Dr. Jeremy Brubaker

What’s the best business structure for a new Chiropractic Practice?  That depends on the amount of taxes you want to pay.

**Disclaimer time, I’m no CPA or Attorney so blah, blah, blah do your own research**

I’m here to get you to think, not be your CPA.   So let’s keep this simple.

Here are your most common options for business structure:

• Sole Proprietor – All income taxed @ highest rate & self employment tax (earned income)
• LLC,LLP – Layer of personal liability, Flow through and taxed like sole proprietor (earned income)
• C-corp. – Benefits larger companies, more write offs, fringe benefits,   Taxes more complex and dual tax
• S-corp. – Flow through entity, friendly to use but requires organization, but much more tax friendly

I strongly suggest doing your home work.  Here’s a couple places to start:, My New Company, Incorporate Time & Legal Zoom. Now they’ll all try to sell you something, but they give good information and compares strengths and weakness for you.

You never want to evade taxes, that leads to jail.  What you do want to do is minimize your tax liability while using the tax codes the way they were designed, which actually contain many benefits the small business owner.

One of the biggest problems for the new doctors I work with is that they become so successful so fast that their CPAs rarely plan for their income the first year.   Then they get whacked with huge tax bills that they were not prepared for, and nearly go bankrupt while having a hugely successful practice.  I speak from experience, we got slapped with over a 30K tax bill my first year, all my accountant said was “oops, I didn’t expect you to do so well your first year” My intention is not to bash the accountants, we need them, but please be sure to find a wealthy one that utilizes and understands the chiropractic profession as well as corporate structures.  Had I been structured properly, my tax burden would have been 10-15K that first year.  There you go, I may have just saved you close to 20K with this post alone.

Question:  Who do you need on your “power team” to help you set up your business?  Go find them now!

If you need some help on this, I have some great suggestions for you!

Tags: Chiropractic, Chiropractor, Practice Foundations