Accountants for Healthcare in Ealing

The work covers the same core areas as any accountancy service — Self Assessment, annual accounts, Corporation Tax, bookkeeping, payroll and VAT — but applied with an understanding of how healthcare income and costs behave. In practice that means correctly reporting a mix of NHS employment, private fees, locum income, associate dentist percentages or insurer payments; identifying allowable expenses such as indemnity cover, professional registration, clinical equipment and specialist software; handling payroll for practice staff and associates; and advising on whether your current trading structure still suits your plans. It also means planning tax payments around income that does not arrive evenly through the year.

Your NHS salary is usually taxed through PAYE, while private fees, locum sessions and medico-legal work are typically reported on Self Assessment. The complication is that these interact: your total income determines your tax bands, so PAYE may not have collected enough across the year, and a balancing payment can arise. Pension contributions, professional subscriptions and indemnity insurance may also need to be reflected correctly depending on your circumstances. We gather the figures, reconcile what has already been taxed against what has not, and file a return that reflects the whole picture rather than one income stream.

Commonly claimed items include professional indemnity insurance, GMC, NMC, GDC or HCPC registration fees, professional body subscriptions, clinical equipment and instruments, specialist clothing that is not ordinary everyday wear, medical journals and reference materials, and continuing professional development relevant to your current work. Where a room at home is used regularly and exclusively for practice administration or consultations, a proportionate share of household costs may be claimable. Mileage between sites and to patients can also be relevant if you use your own vehicle. The rules require the expense to be incurred wholly and exclusively for the business, so we review claims individually rather than applying a blanket approach.

It depends on the services provided. Many healthcare services are exempt from VAT, which means they do not count towards the registration threshold, but not all healthcare-related activity is exempt. Selling non-exempt goods or services, such as some cosmetic treatments, retail items or certain consultancy and training work, can be taxable and may push a practice towards registration. A business that provides a mix of exempt and taxable services may also face partial exemption calculations and restricted input tax recovery. We review your service mix and turnover to establish the position and, where registration applies, manage the returns and calculations.

There is no single answer that suits every healthcare professional. A locum or single-handed practitioner may find sole trader status simplest, while a larger private practice with several clinicians may benefit from incorporation for reasons including tax treatment, profit extraction and limited liability. Practices with two or more principals often operate as partnerships with their own profit-sharing and reporting requirements. The right structure depends on your income levels, how you draw money from the business, your plans for growth, and how you want to be protected if something goes wrong. We look at the numbers and the wider context before recommending anything.

Yes. Payroll for a healthcare practice typically involves varying hours, part-time reception and administrative staff, locum or sessional payments, overtime and pension auto-enrolment. Running it in-house alongside clinical commitments can be demanding, particularly when start dates, leavers and changes in hours need to be processed accurately each month. We handle payslips, real-time reporting to HMRC, deduction calculations and pension submissions, so the payroll runs to schedule and your staff are paid correctly and on time.

A workable system matters more than a sophisticated one. Digital records are usually the most practical route — scanning receipts as they arise, keeping bank or practice accounts separate from personal spending, and logging mileage at the time rather than reconstructing it months later. Where you receive insurer remittances or associate statements, keeping them alongside the related invoice makes reconciliation far easier. If your record keeping is behind, we can review what exists, help you organise it and set up a routine that fits around clinics. Cloud accounting tools can also give you a live view of your position rather than a year-end surprise.

Yes. Most of the information an accountant needs — bank statements, invoices, payroll details, HMRC correspondence and completed checklists — can be shared securely online, and cloud accounting software allows records to be kept up to date without face-to-face meetings. Many healthcare clients find this easier to fit around clinical commitments. Meetings can be arranged by video or telephone at times that suit your working week, and documents can be exchanged electronically. If you prefer to meet in person, we can discuss how best to arrange that when you get in touch.