Improve your dental practices’ cashflow

In March, dental practices had to immediately stop seeing patients, except for emergency treatment, which led to unprecedented revenue loss across the sector. We discuss some of the options available that can improve your dental practices’ cashflow.

Government support

The Self-Employment Income Support Scheme (SEISS) presented potential issues for dentists who applied for the grant on top of their usual level of NHS income, as the amount of grant received may exceed the reduction of private income. HMRC has now confirmed that if part of a dental practitioners’ income (private income) reduces, but another part remains the same (NHS income), it is legitimate for a claim to be made in full and retained, as discussed in our previous article.

Those eligible, and still affected by COVID will be able to claim a second SEISS grant from 17th August.

31 July personal tax liabilities

Second payments on account for tax year 2019/20, are usually due at the end of July, but to help with cashflow, these can be deferred until 31 January 2021.

Although it is an option for dentists to make the payment as normal, if they choose not to, they do not need to take action to inform HMRC. Their self-assessment statements already show that the 31 July payment has been deferred automatically. There will be no penalties or interest charged for deferring, but the amount must be paid no later than 31 January 2021.

Tax planning

There may also be scope to reduce your 2020/21 payments on account if your profits have been reduced further than projected. We encourage you to speak to our specialist team to help provide calculations that could justify a claim to reduce your 2020/21 payments on account.

If you have any questions or to discuss your own circumstances, please contact a member of our EQ Healthcare team or email healthcare@eqaccountants.co.uk.