraud schemes. While the arrest of these individuals is important, many of these schemes are operating across the country, and
world, leaving vulnerable taxpayers a target.

Typically, scammers use open-source research to find out information about their targets, using publicly available information from websites like Facebook.
The basic information that criminals find online about their targets is then used in conversation or correspondence to gain access and request funds
to settle an imaginary, but plausible debt. For example, when contacted by an “agent

All of these proposed changes bring a combination of challenge and opportunity. The CPAs at Frost Dana Newman are well versed in the highly specialized area of tax planning for medical professionals, including locum tenens nationwide. Since these changes would impact more than your tax planning, but also your financial and estate planning, we can help you with that, too, with our trusted advisors. Please contact us at 702.878.4809 so we can be your resource. Your initial consultation with one of our CPAs is complimentary.

Starting in January, then-President Trump will urge Congress to pass a number of changes to the U.S. Tax Code. In all, 12 plan provisions have been proposed,
affecting individual income taxes, business income taxes and estate taxes.

Taxable Income (Single)	Taxable Income (Married)	Ordinary Income Tax Rate	Capital Gain/Dividend Rate
$0-$37,500	$0-$75,000	12%	0%
$37,500-$112,500	$75,000-$225,000	25%	15%
Over $112,500	Over $225,000	33%	20%

• Simplification by reducing the number of tax brackets from 7 to 3.

• No changes to the existing tax rates for capital gains and dividends.

• Increase in the standard deduction for single filers from $6,300 to $15,000 and from $12,600 to $30,000 for married couples. NOTE: Personal exemptions
  and head of household filing status would be eliminated.

• Itemized deductions such as property taxes, state and local taxes, sales taxes, charitable contributions and home mortgage interest, will be capped
  at $100,000 for single filers and $200,000 for married couples.

• Repeal of the 3.8% Obamacare tax on doctors’ personal investment income, whether from capital gains, rent, interest or dividends.

• Repeal of the Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

• Elimination of the corporate Alternative Minimum Tax (AMT).

• Expansion of business tax breaks for manufacturing and payment of child care expenses for employees, including onsite daycare.

• Lowering of the business tax rate from its top rate of 35% to 15%, though multiple corporate tax breaks would be eliminated. Retained profits would
  be taxed at a 15% rate for many businesses, including practices operating as LLCs, partnerships and Subchapter S corporations.

• Untaxed corporate profits currently held offshore could be repatriated to the U.S. at a one-time tax rate of 10%.

• Federal estate and gift taxes would be repealed.

• Unrealized capital gains would be taxed at death for assets over $10,000,000.

What to do NOW, in 2016?

With a large number of the above provisions likely to be enacted, doctors have a genuine opportunity to save literally tens of thousands of dollars by
acting before the end of 2016. Some examples:

• Delay billing and collection efforts to defer practice income into 2017.

• Defer some practice income into 2017 by closing your practice earlier in December to shift activity, and income, into 2017, wherein you should experience
  a lower tax rate.

• Accelerate personal tax deductions into 2016 by altering the timing of your income tax, property tax and mortgage payments, as well as adjusting your
  mortgage payments.

• Maximize your practice deductions in 2016.

Sources: donaldjtrump.com and mcgillhillgroup.com