[Spotlight] The Tax Mistakes Dentists Make (And How to Avoid Them)

Are you leaving your tax planning too late?

In this spotlight episode of Just4Dentists, Dr Ruth Baidoo shares a key moment from the tax special with financial advisor Martin Febery (Money4Dentists) and mortgage broker Andrew Brown (Mortgages4Dentists).

In this clip, Martin and Andrew challenge the assumption that January is the most important tax deadline — and make the case for why a small amount of forward planning throughout the year can save dentists significant time, money and stress. They also share a familiar scenario that many dentists will recognise: arriving at the end of the year with a bag full of receipts and hoping for the best.

If you're a dentist who wants to feel more in control of your finances, this is a great place to start.

🎧 Listen to the full tax special episode on the Just4Dentists feed for the complete conversation, including pension carry forward, ISAs, Making Tax Digital and more.

Have a question or want tailored expert advice? 

📩 Email info@j4d.co.uk or visit www.j4d.co.uk

💬 Join the Just4Dentists Facebook community to continue the conversation.

Presented by Dr Ruth Baidoo 

Produced by Your Podcast Producer Ltd for the Just4Dentists team

Disclaimer: The information provided in this podcast is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute formal financial or legal advice. Every dentist’s career pathway and financial situation is unique; therefore, you should not rely on this content as a substitute for professional advice tailored to your specific circumstances. The value of investments can go down as well as up, and past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results.

Transcript

Dr Ruth Baidoo 0:00

Hi, I'm Dr. Ruth Baidoo and welcome to Just4Dentists. Every fortnight I like to spotlight a moment from one of my recent conversations, something that's really stayed with me after sitting down with my guests. Usually we dive into a guest's career story, but recently we did something a little bit different. I sat down with dedicated experts Martin Febery, Principal Advisor at Money4Dentists, and Andrew Brown, Director and Mortgage Broker at Mortgages 4 Dentists. We dedicated the entire episode to the most important date in the financial calendar, the end of the tax year. We talked about why this isn't just about paperwork, but about protecting your hard-earned income. From maximising pension carry-forward rules to navigating the massive shift with making tax digital for associates. Here's a moment from that conversation with Martin and Andrew that highlights exactly why you shouldn't leave your money on the table as each yearly deadline approaches.

Martin Febery 0:49

You can plan for your tax. It doesn't need to be left until the last minute. So if you, for example, keep your books up to date, you can have a pretty decent idea of where your year is going to land. Based on that, you can do things like pension contributions, make sure you're not paying yourself past a tax trap. Just a bit of forward planning means that you can take all those things into account and just not trip over. What often happens with dentists and many other people is they'll pay themselves during the year, they'll get to the, you know, after the tax year end, and to be honest, quite often the following January, and they'll put all the stuff together and go, oh dear, I've um paid myself too much and I'm now paying over 60% tax because of the 100,000 tax trap, for example. It's a it's a really big thing. Whereas with a bit of planning, and it doesn't take an awful lot of input from the dentist, to be honest, just getting the team around them and having an accountant that keeps your accounts up to date, having an advisor that understands how the money works and can work with your accountant to make sure that everything is planned ahead and you're not left until after the clock has stopped.

Andrew Brown 2:03

Yeah, it's a really good point that Martin makes that I think a lot of people, your mentality is the most important part of the tax year is the 31st of January to submit your personal tax return.

Dr Ruth Baidoo 2:14

Yeah.

Andrew Brown 2:14

And I think that is a myth. It's all too late by then because you're submitting for something that's the latest date, and you're submitting effectively nearly 10 months since the last tax year ended. Um, and the only contributions you can make to your pensions happened 10 months ago. So really we need to kind of reshape our thinking if people don't in that mentality of thinking 31st of January. The most important date is the 5th of April. And really at the start of March, that's when you should be thinking, okay, how much money have I earned in the year? Do I want to make some additional pension contributions? Have I put money into an ICE? Because the ISA limits are around £20,000 each person per year. Um, and it's only probably in the last few years that even myself, I've been really focused now in March. I'm thinking, right, have I done everything how I want it to be on my tax return, I may submit in another six to ten months' time.

Dr Ruth Baidoo 3:10

So, in essence, just you should be thinking far ahead, like not just having these hard and stop dates in our, you know, our diaries, but actually thinking a little bit further ahead so we can plan and make accommodations where necessary.

Martin Febery 3:21

Absolutely. And you know what? So we know a lot of I don't work as an accountant now, but you know a lot of accountants and their January is absolutely jam-packed. Um There's guys doing really serious hours because um some client has turned up with a a shopping bag full of receipts and a loads of pieces of paper and said, Okay, can you do my tax return now? And like you've you've had that information for 10 months, you know. If that was spread over some time, you'd actually get a lower cost from your accountant. And even bringing it up to the end of the day, you could actually do your tax return, you know, on the 6th of April if you really wanted to. The point being by just a small amount of organ, and it really is a small amount of organisation, you really can have a good clue what's going on. We'll talk about making tax digital um later, because it's going to get a bit dry. But actually, that's gonna be some kind of advantage to a lot of people. It it might hurt to start, but it actually will be a big advantage.

Dr Ruth Baidoo 4:25

If that resonated with you, you'll find the full tax special on the main Just 4Dentists feed, where we go deeper into pensions, ISAs, and digital record keeping. You can also get in touch directly if you have a specific financial question and need to speak to an expert. Just email our team at info at j4d.co.uk. I'll see you in the next episode of Just 4Dentists. Until then, bye.