Medical, dental and allied health
Financial planning for doctors who started earning late.
Financial advice for doctors, dentists, allied health professionals and medical practice owners, from Melbourne and the Gold Coast to anywhere in Australia. Whether you own the practice or work in someone else’s, we map how you earn, how it is held and what it is building, with Altiora Advisory alongside on the accounting.
The real problem
Most doctors we meet are a decade behind their own income. Long training, a late first real salary and a full life mean the wealth plan starts in your late thirties, and the tax system treats you as a top earner from the first day.
$250k
Income plus concessional contributions where Division 293 tax starts
$3m
Super balance where Division 296 tax applies from 01/07/2026
10/08/2026
From this date, new SMSF property borrowing is for business premises only
01/07/2027
The CGT discount changes, which matters if you plan to sell a practice
Sound familiar?
The money side of medicine nobody taught you.
The pressure looks different depending on whether you own the practice or work in it. Most of our clients have been both at some point.
If you own or run the practice
The payroll tax question won’t go away
Tenant-doctor and service arrangements have been pulled into payroll tax. The rules now differ by state, most relief is limited to GPs, and some of it depends on bulk billing. Specialists, dentists and allied health generally sit outside it.
The service trust was set up years ago
Nobody has checked whether the service fees are still commercial, whether the paperwork matches how the practice really runs, or how the ATO now looks at profit allocation in professional firms.
The practice turns over well, the cash doesn’t stay
Rent, fit-out loans, equipment, wages and, since 01/07/2026, super paid with every pay run. Good months and lean months, and tax that never waits.
You are weighing up the building, a buy-in or an exit
Buying premises, buying into a partnership or selling your share all turn on structure, goodwill and timing, and the CGT rules change on 01/07/2027.
If you are employed or contracted
Your first real salary arrived at 32
Medical school, internship, residency and fellowship. Your friends had a ten-year head start on super and a home, and you still have HELP to clear.
Your super is taxed harder than you think
Once your income plus concessional contributions passes $250,000, Division 293 adds another 15% tax on some or all of those contributions. Large balances now face Division 296 as well.
A hospital salary, private rooms and a locum on the side
Several income streams, an ABN, tax instalments and personal services income rules. Each part makes sense on its own. Together they rarely get planned.
Part-time years and parental leave
Super is now paid on Government Paid Parental Leave, which helps. It doesn’t replace the years you choose to work less, and those years deserve a plan before they arrive.
Two careers at once
You run a clinical career. Your money is a second job.
You make careful decisions all day with good information. Money decisions tend to get made at 9pm, between notes, on someone else’s advice. Your accountant does the returns. A bank sells you a loan. A colleague mentions a structure that worked for them.
What is usually missing is one person looking at the whole picture: your medical practice structure, the tax, the super, the debt and the timing, and asking what it is all for. That is the job we do as your financial adviser, with Altiora Advisory on the accounting so nothing falls between two offices. If you own the practice, our advice for business owners goes deeper on growth, succession and sale.
Where professional liability matters, we look at which assets sit in whose name with your accountant and lawyer. Insurance is for your specialist broker. We don’t advise on it here, but we make sure the plan and the cover are talking to each other.
How we help
Structure, set-up, tax and wealth. One plan, two firms.
You call us first. We take the enquiry, map where you are and bring Altiora Advisory in for the accounting and tax. You get one plan and one point of contact.
Map the structure
Who earns what, through which entity, and who owns the assets. Practice company, service trust, family trust, SMSF, the home and the investment property, on one page.
Set it up properly
Altiora Advisory reviews or establishes the entities, service agreements and registrations, and checks the payroll tax position in your state. Legal documents come from our preferred legal provider.
Get the tax right
Personal services income, profit allocation, Division 293, tax instalments and payroll tax, handled by Altiora Advisory and built into the plan instead of discovered at lodgement.
Build the wealth plan
We turn surplus into a strategy: debt, super contributions, investments outside super, premises, a buy-in or an exit, and the part-time years. Reviewed every year with both firms in the room.
Wealth Effect Group
Strategy and the wealth plan
- Your Structure Map and priorities
- Cash flow, debt and surplus strategy
- Super contributions, including Division 293 and 296 awareness
- Investment strategy outside super
- Practice purchase, premises and exit planning
- The annual review that keeps it all current
Altiora Advisory
Accounting, tax and set-up
- Entity set-up and service agreements
- Tax returns, BAS and tax planning
- Payroll tax review for practitioner payments
- Personal services income and profit allocation
- Practice purchase due diligence and CGT
- ATO correspondence and reviews
Altiora Advisory is our referral partner and a separate business. You are welcome to keep your own accountant, and we will work with them instead.
What you get
Five things you will finally have in writing.
Your Structure Map
Every entity and asset on one page, who controls each one, and how income flows between them.
A surplus plan
How much you really have left each year after tax, loans and the practice, and where it should go first.
A super strategy
Contributions, catch-up years and the balance you are building, with Division 293 and Division 296 in view.
A practice plan
Buy-in, premises, growth or sale, mapped against the 01/07/2027 CGT change and the small business concessions.
One annual rhythm
Tax planning with Altiora before 30 June, then a wealth review with us. Same plan, both firms, every year.
Personal advice is provided in writing in a Statement of Advice, with the fee agreed up front. Tax advice comes from Altiora Advisory or your own registered tax agent.
Illustrative example
Two specialists. Same income, five years apart.
A simple illustration, not a real client. Two specialists each finish training at 38 and can save $4,000 a month. One starts at 38. The other spends five years upgrading the house and the car first. No investment returns are included, to keep the arithmetic plain.
| Starts at 38 | Starts at 43 | |
|---|---|---|
| Monthly saving | $4,000 | $4,000 |
| Years of saving to age 53 | 15 | 10 |
| Arithmetic | $4,000 x 12 x 15 | $4,000 x 12 x 10 |
| Saved by 53, before returns | $720,000 | $480,000 |
The difference is $240,000 before a single dollar of growth. With returns added the gap widens, because the early years compound for longest. The same specialist, if their income plus concessional contributions is above $250,000, pays an extra 15% on concessional contributions under Division 293: on $30,000 of contributions that is $4,500 a year. Contributions can still make sense. The point is to plan them with the real numbers.
Illustrative example only. Not based on a real client, ignores investment returns, fees and tax on earnings, and is not a guarantee of any outcome. $30,000 is an illustrative figure, not a statement of the contribution cap.
Who it’s for
Built for clinicians who are busy being clinicians.
A good fit if you
- Are a GP, specialist, surgeon, dentist or allied health practitioner
- Own, part-own or are about to buy into a practice
- Work in a hospital, private rooms or as a contractor and earn well, but feel behind
- Have a service trust, company or SMSF and aren’t sure it still fits
- Want your adviser and accountant working from the same plan
Probably not for you if you
- Want an insurance policy recommended (we don’t advise on insurance on this page)
- Are looking for an aggressive tax scheme
- Only want a tax return lodged (Altiora Advisory can help with that directly)
Case study
How Peter and Megan, two doctors, measured what advice was worth.
Megan was moving into private practice, a tired investment apartment was costing them money and an inheritance was on the way. See the three strategies we modelled, the ten-year projections and the scorecard we use to measure value against our fee.
Questions we hear
Quick answers.
Do you do my tax return?
No. Accounting and tax work is done by our referral partner Altiora Advisory, a separate business. If you already have an accountant you trust, keep them. We will work with them and make sure the wealth plan and the tax work line up.
I contract to a medical centre. Does payroll tax affect me?
Payroll tax is usually the practice’s liability, but it shapes your contract, the service fees you pay and how the practice structures its arrangements. The rules differ by state, and most of the recent relief applies only to GPs, sometimes linked to bulk billing. Altiora Advisory can review the arrangement for your state.
Should I have a service trust?
Sometimes. A service entity can make commercial sense for a practice, but the fees must be commercial and documented, and income from your personal skills is generally taxed to you under the personal services income rules. It is a business decision first and a tax decision second.
Can my SMSF buy our practice premises?
Yes, within limits. An SMSF can own business real property and lease it to your practice at market rent, within strict rules. Since 10/08/2026, new SMSF borrowing to buy real property is only allowed for business real property, so residential property is out. It needs proper advice before anything is signed.
I plan to sell my share of the practice. What changes in 2027?
From 01/07/2027 the 50% CGT discount for individuals and trusts is replaced by cost base indexation and a 30% minimum tax on gains, with value built up before that date keeping the old discount. The small business CGT concessions remain for those who qualify, including the $6 million net asset test. Timing and structure matter, so plan the sale early.
Do you advise on medical indemnity or income protection?
Not on this service. We don’t recommend insurance products here. We coordinate with your specialist broker so your structure, cash flow and cover work together.
I’m still a registrar with HELP debt. Is it too early?
It’s the best time. The habits, structure and savings rate you set before your income jumps are much easier to keep than to retrofit at 45.
What does it cost?
The first 15-minute call is free. If we go further, we agree any fee in writing before work starts, and personal advice is provided in a Statement of Advice. Altiora Advisory quotes its own fees separately.
Insights
Reading for practice owners and high earners.
Start here
Book a 15-minute call.
Tell us whether you own a practice or work in one, and what is on your mind. We will tell you honestly whether we can help, and what the next step would be.
- Free, by phone or Teams
- Practice owners and employed or contracted practitioners
- Altiora Advisory brought in for accounting and tax where needed
- Licensed through Boston Reed Pty Ltd (AFSL 225738)
Your life outside the practice
You look after everyone else. Let someone look after the plan.
Fifteen minutes is enough to find out where you stand and what to do first.
General advice only. This page does not take into account your objectives, financial situation or needs, so consider whether it is appropriate for you and read our Financial Services Guide before acting. Tax, superannuation and state payroll tax rules change often and differ between states. Information is current as at 13/10/2026 and is a general summary, not tax advice. The illustrative example is not based on a real client, uses simplified arithmetic and is not a guarantee of any outcome. Wealth Effect Group (CAR 424768) and Andre Dirckze (AR 395157) are Authorised Representatives of Boston Reed Pty Ltd, ABN 89 091 004 885, AFSL 225738. Accounting and tax services are provided by Altiora Advisory, not by Wealth Effect Group; we may receive a referral fee. See our important information.