For associates
Most generalist accountants treat associate dentists like any other self-employed professional. They miss the BDA model agreement IR35 risk, under-claim indemnity and CPD, ignore the NHS Pension annual allowance, and produce returns that work but leak. We are dental-only. The questions we ask are different.
The questions and concerns that come up most often in a first conversation.
The BDA model contract on file does not automatically mean self-employed status. HMRC and the tribunals test the actual working arrangement against control, substitution, mutuality of obligation, financial risk and integration. We review the reality, not just the paperwork.
Indemnity, GDC retention, CPD, professional subscriptions, loupes, motor between practices, phone, accountancy. Most associates we onboard are claiming roughly half of what they should be. We review the last filed return and the current year.
Usually no, unless your locum or associate income is sustainably above roughly £80,000-£100,000 AND most engagements sit outside IR35 AND you have tax-planning flexibility (non-working spouse, deferred income horizon). Below those, the Ltd company route adds admin without much real upside.
Still one of the most valuable schemes in the UK. But high-earning associates can hit the tapered annual allowance and trigger a charge. We model pensionable pay against the threshold and flag where Scheme Pays may make sense.
Different practices may classify the same locum work differently for IR35. Travel between practices is deductible (not home-to-first-practice). Apportioning materials and motor by practice matters for an accurate return. We map it out per engagement.
HMRC scrutinises three things on dental associate returns: status, expenses, and undeclared private income. We structure your records so each is defensible, and we represent you if HMRC opens an enquiry.
All associate income (NHS and private), expense claims, NHS Pension contributions, student loan plan, payment on account positions. Filed inside the deadline, never in January.
We look at how the work actually runs, not what the contract says. Where status risk exists we tell you and structure to reduce it. If a practice issues an inside-IR35 SDS we walk you through the implications.
Most new associate clients are under-claiming. We review the last three filed years, file amendments where the under-claim is material, and recover what is recoverable.
Lenders want SA302s with consistent income. We produce them inside 48 hours of request. Most lenders accept self-employed dental income with two years of SA302s; some specialist lenders accept one.
60-minute call every March covering expense optimisation, NHS Pension headroom, whether incorporation makes sense yet, and the upcoming tax year payments-on-account schedule.
Free 10-minute practice health check
30-minute scoping call, free. We look at your current set-up, flag the expenses you're missing, and tell you honestly whether incorporation is on the table yet.
Want to read first?
Pillar guide
Status, expenses, NHS Pension, IR35 risk. The full picture for self-employed dental associates.
Pillar guide
1995 / 2008 / 2015 sections, McCloud remedy, dental retainer status, annual allowance.
Pillar guide
How we structure annual returns and ongoing tax planning for dental associates.