Free Tool — Year-End Tax Planning
What should you do before December 31?
Most of the highest-value tax moves for physician practice owners have a hard deadline of December 31 — not April 15. After that date, some options disappear entirely. Get your personalized action list before the window closes.
Year-end planning, answered
What has to happen before December 31, what can still be done after, and why the useful conversation happens in October.
What has to be done before December 31?
Nearly everything that changes the outcome. Equipment and technology must be placed in service — not merely ordered or paid for — to be depreciated in the current year. Charitable contributions are deductible in the year given. Owner compensation runs through payroll, and payroll for a closed year cannot be reopened. Entity elections, income deferral or acceleration, and most timing decisions all require something to actually occur inside the tax year.
What can still be done after the year closes?
Considerably less than owners expect. Employer retirement contributions tied to a return still on extension are the main live lever, along with certain elections that are made with the return rather than during the year. Everything else is reporting what already happened. This asymmetry is the entire argument for planning in the fall rather than at filing.
Does buying equipment in December actually save tax?
It accelerates a deduction the practice would have received over time, if the asset is placed in service before year-end. The caution is arithmetic: a purchase reduces tax by a fraction of what it costs, so buying equipment the practice does not need to reduce tax is spending a dollar to save a portion of one. The deduction is a reason to time a purchase already justified on its merits, not a reason to make it.
Should income be deferred into next year?
Only if next year's rate is expected to be no higher. Deferral is a bet on future brackets, and for a growing practice it frequently pushes income into a year with a higher marginal rate, producing a worse result than paying now. The decision depends on the projected difference between this year and next, plus any thresholds — such as those affecting the qualified business income deduction — that sit between them.
When should year-end planning actually start?
Early in the fourth quarter, and for compensation, earlier still. Owner salary has to be corrected across remaining pay runs, so a review in October has runway that a review in mid-December does not. Starting in the fall also leaves time to model alternatives rather than choose under deadline, which is when the expensive default — doing nothing — usually wins.