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How ready is your physician tax strategy?

Use this three-minute checkup to identify the connected tax, retirement, practice, and documentation questions that may deserve a closer look.

Reviewed and updated October 10, 2026

This is a readiness screen—not a tax-savings calculator.

The checkup does not estimate savings, recommend an entity, or replace advice based on complete facts and current law. It helps you organize the questions worth reviewing before the next filing, election, contract, or major decision.

Which description is closest?
01

Income and entity coordination

How the money is earned, paid, taxed, and documented.

01Do you have one view of W-2 pay, 1099 income, withholding, and estimated payments?The goal is coordinated cash planning—not simply whether the last return produced a refund or balance due.
02Has your entity choice been reviewed against recurring profit, state rules, payroll cost, and administrative effort?An LLC and an S corporation election answer different questions, and neither is automatically the right fit.
03If an S corporation is involved, is shareholder-employee compensation supported and revisited?The facts, services performed, payroll reporting, and non-wage distributions should tell a consistent story.
02

Retirement and cash planning

Whether plan design, contributions, liquidity, and other priorities work together.

04Are retirement contributions coordinated across every employer and self-employed plan?Contribution limits and plan interactions can depend on the person, employer, plan type, compensation, and year.
05Does the retirement-plan design fit staffing, cash flow, timing, and contribution goals?A plan should be evaluated as an operating commitment as well as a tax-planning tool.
06Have liquidity, debt priorities, taxes, and retirement contributions been considered together?Maximizing one deduction may not be the best decision if it strains near-term cash or another goal.
03

Practice financial visibility

Practice owners should answer directly; other physicians may choose “Not applicable.”

07Can you see practice profit separately from compensation for your clinical work?Separating provider economics from the return on ownership makes comparisons and decisions more useful.
08Do monthly financial reports explain collections, staffing, overhead, debt, and owner distributions?Bookkeeping should support operating decisions in addition to preparing a tax return.
09Do you have a forward-looking cash view before hiring, borrowing, expanding, or distributing cash?A forecast helps test timing and downside before the commitment is difficult to reverse.
04

Tax-risk and decision readiness

Whether the records and timing support the position before the stakes rise.

10Can important deductions, reimbursements, payroll positions, and entity transactions be supported?A valid tax position also needs records that explain the business purpose, amount, timing, and treatment.
11Are filing obligations, notices, multi-state activity, and response deadlines tracked in one place?Unresolved deadlines and inconsistent filings can narrow the available response options.
12Are major contracts, purchases, sales, or elections reviewed before signing or filing?The most valuable review often happens while structure, timing, and negotiation terms can still change.

Primary guidance behind the checkup

The checkup uses broad readiness questions because the answer depends on the physician’s facts and the rules for the applicable year.

IRS: Estimated taxesIRS: S corporation compensationIRS: Retirement plans for small entities and self-employed