Dental practices are some of the most over-equipped small businesses in the country — and some of the most tax-mismanaged. Equipment depreciation never optimized. Reasonable comp set wrong. Real estate (the clinic building) rented to the practice without modeling. Retirement stacking left at the 401(k) default. The five-figure-a-year savings are real and the moves are well-known. They just have to be made.
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Dental owners come to us with the same three problems: equipment elections that were never optimized, S-corp reasonable comp that's either too high or too low, and clinic-building rent that was set by feel instead of modeled. Each one alone costs thousands. Together they cost five figures a year.
"I bought $380K of equipment when I opened the practice. My CPA depreciated it over 7 years. I'm pretty sure Section 179 would have saved me more in year one. Three years too late to ask now."
Solo practice · year 4 · Apr 2026
"I pay myself $150K in W-2 wages and take the rest as distributions. My partner pays himself $280K. Different states. Nobody's modeled whose reasonable comp is right."
Two-partner practice · $1.4M rev · Mar 2026
"I own the building and rent it to my practice. My old CPA never structured the rent — too low, leaves money in the practice; too high, lose the S-corp benefit. I have no idea where the right number is."
Solo practice + RE · $620K rev · Feb 2026
Dental owner reasonable comp gets benchmarked against ADA + BLS dentistry data. Most solo dentists are paying themselves either too high (overpaying SE tax) or too low (audit risk). We document the rationale against industry comparables — typically saves $8K–$15K/yr in payroll-tax exposure.
Dental equipment is depreciation gold. A $200K chair-and-x-ray purchase Section 179'd in a high-income year can save $60K+ in year-one tax. We map your equipment-purchase calendar against your income calendar — and revisit old depreciation schedules where the prior CPA missed the election.
Many dentists own the clinic building personally or in a separate LLC and rent to the practice. The rent number matters in three places at once — practice deduction, personal rental income, S-corp reasonable comp ratio. We model the right rent (fair market + Section 280A considerations) and document.
Dentists are top-quartile candidates for retirement stacking. Solo 401(k) + Cash Balance plan + mega-backdoor Roth + HSA stacked together can shelter $80K–$200K/yr depending on practice income + age + spouse. Cash Balance especially shines for dentists 45+.
Associate dentists hired W-2 with production bonuses need the right comp structure. We coordinate between the associate's wage, the production bonus formula, the practice's resulting profit (which drives owner reasonable comp), and the W-2/1099 classification.
DSO acquisition is the most common dental-owner exit path. QSBS Section 1202, asset-vs-stock sale, allocation between goodwill / personal goodwill / equipment / non-compete — every dollar of allocation matters because the tax treatment varies wildly. We model these 18-36 months before the sale.
Rent on the clinic building restructured (was below fair market — money trapped in the practice). Reasonable comp lowered (was overpaying). Cash Balance plan opened. Year-one savings $24.8K, plus a clean future-sale structure.
Both partners' reasonable comp re-benchmarked + harmonized. Section 179 election on a new $180K equipment purchase. Solo 401(k) profit-share maxed for both partners + spouses. Year-one savings $38K combined.
12 months pre-DSO acquisition. Restructured to maximize personal goodwill allocation, documented basis appropriately, modeled QSBS — though it didn't apply here, asset-vs-stock allocation saved $280K at sale vs. the original LOI structure.
3-year scope · equipment depreciation review · S-corp reasonable comp benchmarking · clinic-building rent modeling · retirement vehicle stacking · associate comp structure · ranked next-step list.
Multi-partner practices or active DSO-sale conversations: Strategic ($10K) — exit planning + Tax Defense Plan included.
Both. New-practice engagements look different — we focus on entity selection, equipment loan structuring, Section 179 election year-one, and Gusto setup for associate doctors + staff. Established practices focus more on reasonable comp optimization + retirement stacking + real estate.
Yes. Partnership returns (Form 1065), K-1 generation for each partner, capital account tracking, basis tracking. We coordinate the practice-level work with each partner's individual returns.
We handle the tax + bookkeeping side. The insurance product side belongs with a specialist agent. We coordinate with disability + overhead + key-person insurance brokers who work specifically with dentists.
No — valuations are done by dental-specific valuation firms. We coordinate with them, then handle the tax + structuring side of the transaction. We've worked through enough DSO deals to know what the LOI structure should look like before the valuation firm sees it.
Bring last year's practice P&L, the equipment list with purchase dates, the clinic-building rent (if applicable), and any thinking you've done about a future DSO sale. We'll quote the right tier and timeline before any work begins.
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