29/09/2026
Specialist Accountants for GPs, Consultants & Locum Doctors
Accountants for Doctors in Littleborough
Specialist accounting support built around the working lives of doctors in Littleborough. Whether you earn NHS income, private fees, locum payments or a mix of all three, we help you keep clear records, meet your Self Assessment and tax obligations, and understand the allowances and expenses that may apply to your professional work. From bookkeeping and tax returns to advice on business structure and pension considerations, our aim is straightforward: accurate accounting and practical guidance so you can focus on patients rather than paperwork.
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Which Doctors Do We Support?
Doctors are not a single group when it comes to tax and accounting. A GP partner, a hospital consultant with a private practice, a locum working through several short contracts, and a salaried doctor with a small private clinic will each face a different combination of income sources, deadlines and reporting requirements. We provide accounting support for GPs and GP locums, hospital doctors, consultants, salaried doctors, private practitioners, and doctors who combine NHS work with private or medico-legal income. What you need depends on how your income arrives, whether you are employed, self-employed or both, whether you work alone or in a partnership or limited company, and whether you have VAT-registrable activity. Some doctors simply need a well-prepared Self Assessment tax return; others need annual accounts, payroll, partnership accounts or ongoing tax planning across multiple streams of income.
GPs
Accounting and tax support for GPs with NHS income, private work, practice interests or additional professional earnings.
Hospital Doctors
Support with Self Assessment, professional expenses and tax matters alongside employment income and other professional earnings.
Consultants
Accounting support for consultants managing NHS employment, private practice income, professional expenses and tax obligations.
Locum Doctors
Support with Self Assessment, locum income, allowable expenses, bookkeeping and relevant business structure considerations.
Salaried Doctors
Tax and accounting support for salaried doctors with additional professional income or expenses requiring reporting.
Private Practitioners
Accounting support for doctors providing private medical services through individual practices, partnerships or companies.
Accounting and Tax Services for Doctors
Our services are designed for the way doctors actually earn. For doctors with self-employed income — locum sessions, private consultations, consultancy, medico-legal reports or freelance medical work — we prepare Self Assessment tax returns and advise on allowable professional expenses such as medical indemnity, professional subscriptions, training and professional development, equipment, and travel and mileage. If you run a private practice, we can look after bookkeeping, annual accounts, Corporation Tax and payroll, helping you keep your practice finances separate from personal income and understand your position through management accounts. For doctors in partnership, we assist with partnership accounts and profit allocation, while those combining NHS employment with private earnings often need help reconciling PAYE with self-employment and understanding how multiple income sources interact. Where turnover and activity mean VAT registration applies, we can advise on VAT treatment for medical services and on making tax digital record keeping. We also support business structure decisions — sole trader, partnership or limited company — and tax planning around profit timing, pension contributions and practice profitability, always based on your individual circumstances.
Self Assessment Tax Returns
Preparation and support for doctors with employment, locum, private practice or other taxable income.
NHS & Private Income
Help organising accounting records where income comes from NHS work, private services, locum assignments or other professional activities.
Accurate records built around the way GP practices, partnerships and locum doctors actually work, with cloud software set up for you.
Tax Planning for Doctors & Consultants
Incorporation reviews for private practice, profit extraction, capital allowances and timing of income to keep your effective tax rate down.
Locum Tax & IR35 Support
Contract and IR35 status reviews, limited company versus sole trader comparisons and expense claims for locums working across multiple trusts.
Accounting and Tax Challenges Doctors Commonly Face
Doctors often juggle several sources of income and several sets of rules at once, and the accounting side of practice can easily be pushed to the bottom of a long list. These are some of the areas where specialist support tends to make the biggest difference.
- Blending NHS and private income. PAYE on employment income sits alongside self-assessment on private fees, and working out what has already been taxed — and what still needs to be declared — is a common source of confusion and unexpected tax bills.
- Self Assessment with multiple income streams. Locum work, consultancy, private sessions and medico-legal income can each carry their own records, expenses and reporting requirements, so pulling everything together accurately in time for the filing deadline takes real organisation.
- Getting allowable expenses right. Medical indemnity, GMC and royal college subscriptions, professional development, specialist equipment, and business travel and mileage are frequently claimed incorrectly — either missed entirely or included when they do not qualify, which can create problems later.
- Record keeping across busy weeks. Between clinics, on-call rotas and administrative duties, receipts and mileage logs slip. Once income is untracked and expenses are unrecorded, reconstructing a tax position becomes far harder and more time-consuming than maintaining it.
- Business structure decisions. Whether to operate as a sole trader, within a partnership or through a limited company involves trade-offs in tax, administrative burden, liability and flexibility, and the right answer depends heavily on your income mix and plans.
- Practice and partnership finances. Drawing profit from a practice, agreeing profit-sharing arrangements and keeping accurate partnership accounts requires a level of reporting that many clinicians have never had to manage before.
- Pension considerations. Annual allowance and contribution decisions interact with your taxable income and employment arrangements, so timing and structure matter and are worth reviewing alongside your wider tax position.
- Keeping pace with changing circumstances. A move from training to consultancy, a new private clinic, a change in sessions or a period of locum work between posts can all shift your tax position, and each change is worth reviewing rather than reacting to at year end.
Why Doctors Choose CruseBurke
Doctors come to us because they want an accountant who already understands the shape of medical income — the mix of NHS employment and private fees, the rhythm of locum contracts, the expenses that are genuinely part of professional practice, and the deadlines that cannot move. We take the time to understand how you work, rather than fitting you into a standard template. That means clear explanations of your tax position in plain language, well-organised records, returns prepared accurately and on time, and advice that is proportionate to your circumstances. If your situation changes — a new private clinic, a partnership move, additional locum sessions, or a decision about structure — we can adapt the support accordingly. You get consistent communication, sensible planning rather than last-minute scrambling, and someone who treats your financial admin as part of your professional life rather than a separate chore.
Healthcare Focus
We support GPs, locum doctors, consultants and other medical professionals with accounting and tax matters tailored to their individual circumstances.
Every Allowable Expense Claimed
GMC and indemnity fees, royal college subscriptions, exams, courses, equipment and mileage — nothing left on the table.
NHS Pension Specialists
We calculate your pension input amount, check tapering and advise on Scheme Pays before a charge becomes a problem.
IR35 & Locum Confidence
Status reviews on your engagements and a clear answer on limited company versus sole trader for your circumstances.
Deadlines Handled for You
Returns, accounts and payroll filed on time, with reminders well in advance so penalties never happen.
Fair, Fixed Fees
One agreed monthly fee, quoted up front, with no hourly billing and no surprise invoices.
Our Simple 3-Step Process
Starting with an accountant should not be complicated. First, we begin with an initial conversation to understand how you work — whether that is NHS employment, private practice, locum sessions, consultancy or a combination — along with your income sources, business structure and any existing tax or reporting arrangements. Second, we review your accounting and tax requirements, looking at what you already have in place, what may be missing, and which services are actually relevant to you, from Self Assessment and bookkeeping to annual accounts, payroll or VAT. Third, we put the right support in place, agree how records will be shared and deadlines managed, and set out a clear way of working going forward. From there it becomes routine: you keep us updated on income and expenses, and we handle the reporting, calculations and filing.
1. Initial Consultation (It’s Free):
We begin by getting to know your practice and understanding your unique needs. This step ensures we have a clear picture of your operations and your goals.
2. Customised Plan:
Based on our initial discussion, we create a personalised plan designed specifically for you. The aim is to keep everything organised and easy to follow. You can rest assured that your numbers are being handled with expert precision.
3. Ongoing Support & Updates:
From there, we take care of the ongoing work and keep you updated with reports. You’ll always know what’s happening, and we’re always here to answer your questions, ensuring you have a clear picture of your financial health at all times.
What Makes CruseBurke Different for Doctors
What sets us apart is focus. Rather than treating doctors as just another self-employed client, we look specifically at how medical income behaves: employment income taxed through PAYE, self-employed fees reported through Self Assessment, locum earnings paid under a range of arrangements, consultancy and medico-legal income, and in some cases practice profits shared through a partnership or company. We help doctors separate personal and professional finances cleanly, build expense records that stand up to scrutiny, and understand which costs — indemnity cover, professional subscriptions, training, equipment, travel — are likely to be allowable in their circumstances. We also support the structural questions that come with a growing private practice, including bookkeeping, management accounts, payroll, Corporation Tax and VAT where it applies. The result is accounting support that is technical where it needs to be, but always explained in practical terms you can act on.
Technology Driven
We use Xero, Quickbooks, Sage & many other online software.
Dedicated Medical Accountant
Meet, call or email the same qualified accountant who knows your practice and your pension position.
Unlimited Support
Free telephone & email support
throughout the year.
Experienced Team
Our team have over 100 years of combined experienced.
Free - Email Reminders
Never Miss any deadline with our automated email reminders.
Yes, We Are Chartered!
We’re an ICAEW, ACCA & AAT accredited Firm.
How to Switch to Our Doctor Accountants
Take a back seat and let our specialist healthcare accountants handle everything. Switching part way through the year is straightforward and you never need to speak to your old accountant:
Get in touch
Reach out to us, and we’ll discuss your needs and how we can help your healthcare practice thrive.
Letter of Engagement
We’ll send over a simple letter to formalise our partnership and get everything in motion.
Previous Accountants
If you're switching, we’ll take care of contacting your previous accountants to make the transition smooth.
We Do the Rest
From there, sit back and relax. We’ll manage your accounts, taxes, and everything in between, keeping your practice running smoothly.
FAQs
It depends on your circumstances. If all your income is taxed through PAYE and your tax affairs are straightforward, you may not need ongoing help. But doctors with private fees, locum income, consultancy work, medico-legal income, practice profits or multiple sources of earnings generally have to file a Self Assessment tax return and account for tax that has not been collected at source. An accountant helps ensure income is reported correctly, allowable expenses are claimed appropriately, and deadlines are met without a last-minute rush.
Your NHS salary is normally taxed through PAYE, and private or locum income is usually reported through Self Assessment, where tax is calculated on your total taxable income. Because PAYE only accounts for your employment, the self-employment element may lead to an additional tax liability, and payments on account can apply. How much you owe — and when — depends on your income levels, expenses, pension contributions and other factors, so the figures vary from doctor to doctor.
Commonly considered items include medical indemnity insurance and professional subscriptions where they relate to your professional practice, training and professional development that maintains or updates your existing skills, specialist equipment, and business travel or mileage for professional purposes. Whether a particular cost qualifies depends on your employment status, the nature of the expense and how it relates to your work. Claiming costs that do not meet the rules can create issues, so it is worth reviewing your expenses properly rather than estimating.
Locum work usually brings several short engagements, each with its own income and expenses. It helps to keep a clear record of invoices raised, payments received, travel and mileage between sites, agency fees, indemnity cover and any equipment or subscriptions you pay for personally. If you work through an agency or an umbrella arrangement, the way you are paid affects what you need to report, so it is worth confirming how each engagement is structured before assuming it is straightforward.
Not necessarily. Sole trader, partnership and limited company arrangements each carry different tax positions, filing responsibilities and administrative requirements. A limited company can suit some doctors with growing private or consultancy income, while others find the additional compliance and reporting obligations outweigh the benefits. The right choice depends on your income mix, how profits are drawn, your pension plans and your longer-term intentions — so it is a decision worth discussing rather than assuming.
Yes. Partnership and practice accounting involves allocating profits between partners, maintaining accurate records and preparing accounts and returns to the required standard. We can assist with bookkeeping, annual accounts, partnership accounts, payroll and, where relevant, VAT, as well as reviewing how profits are drawn and how the structure fits your wider tax position.
Pension contributions and tax planning interact closely with your taxable income, your employment arrangements and the timing of profit recognition. Doctors with a mix of NHS employment and private income often have more flexibility than they realise, but also more scope for unexpected consequences. We can review your position and flag areas worth considering, based on your individual circumstances.
It usually begins with a conversation about how you work and what you currently have in place. From there we can look at your income sources, existing records and any outstanding returns, then confirm which services are relevant to you. If you are moving from another accountant, we can talk through the practical steps involved in transferring your records and taking over your filing responsibilities.
Speak to an Expert
Straightforward Accounting Support for Doctors in Littleborough
If NHS payslips, private invoices and locum payments are arriving in three different places and your records are falling behind, it is worth sorting out before a filing deadline forces the issue. CruseBurke supports doctors with Self Assessment, bookkeeping and tax planning tailored to medical income, so your reporting is accurate and your position is clear. Get in touch to talk through your circumstances and find out what the right level of support looks like for you.