Tax Guide for Dentists with Private Practice Income

The Accounted Business Team·22 February 2026·7 min read

Running a Private Dental Practice or Working as an Associate? Your Tax Guide for 2025/26

Dentistry is one of the few professions where practitioners commonly earn both NHS and private income, often in the same practice, sometimes across multiple locations. Whether you are an associate, a principal, or a practice owner, the tax rules are specific and the stakes are high. Getting it right saves you thousands. Getting it wrong invites HMRC enquiries.

This guide covers the key tax considerations for dentists with private practice income in the 2025/26 tax year.

Associate vs Principal vs Practice Owner

Your role determines your tax status and what you can claim.

Associate Dentists

Most dental associates are self-employed. You work under a contract with a practice, use their premises and equipment, but you are not an employee. You typically receive a percentage of the fees generated by your patients (usually 40-50% of NHS and private fees), and the practice retains the rest to cover overheads.

As a self-employed associate, you:

Register as a sole trader with HMRC
File a Self Assessment return
Claim allowable expenses against your income
Pay Income Tax and National Insurance on your profits

Your gross income is the total amount the practice pays you before you deduct your own expenses. Some practices deduct lab fees or material costs before paying you — if so, your gross income is the amount before those deductions, and you claim them as expenses.

Principal Dentists

A principal dentist owns or part-owns the practice but may not operate through a limited company. If you are a sole trader principal, your income is the practice revenue minus practice expenses — and you file a Self Assessment return on that profit.

Practice Owners (Limited Company)

If you operate through a limited company, the company pays Corporation Tax on its profits. You pay personal tax on the salary and dividends you draw from the company. This is a more complex structure, and most dentists in this position use a specialist dental accountant.

Mixed NHS and Private Income

Many dentists earn both NHS and private income. Both are taxable and declared on the same Self Assessment return (for sole traders) or through the company accounts (for limited companies).

NHS Income

NHS income for associates is typically paid through the practice, which receives the NHS contract payments and passes your share to you. The practice usually provides a schedule showing your gross NHS earnings. Your income is the gross amount before the practice deducts its percentage.

Private Income

Private fees work similarly. You treat patients, the practice collects the fees, and you receive your agreed percentage. Again, your income is the gross amount before the practice takes its share.

Tracking the Split

Keep records of both NHS and private income separately. While they are both declared as self-employment income on your tax return, understanding the split helps with financial planning and is useful if HMRC asks questions.

Expenses for Self-Employed Dentists

Self-employed dental associates and principals can claim a wide range of expenses.

Laboratory and Material Costs

Lab fees for crowns, bridges, dentures, and other prosthetics are often your largest expense after the practice takes its percentage. If the practice deducts these from your share before paying you, they are still your expense — they have just been paid on your behalf. Record them as both income (gross) and expense (lab fees).

Dental materials and consumables — composite, impression material, anaesthetics, gloves, masks — are deductible if you pay for them yourself. In most associate arrangements, the practice provides these, so check your contract.

GDC Registration

Your annual General Dental Council registration fee is a deductible expense. For 2025/26, the GDC retention fee is £621 per year for dentists. This is listed on HMRC's approved list of professional subscriptions.

Professional Indemnity Insurance

Dental protection or indemnity cover is essential and fully deductible. Whether you use Dental Protection, the MDU, the DDU, or a commercial insurer, the premium is an allowable expense. Given the rising cost of dental indemnity, this can be a significant deduction.

Professional Memberships

Membership fees for professional bodies are deductible:

British Dental Association (BDA)
Faculty of General Dental Practice (FGDP)
Royal College of Surgeons — dental faculty
Specialist dental societies (British Orthodontic Society, British Endodontic Society, etc.)

Training and CPD

Dentists must complete continuing professional development (CPD) to maintain GDC registration. The cost of CPD courses, conferences, and study clubs is deductible. This includes:

Course fees
Travel and accommodation for courses
Conference registration fees
Dental journals and textbooks
Online CPD subscriptions

Postgraduate training — diplomas, master's degrees, specialist training — is also generally deductible if it enhances your ability to carry out your existing work. A general dentist doing a postgraduate certificate in implantology is improving their existing professional skills. HMRC normally accepts this.

Equipment and Instruments

If you buy your own instruments — handpieces, loupes, surgical kits — these are deductible. Items under £1,000 can be claimed as a revenue expense. More expensive items (such as a dental microscope or high-end loupes costing several thousand pounds) are claimed through capital allowances, usually using the Annual Investment Allowance which allows you to claim the full cost in the year of purchase.

Travel Between Practices

If you work at multiple practices, travel between them during the working day is a business expense. Travel from home to a regular practice is commuting and not deductible. But if you work at Practice A on Monday and Practice B on Tuesday, and neither is your permanent workplace under the 24-month rule, travel to both may be deductible.

The rules are nuanced. If you work at the same practice five days a week for three years, it is almost certainly a permanent workplace and travel is not claimable. If you split your time between three practices and the arrangement is temporary, the position is different.

Claim mileage at 45p per mile for the first 10,000 business miles and 25p thereafter.

Home Office

If you carry out administrative work at home — patient notes, CPD, practice management — claim a proportion of household costs or use HMRC's flat rates based on hours worked at home.

Locum Agency Fees

If you use a locum agency to find work, their fees are deductible.

Superannuation and Pensions

NHS dentists contribute to the NHS Pension Scheme. Contributions are deducted from your NHS income and receive tax relief. For private income, you can make contributions to a personal pension (SIPP or stakeholder pension) and receive tax relief separately.

The annual pension contribution limit for tax relief is £60,000 for 2025/26, including both NHS and private pension contributions. You can carry forward unused allowance from the previous three years if you have not used the full £60,000 in those years.

High-earning dentists should watch the tapered annual allowance. If your adjusted income exceeds £260,000, your annual allowance reduces by £1 for every £2 of income above that threshold, down to a minimum of £10,000. Exceeding the allowance triggers an annual allowance charge.

Tax Rates

Self-employment profits for 2025/26:

Personal Allowance: £12,570
Basic rate: 20% on income from £12,571 to £50,270
Higher rate: 40% from £50,271 to £125,140
Additional rate: 45% above £125,140

Plus National Insurance:

Class 2: £3.45 per week if profits exceed £6,725
Class 4: 6% on profits between £12,570 and £50,270, 2% above

Many dentists are higher-rate taxpayers, making expense claims and pension planning particularly valuable.

Payments on Account

HMRC requires payments on account if your tax bill exceeds £1,000. For higher-earning dentists, these can be substantial — two payments each equal to 50% of the previous year's liability. Budget for them carefully, particularly in your first year of self-employment when you face a full year's tax plus the first payment on account.

Record Keeping

Maintain records for at least five years:

Practice schedules showing NHS and private earnings
Lab fee invoices and receipts
GDC, indemnity, and membership receipts
CPD course receipts and travel records
Equipment purchase receipts
Bank statements

Accounted helps dentists keep all this organised in one place. Penny categorises your transactions, tracks your expenses, and makes sure nothing falls through the cracks. Start your free trial with Accounted today and spend your time on patients, not paperwork.

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