News

The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently issued EBSA Disaster Relief Notice 2021-01, which is of interest to employers. It clarifies the duration of certain COVID-19-related deadline extensions that apply to health care benefits...

The IRS has a massive effort, launched in coordination with the U.S. Department of Justice, to identify and prosecute tax evaders from the medical profession.   Watch Out for Sham Trusts The IRS is warning physicians not to get...

Since physicians are the revenue producers of a busy medical practice, there can be a temptation to add doctors to ease patient loads and increase the bottom line. But while bringing on more practitioners can reduce workloads and create...

There's a lot of discussion these days about protecting physicians from malpractice lawsuits. But another, less publicized threat is potential sexual harassment claims from employees or patients. Like all workplaces in the last decade, medical...

Over time, doctors develop their own unique style of practicing medicine. The same is true of medical groups. They develop a style that involves creating a work culture and passing information about it on to staff members. A medical practice's...

When was the last time you took a careful look at your office overhead costs and compared them to the same period last year? Expenses can creep up fast if nobody is monitoring them. Generally speaking, the cost of running a medical office...

Physicians know they have a responsibility to provide health care to patients with mental or physical infirmities. But they may not know about the legal obligation to accommodate people with disabilities when it comes to hiring and other...

With the increase in health plans requiring members to pay all or part of their office visits, practices are faced with the challenge of asking patients for full payment. This can be upsetting for the patients and uncomfortable for the staff...

When it's time to negotiate or renegotiate a physician's employment contract, there are critical issues that must be understood and settled. The fulfillment and career potential of the phsician and the success of the practice depend on it. A...

There are nuances in providing valuations for virtually every type of business entity ranging from retail outlets to a manufacturing operation to a personal services firms. But valuations for hospitals and other organizations in the health care...

Your medical practice, currently running as a C or S corporation, may be considering the idea of converting to a limited liability company (LLC) or limited liability partnership (LLP). Under the right circumstances, that could be a good idea from a...

Unfortunately, many physician partnerships compare more to a boxing match than, well, a partnership. When partners can't get along — whether it's because of personality issues or divvying up responsibilities — running a truly...

In certain circumstances, it can be a good tax idea to convert a medical practice operating as a C or S corporation into a limited liability company (LLC) or limited liability partnership (LLP). Here's why: Both LLCs and LLPs can be...

Every year, studies show that many employees are injured while carrying out their duties. Some even die from job-related illnesses or injuries. Medical and dental office staff members face many risks on the job, such as contracting...

If you're an employee of your practice, you may receive company-paid long-term disability insurance coverage as a tax-free fringe benefit. Sounds good but here's the problem: Most long-term disability policies limit benefit payments to only...

If you are starting a new medical practice, you may incur several different types of "pre-opening expenses." By pre-opening expenses, we mean those that are incurred during the period before the new practice is actually up and running and...

If you operate your medical practice as a C corporation, you may be required to conduct an annual corporate meeting and keep minutes of the proceedings. The requirement to keep minutes is sometimes viewed as a burdensome task, but there's some...

Payments made by a medical practice to buy out a retiring partner's entire ownership interest are generally subject to self-employment tax. Careful planning can change that. We'll explain how, but first, here is some background...

When it comes to setting up a tax-favored retirement plan — such as a 401(k) plan, a pension or profit sharing plan, or a simplified employee pension (SEP) plan — medical practice partnerships must follow essentially the same federal...

Let's say a partner in your medical practice exits partway through the firm's tax year. How are partnership tax items for that year allocated between the departing partner and the remaining partners? There is more than one way to handle this...