Specialist medical accounting FAQs

Not necessarily, most things can be done online without expensive time consuming face to face meetings. However for more complex tasks, face to face meetings may be beneficial and for this reason we will always try to match you to the closest specialist accountant.

Medics’ Money started because we wanted to help our friends and colleagues make better financial decisions and that ethos is the driving force behind Medics’ Money today. Our website and podcast are free for doctors to use. If advisers pass our rigorous verification process, which is outlined here https://www.medicsmoney.co.uk/medics-money-approved/, we charge them a small fixed fee to appear on our site and for receiving enquiries.  Ed and Tommy both work as Doctors in the NHS and continually re-invest to improve the range of services we offer to doctors, including free webinars, free podcasts and free financial guides. We have never received any external funding, which means we are free to pick and choose the advisers that appear on Medics’ Money based on merit and not dictated by any outside interests. We are unashamedly selective with who we recommend. We believe in absolute transparency and publish our company accounts online here  https://find-and-update.company-information.service.gov.uk/company/09062977 Occasionally we may use affiliate links to recommend products that we use ourselves but also pay us a small fee, but we always make that very clear to you for example here https://www.medicsmoney.co.uk/recommended-reading-for-doctors/

Medics’ Money is run by Dr Tommy Perkins and Dr Ed Cantelo, who is not only a GP trainee but also a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor with nine years’ experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP London.

With doctors wages falling by up to 30% in 10 years*, combined with the pensions issue for senior doctors, the loss of free accommodation and the rising cost of training for junior doctors, we decided to use our unique skillset to help our colleagues. By empowering doctors to make better financial decisions, we can help mitigate the impact of declining incomes and rising tax bills on our colleagues.  Our site is totally free to use. We empower our colleagues in several ways: Firstly, we help you find a medical specialist accountant or independent financial adviser, handpicked and verified by us and with reviews from doctors like you. They are experts in NHS pensions, GP finances, locum finances and a wide variety of taxation issues. Read here why you need an accountant or  independant financial adviser that specialises in doctors. Secondly, we make it as easy as possible to claim a tax rebate that can reduce the costs of GMC, Royal College fees and examination expenses by up to 40%. Our guides are totally unique, free, and make use of our considerable expertise in this area. The guides are supported by our FAQs and we constantly monitor and improve the guides based on feedback.

All Medics’ Money accountants have been handpicked by us and undergone rigorous verification checks. Each accountant has independent reviews from verified doctors like you, which we constantly monitor to ensure the highest standards. Our software only matches you with the most suitable accountants for your specific accounting needs. Doctors’ tax is a complex area – the NHS pension, tax code errors by payroll, private practice income and NHS income, superannuation, GP practice accounts. Our specialist accountants have the specific knowledge and experience in these areas to make sure your finances are taken care of.

Yes, Medics’ Money is led by Dr Tommy Perkins, a GP, and Dr Ed Cantelo who is not only a GP trainee but also a Chartered Accountant and Chartered Tax Advisor with nine years’ experience at PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP London.

Doctors’ finances can be complex and may need specialist advice. For example, doctors may need help with locum accounts, Self-Assessment tax returns, private practice accounts, NHS Pension tax charges, GP locum or partnership accounts and tax planning, amongst other things. Medics’ Money is run by doctors who noticed non-specialist accountants were more likely to make mistakes. So we invited the very best specialist medical accountants who satisfied our rigorous criteria to join Medics’ Money. We match your individual requirements to the best accountant for you. You can read reviews from other GMC registered doctors and compare prices.

Our software will display guide prices to give you an idea of how much it will cost. Compare prices here https://www.medicsmoney.co.uk/accountant-search/ These are example prices. The exact price will depend on your specific circumstances. Our service allows you to compare Medics’ Money verified accountants and in some cases get a quote online for free. For straightword clearly defined tasks you can expect to have a fixed fee quote from your accountant. But more complex tasks will be priced on an individual basis specific to your situation.

Yes, you can switch accountants if you are unhappy with your current accountant. If you do wish to change accountants we can match you to an appropriate specialist medical accountant, verified by Medics’ Money and with reviews from doctors. Simply let your old accountant know you wish to disengage from their services and your new Medics’ Money specialist will contact them and take care of everything.

Our software will display guide prices to give you an idea of how much it will cost. Compare prices here https://www.medicsmoney.co.uk/accountant-search/ These are example prices. The exact price will depend on your specific circumstances. Our service allows you to compare Medics’ Money verified accountants and in some cases get a quote online for free. For straightword clearly defined tasks you can expect to have a fixed fee quote from your accountant. But more complex tasks will be priced on an individual basis specific to your situation. As a general rule of thumb once you are a higher rate tax-payer, earning over £46,350 per year with several postgraduate examinations and perhaps some ad-hoc locum work you would likely benefit from an accountant.

HMRC impose strict time limits for claiming back tax – 4 tax years. We would always recommend claiming as soon as possible.

Expenses incurred in tax year	Claim by
Tax year 2019/20 (6/4/19 – 5/4/20)	5/4/24
Tax year 2020/21 (6/4/20 – 5/4/21)	5/4/25
Tax year 2021/22 (6/4/21 – 5/4/22)	5/4/26
Tax year 2022/23 (6/4/22 – 5/4/23)	5/4/27

 

It’s very easy for doctors, especially locums or those with more than one employer to overpay National Insurance. This blog explains the problem in detail and this podcast takes a deep dive into national insurance.

As doctors ourselves we know how frustrating it is to have the wrong tax code. This article helps you check your tax code yourself.

Read more about cremation form income here and listen to our podcast episode here.

This is a complex question and depends on your personal circumstances. This article and this podcast give you more information.

The rebate calculator is designed to give you an estimate and your final tax rebate may be more or less than the figure suggested by the rebate calculator. There are many reasons why the tax rebate received may be different to the figure provided by the rebate calculator. These reasons include, among others: – NHS payroll departments do not always deduct the correct amount of tax each tax year. If too little tax has been deducted previously, this will reduce the amount of rebate due. But sometimes too much tax has been deducted, especially if your payroll department has applied the wrong tax code to your salary. – The tax rate entered into the tax rebate calculator may not be the correct marginal tax rate that your employment income is taxed at e.g. in certain tax years your income may be taxed at 20% rather than 40% especially if your claim includes years in which you were an FY1 or FY2, on maternity leave or taking time out of employment. – Reducing your employment income by your professional expenses may bring your income from the 40% tax rate into the 20% tax bracket reducing the amount of rebate due. – The calculator does not take into account any other sources of income which you may have and these can affect the amount of any tax rebate due. Note that only rates that apply to employment income are included in the calculator.

The short answer is yes. If you have claimed yourself or used a non specialist accountant it would be worth you downloading our free guide to make sure you have claimed everything. The long answer is, if your expenses have changed in anyway year to year since you claimed, then yes you do need to update HMRC to make sure you’re paying the right amount of tax. It’s also good practice to check your tax code to see how much expenses are included in your tax code and our blog provides information about how to do this yourself for free.

Our guide gives you guidance on what you can claim but in general a doctor on a training contract can usually claim GMC, BMA, Royal college, indemnity and examination expenses including in some circumstances travel to and from the exam and accommodation expenses. We’re often asked if there’s a definitive list – there isn’t as such, but HMRC does have a list of professional bodies approved for tax relief which is accessible here HMRC List 3. However List 3 isn’t very intuitive to search. For example the GMC appears in the M section as “Medical Council General”. Similarly, the BMA appears in the M section as “Medical Association British”. This makes it tricky to use, but our free guides give you speciality specific guidance on what you can claim to make things easier. It’s important to realise that what you can claim depends on your employment status and if you are self employed or working via a Limited company we would STRONGLY advise you to use an accountant.

HM Revenue and Customs allow tax relief on professional expenses that we as Doctors have to pay in order to do our jobs. For example, if you pay £425 to the General Medical Council, every year you are entitled to tax relief on this amount (usually at 40% of the amount paid). So for example for £425 of GMC fees you would be due a refund of £170 per year (40% of £425). If you haven’t claimed before you can backdate the claim for the previous 4 tax years. (£680) If you also pay money to e.g. Royal College General Practitioners, MDU, British Medical Association or a host of other Royal Colleges and societies you could be owed thousands of pounds in overpaid tax. You may also be entitled to claim a tax rebate on examination expenses such as MRCP, MRCGP, MRCS, FRCA, etc.

As of 14 October 2024 you will need to acquire receipts in order to make your claim. Our guide provides information as to how to get the relevant receipts.  Most of this information can easily be obtained. For example if you log on to your GMC account. Then click “My Account” and “Payment History” all your GMC fees receipts are there. Download our step by step guide to reclaiming tax here which shows you how to find receipts easily.

If you have time and your claim is straightforward, you can use our step by step guides to claim yourself. If your claim is complex, or you are not confident dealing with tax and HMRC, get a free quote from a Medics’ Money verified specialist accountant here. Complex claims that would benefit from using an accountant include those that exceed £2500 of expenses in any year, multiple examinations or courses and travel, or those completing a self assessment tax return. Claiming incorrectly can cost you thousands of pounds and a good accountant will cost you a few hundred pounds to do the claim for you.

If you have time and your claim is straightforward, many junior doctors can use our step by step guides to claim. Download your free guide here. If your claim is complex, or you are not confident dealing with HMRC, we can match you to a Medics’ Money verified specialist accountant.

The amount claimed can be up to 40% of the total amount you paid over the last 4 years, meaning our average doctors claims £1245. Use our free instant rebate calculator to find out how much you can claim.

Please note since writing the below, HMRC have changed the rules again for claiming rebates. Now everything must be done on a P87 form and sent by post with receipts, thus making the process much less efficient. We are working on a new version of the guide and will email once it’s available. Doctors told us they found the claims process difficult, not helped by the often conflicting and out of date information provided by non experts. In addition HMRC’s guidance was confusing to many. There were several ways to claim: some could claim by phone, some by post, some by form p87 and some would need to do self assessment. Small mistakes could cost thousands, for example we have doctors whose claims were rejected because they wrote “British Medical Association” or “BMA” and not “Medical Association, British” which is how it appears in HMRCs manual! In 2018 HMRC upgraded its new online Personal Tax Account to include the ability to claim expenses online. This greatly simplified the process of claiming, but still required some knowledge of what could and could not be claimed. We used our expertise to produce step by step guides to help junior doctors claim themselves using this new system. We extensively tested these guides on friends and colleagues, refining them as HMRC’s software continued to evolve. This led us to where we are today, Medics’ Money is helping junior doctors claim thousands back in overpaid tax, significantly reducing the cost of training. We are working with leading institutions including Royal Colleges who recognise the value of our solution to improve doctors’ finances and morale and we are grateful for their support. We’re very much at the start of our mission, but our aims are: 1 – To enable 100% of doctors to claim 100% of tax relief available using our free step by step guides. For those doctors who cannot claim themselves, we will recommend a specialist medical accountant, hand picked and verified by Medics’ Money with reviews from doctors and practice managers. 2 – To empower doctors to make better financial decisions. We will do this by providing access to high quality advice from leading experts.

The amount claimed can be up to 40% of the professional expenses you paid over the last 4 years, meaning our average doctor claims £1245. Use our free instant rebate calculator to get an estimate of your claim. 

This article explains more about some of the valuable extra benefits of the NHS Pension. 

This is a personal decision, but this article explains more. 

This depends on your unique circumstances, but you should be aware that the NHS Pension can be paid into an overseas bank account.  

What constitutes your pensionable salary can get complex, but for Junior Doctors its your basic pay up to 40 hours per week, which excludes overtime, weekends, enhanced rate hours or locum hours paid.   For Consultants the first 10 Programmed Activities (PAs) of a consultant contract are pensionable – additional PAs are not. Responsibility Payments are often negotiable, and you are still able to pension:  

• On Call Supplements  
• London Weightings   
• Some Clinical Excellence Awards, Merit Awards and Discretionary Points. 

This depends on your unique circumstances and often the answer is you need both. In general accountants help to calculate the tax due and Independent Fianacial Advisers help you plan for the future by projecting benefits and advising on what pension is right for you. This article gives more detail but if you still have questions, contact us here.

The NHS pension is extremely complex and needs specialist advice. Which is exactly why we started Medics’ Money. We have verified and selected the best NHS Pension experts and our unique algorithm matches your unique requirements to suitable advisers from our nationwide network. To find out why over 10,000 doctors have used Medics Money to find an expert adviser who actually understands the pension click here.  If you want a report to check the accuracy of your NHS Pension report click here

The NHS pension is one of the best around. But it’s also become byzantine in its complexity and there are many pitfalls to catch the unwary including

• Inaccurate NHS Pensions records.
• Punitive annual allowance tax charges
• Complex Scheme Pays compensation. 

Why not start with the basics and listen to this podcast. And this article outlines why you probably should not leave the NHS Pension.

Probably both, which is why Medics’ Money is such a great place to find advice as we have the best specialist medical accountants and independent financial advisers all in one place, all working together to help doctors like you. A simplistic view is that accountants calculate your historic tax liabilities and can advise on this. IFAs calculate what you should do in the future including whether you should opt out of the NHS Pension. This article provides more detail. 

Each year at a very minimum all doctors should download a Total Rewards Statement and reconcile these figures with your March payslip.  https://www.totalrewardstatements.nhs.uk It’s also good practice to get a copy of your NHS Pension membership statement and check it carefully. Higher earners should also request an annual allowance statement each year. Our podcast has a wealth of information on the NHS Pension. Listen here. Our ebook contains more detail on the pension.

As doctors we are paid a decent salary for the incredibly hard and valuable work we do. But what if you could put your hard-earned money to work for you? With interest rates at an all time low cash is NOT an investment. Our free ebook has a chapter on investing – download it here and this podcast gives you everything you need to know to get started.  

The NHS pension provides generous ill health and death in service benefits but it’s unlikely these alone will be enough to protect you. This article gives you an overview.

If you got ill and couldn’t work how would you pay the bills? What sick pay are you entitled to? How can doctors get the best deal on income protection? It’s all covered in this article.

Broadly speaking there are two types of Mortgage advisers or brokers. Restricted advisers, sometimes called tied, and Independent whole of market advisers.  Restricted, or tied advisers, for example almost certainly your bank, only offer a restricted number of providers. Independent, whole of market advisers can search the entire market and may have access to products that aren’t available to the public. So by all means ask your bank what deal they can offer but be sure to compare it to the best deal that an Independent Whole of Market adviser can get you and pick the best one.

Probably not. Guess what, your bank is a money-making business and most likely offers its own mortgages but unsurprisingly they won’t tell you if a rival bank or lender could offer you a better deal. So you need to shop around and compare deals from the whole market. As a busy doctor, if this sounds unnecessarily onerous, don’t worry it doesn’t need to be. Simply use a Medics’ Money approved mortgage broker who will shop around on your behalf to get you the best deal.

All the mortgage advisers on Medics’ Money are independent, whole of market advisers who specialise in doctors. This means the advisers search the whole market on your behalf to ensure you get the best deal.

Unfortunately not, HMRC guidance is very specific that a course or qualification being mandatory does not mean tax can be claimed on it. If you have significant amounts of courses we would always recommend using a specialist medical accountant as tax law is complex in this area and any mistakes could cost you a lot of money. You can get a quote from a Medics’ Money verified specialist accountant here. If your interested you can read the HMRC guidance here https://www.gov.uk/hmrc-internal-manuals/employment-income-manual/eim32530

YES. The team here at Medics’ Money have enough letters after their names to know that exams are HARD and passing first time is difficult.

YES. We have helped doctors claim thousands of pounds of rebates  for examination expenses, but the criteria are specific. Either download our step by step guide or let us find you a specialist medical accountant. Be aware non specialist accountants may not be aware of updates in case law in this area specific to doctors and may give out of date advice. You CAN claim for examination expenses providing certain criteria are met and this is as a result of an update to case law in 2010 – CRC v Banerjee [2010] EWCA Civ 843.