Step-By-Step Guide on How to File Taxes for Medical Aesthetic Clinics for USA Companies

Modern medical aesthetic clinic with dental chair and equipment

In the United States, filing taxes for a medical aesthetic clinic requires thorough attention because this business falls under the healthcare-related field. Thus, the tax obligations become messy and gruesome to navigate without clear direction. This blog attempts to simplify the procedure by breaking it down so that you can get your medical aesthetic clinic up to speed with tax requirements in the United States. Let's begin discussing the steps. 

Step 1: Identify Your Business Structure

The first step when filing taxes is to identify your business structure. The kind of entity that your medical aesthetic clinic falls under will directly affect how you report income and pay taxes.

Suppose your clinic is a sole proprietorship in which you are the owner. In that case, you will report business earnings and spending on Schedule C of your personal income tax return, generally on Form 1040.

If you own a multi-owner clinic, each owner reports the share of income and expenses on his or her tax return. A partnership also files an information return on Form 1065.

Usually, an LLC will file a tax return as a partnership or sole proprietor. They also have the option to file as a corporation on Form 8832. Ultimately, it depends on personal choices. 

If you have chosen to run your clinic as a C Corporation or S Corporation, then you will file business taxes apart from your taxes. A C Corporation will file using Form 1120, whereas an S Corporation will file using Form 1120-S.

Step 2: Organize the Documents to Submit

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Tax filing is a job that requires gathering multiple documents and ensuring they are all organised. A medical aesthetic clinic should have the following documents:

  • Income Records within the Clinic: These include all kinds of receipts, invoices, or sales reports indicating your earnings from the clinic. This will be significant in building up your gross income.

  • Expense Receipts: These involve operational costs: rent and utilities, equipment acquisitions, medical supplies, or professional service charges. When calculated, these may be subtracted from your gross income.

  • Payroll Information: All employment records should be recorded, including what is paid to employees in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits offered. This will come in handy when reporting on employment taxes.

  • Loan Interest and Insurance Papers: Payments for business loans or insurance can be recovered through tax deductions. Thus, this is a good reason to have these records with you.

Step 3: Take Care of Employment Taxes

You will need to hire several professionals, like nurses and aestheticians, to run your medical aesthetic clinic. Each one of them will receive compensation from your side. So, it's important to handle employment taxes surrounding the individuals employed in your clinic:

In general, the following types of employment taxes are involved:

  • Federal Income Tax Withholding: The clinic should take out this tax amount from their employee's wages and forward these to the Internal Revenue Service.

  • Social Security and Medicare Taxes: Payroll taxes, which the employer and employee share, fund the Social Security and Medicare programs.

  • Federal Unemployment Tax (FUTA): This tax finances unemployment insurance for the loss of jobs among employees. You will have to pay FUTA taxes and file your Form 940 yearly.

  • State Employment Taxes: Depending on your state, you may be required to pay extra taxes on unemployment or payroll taxes specifically for businesses.

Pre-filing for proper employment taxes is going to save you from all penalties. You might need to file them quarterly instead of annually.

Step 4: Handle Estimated Quarterly Taxes

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Medical aesthetic clinics must make estimated tax payments during the fiscal year. It is a requirement to make quarterly tax payments whenever it is estimated that they will owe $1,000 or more at the time of an annual return. Estimated tax payments include income taxes as well as self-employment taxes to fund Social Security and Medicare for business owners.

Use Form 1040-ES to estimate your quarterly payments. That way, you'll know what your total tax for the year will be, and you'll pay that amount out of four payments.

Step 5: Look into State and Local Tax Implications

In addition to federal taxes, your medical aesthetic clinic might be liable to state and local taxes depending on where it is located. You will need to research what applies to your location based on the tax rates and regulations of each state.

  • State Income Taxes: Certain states, like California, New York, and Florida, have specific requirements for business income taxes by income or franchise taxes.

  • Sales Taxes: If your clinic sells products, such as cosmetics supplies or skincare items, then you have to collect and pay sales taxes from your state's tax authority. The sales tax rates will vary significantly from one state to another.

  • Local Taxes: Local municipalities or counties may have supplementary taxes on businesses like gross receipts taxes or local income taxes.

Step 6: Remember Deadlines 

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The tax deadline can be a serious affair when it comes to coming face-to-face with penalties and interest. If your clinic fails to submit by the deadline, you may file an extension through the submission of the right forms:

  • Sole proprietors/Single-member LLC: Form 4868

  • Partnerships/S Corps/C Corps: Form 7004

Applying for an extension offers you an additional six months to file your tax return. 

Step 7: Keep Tax Records for Future Reference

Keep accurate and detailed records that are required for future tax preparation and may be useful for defence in case of an audit. The IRS recommends keeping tax documents for at least three years, but businesses may choose to keep them longer. These documents include:

  • Tax returns and all the supporting information

  • Payroll records and W-2's

  • Receipts and invoices related to the business expense

  • Banking and accounting statements

Struggling with the Tax Filing Requirements of Your Medical Aesthetic Clinic in the US? Choose SamsCashFlow Agency!

Tax complexity can be overwhelming for a medical aesthetic clinic in the US. But there's nothing to worry about because the experts at Samscashflow Agency can come to the rescue. Visit https://www.samscashflow.com/#book and get in touch with the professionals.