GP Tax & Accounts

UK residence restarts for the whole tax year you come back in, and split year treatment then carves out the months before you arrived. Most returning doctors meet case 6, ceasing full-time work overseas, or case 5. You file a return with the residence pages, which HMRC's free online service will not accept.

Adjusted net income is the figure that decides whether a doctor keeps the personal allowance, keeps Tax-Free Childcare and the funded childcare hours, and escapes the High Income Child Benefit Charge. It is a four-step computation under ITA 2007 s.58 rather than anything printed on a payslip, and adjusted net income is a different measure again from the similarly named adjusted income used for pension purposes. This guide sets out how the figure is built, why the effective rate reaches 60 percent between £100,000 and £125,140 in 2026/27, what a doctor's own extra sessions and profit share do to it, which levers still work before 5 April and which survive the year end, and what the childcare and Child Benefit cliffs cost alongside it.

Which maternity payment a doctor receives is decided by employment status, and a self-employed GP can be assessed at £27 a week instead of £194.32 because of a National Insurance rule that changed in 2024. This guide sets out both routes, the NHS occupational scheme, the pension consequence and what the practice can reclaim.

When a salaried or sessional GP is offered a partnership, the practical question is what you actually pay to come in, and what that money buys. This page isolates the capital buy-in itself: a contribution into the partnership capital accounts for your share of net assets, working capital and any premises share. It explains parity (working up from a reduced share to a full, equal profit share over an agreed period), and how the figure is set and valued, namely on net assets per the accounts and a surveyor or District Valuer basis for premises, never an NHS goodwill multiple. It is the money-and-mechanics page for joining, not a broad pros-and-cons of partnership.

NHS GP practice goodwill cannot be sold and has not been saleable since 1 April 2004. This guide explains the prohibition, why it exists, what actually changes hands on a partnership buy-in or buy-out, the one private exception, and why the dental goodwill playbook does not apply to GPs.

Most GPs do not have the buy-in capital sitting in cash, so they borrow it, and the good news is that the interest on a loan taken out to buy into or contribute capital to a partnership qualifies for income tax relief. This page explains how a GP finances a buy-in (a partnership-capital loan, building capital from undrawn profit, or a mix), the tax relief on the loan interest (how it works, the conditions, the cap on income tax reliefs and how it is claimed), and the cash flow of servicing the loan against partnership drawings. It is the funding-and-relief page that sits underneath the buy-in and the due diligence.

Two GPs can work side by side under very different legal arrangements. In an expense-sharing arrangement each GP is effectively a separate practitioner sharing premises and staff costs; in a full partnership the GPs pool and share profit. This guide explains the difference, the legal test that decides which one you are in, and the tax, accounting and liability consequences of each.

A GP partner draws a steady monthly amount but is taxed on something different: their full allocated profit share, whether or not they drew it as cash. This page is the practical, cash-flow-first treatment of that gap: why the two figures diverge, the timing mismatch it creates (drawings now, tax bill later), and a workable method for reserving for income tax, Class 4 National Insurance, payments on account and superannuation, so the January and July bills never come as a shock.

Basis period reform quietly changed how every GP partnership is taxed: partnerships now pay tax on the profit arising in the tax year itself rather than on the profit of the accounting year ending in it. This is the dedicated deep-dive for a GP practice: the move to the tax-year basis from 2024/25, the one-off 2023/24 transition year, how overlap relief was used up, the option to spread the transition profit over five years, and the apportionment a practice faces if its accounting date is not 31 March or 5 April.

Most GP partnerships run a mutual assessment period, a trial stretch during which the incoming GP and the existing partners decide whether to offer and accept parity or permanency. This page explains what that period is, and, the substance of the page, the financial due diligence an incoming GP should do during it: read the accounts, understand the premises position and last-man-standing risk, check the NHS contract and list size, read the partnership deed, understand drawings versus profit, and surface any outstanding liabilities. It is the look-before-you-leap page for joining a partnership, framed around the trial period that gives you the window to do it.

When two GP practices merge, the partners' first questions are about the accounts, the capital accounts, the contracts, the premises and the tax. This guide works through each strand and the pivotal income-tax question of whether the merger is a cessation and recommencement or a continuation, with the HMRC test and a checklist to settle with your accountant.

Every year a GP partner is handed a bound set of partnership accounts to sign, and often understands very little of what the numbers mean. This is a plain-English reading guide to that document: the profit and loss account, the balance sheet and, the part that confuses partners most, the difference between your capital account (your long-term stake in the practice's net assets) and your current account (the running tally of profit allocated to you, less what you have drawn). The aim is comprehension of the accounts themselves, not a tax tutorial.

When a GP partner retires or leaves, two separate things happen: they receive what the partnership owes them (their capital account and any premises share), and their share of the trade ceases for tax. This guide explains what you get back, how the cessation of your notional trade works under the post-reform tax-year basis (and why there is usually no overlap relief left), whether capital gains tax arises on a premises share, and the deed mechanics that keep an exit orderly.

How GPs, salaried doctors, consultants and locums claim use-of-home tax relief. We cover the apportionment basis, which costs qualify, the flat-rate alternatives, and how the rules differ for the self-employed versus employees in 2026/27.

Understanding the tax differences between GP partners and salaried GPs is crucial for career decisions and financial planning. This guide breaks down the key tax implications of each role.

GP partners are taxed on their profit share, not their drawings, through the partnership return (SA800) and the partnership pages of their personal tax return (SA104). This 2026/27 guide explains how partnership profits flow to tax, Class 4 National Insurance, allowable expenses, capital accounts, the NHS goodwill rules and how partnership profits interact with the NHS pension.

A high-level GP tax planning hub for 2026/27. The main levers (NHS pension, partnership profit share, expenses, incorporating private work, MTD) explained at a glance, each linking to a deeper guide so you can act on the one that matters to you.

Comprehensive breakdown of allowable tax deductions for GPs in 2026/27, covering professional fees, indemnity, CPD, mileage, home office and equipment, with notes for partners, salaried GPs and locums.

How GPs file self-assessment by role: the partnership SA800, the SA104 partnership pages, the SA103 self-employment pages and the SA100, plus deadlines, payments on account, Class 4 NIC and Making Tax Digital for 2026/27.