Discussion:What is so special about working with physicians?
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| Revision as of 15:23, 3 March 2008 Lancermc (Talk | contribs) (I hope you can,) ← Previous diff |
Current revision RJM (Talk | contribs) (I have mostly ph) |
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| {{ForumReplyPost|UserID=Lancermc|Date=3 March 2008|Text=I hope you can, a knee replacement in today's medical economy would probably cost millions.}} | {{ForumReplyPost|UserID=Lancermc|Date=3 March 2008|Text=I hope you can, a knee replacement in today's medical economy would probably cost millions.}} | ||
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| + | {{ForumReplyPost|UserID=RJM|Date=3 March 2008|Text=I have mostly physician and dentist clients. Do the accounting and tax work. They are wonderful clients, and most have become friends. I have run across the occasional egomaniac, and have either fired them or been fired by them. But now, I consider myself lucky to have such great clients. They listen to my advice, don't invest in stupid ripoff investments, and all are on track for very comfortable retirements. You do need to research lots of unusual items, like Medicare billing, and managed care contracting, but there are zillions of seminars from AICPA and other groups to help your work with this kind of client base.}} | ||
Current revision
Discussion Forum Index --> Basic Tax Questions --> What is so special about working with physicians?
Discussion Forum Index --> Tax Questions --> What is so special about working with physicians?
| 2 March 2008 | |
| I met with a physician's wife (who does the bookkeeping for her husband's small medical practice) and she asked me if I had other doctor clients. I said no. She said that she wanted someone who has experience working with doctors. Why are they so special? What would I need to know in addition to working with PSCs, S Corps, LLCs or partnerships? How are the returns any different? The legal entity choice had already been made and she wanted to contract with me for the S corp return only. She is still looking for a "physician" expert. | |
Actionbsns (talk|edits) said: | 2 March 2008 |
| Everybody thinks their industry is "special" and they often want someone experienced in their special industry. Belle is right, mainly it's ego. You could fib and say something like "Yes I have had a couple of doctors work in the past." It's a confidentiality violation to tell people who your clients are. Of course, she may ask if she could talk to one of them and you would have to elaborate on your fib, so maybe it's more trouble than it's worth. I think Shakespeare said "Oh what tangled webs we weave when at first we practice to deceive." | |
| 2 March 2008 | |
| I second that. A (formerly) very good friend got married to a med student. I did their taxes very cheap for years, and also helped them with quarterlies, etc for free since she moonlighted to the tune of an extra $30K and he was self-employed. As soon as she finished and started making the big bucks, the first words out of her mouth were "I've been talking to a tax person that works with doctors, and he says... | |
| 2 March 2008 | |
| Depends on the nature of the engagement. If the client is consulting with you concerning Medicare billing practices, for example, you should probably has a prior background in that area before accepting the engagement. | |
| 2 March 2008 | |
| Thanks for helping out MY ego. I felt like an idiot when I told her that my experience with S corps and PSCs would be adequate to help her out. I should have stroked their ego a little better. The only thing I think that I would have to do some research on is reasonable compensation (which I guess would be pretty much the net profit of the practice). I hate selling.....that's why I decided not to become an insurance agent (my college internship). | |
Bottom Line (talk|edits) said: | 2 March 2008 |
| I do the payroll and quarterly review of QuickBooks for a GYN. There's nothing really special here. They have special software that does appointments and insurance billings and I don't get involved in that. The CPA I do subwork for does their tax return. I've seen it; it's not that special. | |
RoyDaleOne (talk|edits) said: | 2 March 2008 |
| I have done MD's, Vets, and other types of medical practices, never have I lasted long doing their work. To much ego for this country boy. By the way one of the vet's was Shamua's vet at Seaworld. | |
| 2 March 2008 | |
| Sarah, I don't think I would jump to your reasonable compensation conclusion. Net profit is likely due to making a % profit off of others as well, such as nurses. Also, there is plenty to go off to find reasonable compensation, as many clinics hire docs directly for a salary. As always, there's a lot more involved to determining wages. | |
| 3 March 2008 | |
| The biggest problem I've seen with doctors over the years is that many of them would rather give their money to any fly-by-night tax shelter promoter than pay taxes. | |
| 3 March 2008 | |
| I have some physicians as clients and always have.
I find that - yes - EGO - stands in the way of them being the perfect client. They boast to each other without knowing what they're talking about regarding how they can cheat the tax law. The critical issues I've found with them deal with maximizing their pension contribution, maxing to the limit their personal use automobile and dealing with the decision buy vs lease and income inclusion/auto lease value rules, convincing those who are self employed to make quarterly tax estimates, purchase of fixed assets and Sec 179 depreciation, malpractice insurance, and employee vs outside contractor for certain office employees. | |
Death&Taxes (talk|edits) said: | 3 March 2008 |
| What I see today is very few physicians operating outside of groups; even if I had the time I would avoid the latter like a plague since these are often a clash of egos, and unless all members were originally my clients, I would find myself bending over backward not to play favorites. So what I see are W-2s and K-1, and every so often, the doctor will call with some question about the group.....which tells me he is going to use what I say to make a point. | |
| 3 March 2008 | |
| Doctors are a herd animal, they follow each other around, sniff each others b__ts, use the same accountants, are arrogant. They know more about Federal and State Tax than you will ever learn. The only medical doctors I do tax work for are my three children, they have learned not to mess with me, and they get it free.
I do work for many Ph.D. researchers, now those are good clients. If you decide to take on medical doctors in your practice, I hope you have a strong ego. Also, any mistakes small or large will be yours. Also, mark your fee up 1000%, if you don't bleed them to death with fees they will leave you to find someone who will. They equate exhorbitant fees with quality, large tax practices love this. | |
| 3 March 2008 | |
| One other thing they want to do, even given the W2, they want to expense EVERYTHING that might even be somewhat construed as an expense, all booked against some small speaking fee, or some such side work. Even if they moonlight, they want to write off all of their continuing ed, conferences, equipment, books, etc, etc, against it, often for a sizable loss. They have a very strong sense of entitlement.
Oh, and they also want to know how to avoid the AMT, regardless of what they make and how much is on Schedule A. Apparently all of this is a result of the gossip mill amongst them. Be assured that if one of them is doing something questionable on their taxes, the rest will all want to do it too. I agree with Lancermc that you should charge a bundle, but my client was a client before marrying the med student, so we couldn't do that. Wonder if I could get a free knee replacement in exchange for all the free tax work I did for them before the money started rolling in! | |
| 3 March 2008 | |
| I hope you can, a knee replacement in today's medical economy would probably cost millions. | |
| 3 March 2008 | |
| I have mostly physician and dentist clients. Do the accounting and tax work. They are wonderful clients, and most have become friends. I have run across the occasional egomaniac, and have either fired them or been fired by them. But now, I consider myself lucky to have such great clients. They listen to my advice, don't invest in stupid ripoff investments, and all are on track for very comfortable retirements. You do need to research lots of unusual items, like Medicare billing, and managed care contracting, but there are zillions of seminars from AICPA and other groups to help your work with this kind of client base. | |
