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Accountant for Doctors and Dentists in Ottawa
Residents, locums, associates and practice owners each face different tax questions, and BBA Tax works as an Ottawa accountant for doctors, dentists and other regulated health professionals at every one of those stages. We keep your practice books, plan how you pay yourself, sort out which of your services carry HST, and prepare your corporate and personal returns. You get organized records, returns prepared ahead of each deadline, and a clear plan for what your corporation keeps, pays out and invests.
How We Help Physicians and Dentists
We set up your practice as an Ontario health profession corporation, with voting shares held by College members and any non-voting shares held by eligible family members. The CPSO or RCDSO must issue a certificate of authorization before the corporation practises or bills, so we plan the timing with you.
Salary creates RRSP room and comes with CPP contributions; dividends create no RRSP room. We model the mix each year, including dividends to family shareholders under the tax on split income (TOSI) rules, and the higher personal tax on non-eligible dividends once Ontario’s dividend tax credit drops in 2027.
We reconcile OHIP payments, insurer payments and patient billings to your bank deposits in QuickBooks. We track staff costs, rent, lab fees and supplies, and record equipment for capital cost allowance, including medical or dental instruments under $500, which go in Class 12 at a 100% rate.
Medical and dental services provided for medical reasons are generally HST-exempt, but cosmetic procedures such as teeth whitening are taxable, and reports written for lawyers or insurers may be too. We track those sales against the $30,000 small supplier threshold, then register you and file returns when required.
Residents and salaried physicians can claim professional dues and malpractice premiums required to keep their professional status. Self-employed locums and associates report professional income on Form T2125, file by June 15 and pay any balance by April 30. We prepare the return and tell you when instalments will apply.
Planning Around Your Career Stage
Early in your career, tax is mostly about your T4 income, professional dues and building RRSP room. If you then work as a self-employed associate or locum, you are running a business: tracking expenses, setting money aside for tax, and watching for the point where HST registration or quarterly instalments apply.
Practice owners have a longer list: staff payroll, Employer Health Tax if Ontario payroll tops the $1 million exemption, corporate year-ends and shareholder decisions. We map out which of these apply to you now, which are coming as the practice grows, and what records each one needs, so you can see what is ahead well before year-end.
A Full-Service Accountant for Doctors and Dentists
We handle the accounting around your clinical work, from incorporation to retirement planning. That includes QuickBooks bookkeeping, payroll and T4 slips for hygienists, assistants and front-desk staff, GST/HST returns for taxable services, T2 corporate returns and personal returns for you and your family. We also review how much to keep invested in the corporation, because passive investment income over $50,000 a year starts to shrink the federal small business limit, while Ontario’s limit is unaffected.
Why Medical and Dental Practices Face Different Tax Rules
Health professionals work under two sets of rules at once: tax law, and your College’s rules on who can own and run a professional corporation. A misstep on either side can cost money, whether it is a family shareholder the College will not accept, a cosmetic service billed without HST, or dividends taxed at the top personal rate.
Your College Sets Ownership Rules
Only College members can own voting shares in a medicine or dentistry professional corporation. Non-voting shares can also go to a voting shareholder’s spouse, child or parent, or to a trust for their minor children. The CPSO accepts step-children, step-parents and common-law spouses, but not parents-in-law, and it does not allow holding companies to own shares.
Family Dividends Face TOSI
Dividends paid to a spouse or adult child who holds non-voting shares can be caught by the tax on split income, which applies the top marginal rate. The excluded shares exception is not available to professional corporations, which the Income Tax Act defines to include medical and dental practices, so other exclusions have to be tested first.
Most Services Are HST-Exempt
Exempt services mean you charge no HST, but you also generally cannot claim input tax credits for the HST you pay on rent, equipment and supplies used to provide them. Taxable work, such as cosmetic procedures, counts toward the $30,000 small supplier limit, and once you pass it, you must register and start charging 13% HST on that work.
Passive Income Limits Corporate Savings
Keeping surplus profits invested in the corporation defers personal tax, but too much investment income can cost you the federal small business rate. Each $1 of passive investment income over $50,000 a year reduces the federal small business limit by $5, so it reaches zero at $150,000. Ontario does not follow this rule, so its 2.2% small business rate can still apply.
Tax Preparation & Filing for Doctors and Dentists
Your filing calendar depends on how you practise. A professional corporation files its T2 within six months of year-end, while a self-employed locum or associate files a personal return by June 15 and pays by April 30. Our 2026 tax deadline calendar shows the key dates. We help with:
T2 corporate returns and T5 dividend slips for your corporation
Personal returns for physicians, dentists and family shareholders
GST/HST returns for cosmetic and other taxable services
Why Ottawa Health Professionals Choose BBA Tax
Our office is in Westboro at 203-307C Richmond Road, so you can meet us in person between shifts, and we work remotely with professionals who practise elsewhere in Canada. Lead Accountant Karim Bitar is an ELITE Certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor, and his team includes bookkeepers who keep your practice records current.
Start with a free intro call to talk through incorporation, HST or a CRA letter, or get a five-minute instant quote online. Corporate T2 returns start from $1,000 and bookkeeping from $1,225 a year, and bundling services saves 10% to 25%. Personal returns for self-employed locums start from $150.
What We Handle for Your Practice
This is the recurring work we take off your desk, from monthly books to year-end filings.
Practice bookkeeping in QuickBooks
Staff payroll, T4s and remittances
T2 corporate and personal returns
GST/HST registration and filing
Salary, dividend and RRSP planning
Medical and Dental Accounting FAQ
Should a doctor incorporate in Ontario?
Incorporating can make sense once you earn more than you need to spend personally. A professional corporation pays a combined 11.2% (9% federal plus 2.2% Ontario) on its first $500,000 of active business income from July 1, 2026, a limit that can be reduced, and you pay personal tax only on what you take out. You need an Ontario corporation and a CPSO certificate of authorization, which costs $400 to apply and $175 a year to renew. Dentists apply to the RCDSO, where the fee is $750.
Do doctors and dentists charge HST?
Usually not. Most health, medical and dental services performed by licensed physicians or dentists for medical reasons are exempt from GST/HST. Cosmetic procedures done to improve appearance rather than for medical or reconstructive reasons, such as teeth whitening or cosmetic botulinum toxin injections, are taxable at 13% in Ontario. You must register once taxable sales pass $30,000 in a calendar quarter or over four consecutive quarters. Because exempt services earn no input tax credits, the HST you pay on related costs is generally not recoverable.
Can my spouse own shares in my medical professional corporation?
Yes, but only non-voting shares. Under Ontario’s health profession corporation rules, a physician’s or dentist’s spouse, child or parent can hold non-voting shares, as can a trust for minor children, while every voting share must be owned by a College member. The CPSO accepts common-law spouses but does not allow holding companies as shareholders. Dividends on family shares are generally subject to the tax on split income unless an exclusion applies, such as for the spouse of an owner aged 65 or older.
Should I pay myself salary or dividends from my medical corporation?
It depends on your income, savings goals and family situation, and a mix of both is an option. Salary creates RRSP room (18% of the previous year’s earned income, up to $33,810 for 2026) and comes with CPP contributions; dividends create no RRSP room. Ontario’s dividend tax credit on non-eligible dividends drops from 2.9863% to 1.9863% in 2027, which raises the personal tax on dividends paid from income taxed at the small business rate. Our Ontario salary vs. dividend calculator shows the trade-off.
Guides for Health Professionals
Go deeper with these guides from the BBA Tax blog:
Success Stories
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