November 5, 2026
Year-end tax planning for dentists who own a private practice starts with one number: your projected 2026 taxable income.
For a married owner, the line that matters most is $553,500. Above it, the 20 percent QBI deduction is gone.
Every December we get the same call: should I buy the scanner before year-end? Usually the bigger savings are in payroll, and payroll moves close with your last paycheck of the year, not December 31. Here are the ten that matter most, in deadline order, and three more that most checklists miss. None of them are complicated, and the short take below is enough if you only have two minutes.
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THE SHORT TAKE
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Take your October P&L, add a normal November and December, and estimate your household's taxable income. Then find it on this line.
Five lines decide which year-end moves pay. Married filing jointly, 2026.
Inside the QBI window, every deduction is worth more than your tax bracket. Above it, retirement funding, timing and the Texas moves matter most.
Employer profit sharing runs off your W-2 wages, and pay above $360,000 does not count. Work backward from the contribution you want, then set December's wages to support it. A bigger salary moves income from your K-1 to your W-2: your income tax is the same, payroll tax moves a few points (2.9 percent Medicare on wages above the $184,500 Social Security base, plus 0.9 percent above $250,000), and the retirement deduction it unlocks is usually worth far more. A salary set low to save payroll tax also caps your own contribution, so we model the two together.
This week: pull your year-to-date W-2 wages and your plan's contribution target.
Deadline: Last 2026 payroll.
The 2026 limit is $24,500, plus $8,000 at 50 or older, or $11,250 at ages 60 to 63 (all the 2026 retirement contribution limits in one place). Deferrals only come out of 2026 paychecks. If your 2025 Social Security wages from the practice topped $150,000, your catch-up has to be Roth. If your plan has no Roth feature, you cannot make a catch-up at all, so confirm it now rather than in December.
Deadline: Last 2026 payroll.
As an S-corp owner, the premiums the practice pays for you belong in box 1 of your W-2. That is what makes them deductible. Miss it and January starts with a corrected W-2. Two conditions trip people up: the deduction cannot exceed your W-2 wages, and it disappears for any month you or your spouse could have joined a subsidized employer plan, even one you declined.
Deadline: Last 2026 payroll.
The IRS treats withholding as paid evenly all year, no matter when it came out. One large December withholding covers a short year with no penalty. Aim for 110 percent of your 2025 tax if your 2025 AGI was over $150,000, or 90 percent of your 2026 tax, whichever is lower. Texas has no state estimate to worry about.
Deadline: Last 2026 payroll.
Real job, written job description, timesheet, W-2 through payroll, fair pay. A child can earn $16,100 in 2026 with no federal income tax and put up to $7,500 in a Roth IRA. In an S-corp, Social Security and Medicare still apply. At a 37 percent bracket, a $16,100 wage saves about $5,960 of your tax and costs about $2,460 in payroll tax. More on hiring your kids in your dental practice.
New for 2026: starting July 4, a child under 18 can receive up to $5,000 a year in a Trump account, and the practice can put up to $2,500 of that in for an employee's child without it landing on the employee's W-2, under a written plan that covers your staff's children too.
Deadline: Wages for work done in 2026.
You get no deduction for practice costs you pay personally. Have the practice reimburse your business mileage, cell phone and home office under a written plan, with receipts. The practice deducts it, and you receive it tax-free. The plan has to be adopted before the reimbursement, not after, and on the cash basis a 2026 expense reimbursed in January is a 2027 deduction. Run the December reimbursement before you close the books.
Deadline: December 31.
Equipment counts for 2026 only when it is installed and ready to use by December 31. Bonus depreciation is now permanent at 100 percent, but a deduction is only worth your tax rate: a $100,000 purchase at 37 percent saves $37,000 and still costs $63,000. Before January 1, write off what you scrapped. Texas taxes business equipment on its January 1 value, though the first $125,000 per location is now exempt, and a December purchase lands on your January 1, 2027 rendition either way. Our depreciation guide for private practice dentists covers pacing the write-off.
Inside the QBI window, the better deduction is often prepaying: up to 12 months of rent, malpractice insurance or a lab contract paid in December is deductible in 2026 under the 12-month rule. Outside the window it is only timing.
Deadline: December 31.
Dentists lose the 20 percent QBI deduction as income rises. For married owners in 2026 it is full below $403,500 of taxable income and gone above $553,500 ($201,750 to $276,750 single). Inside that window, a deduction also buys back part of your QBI deduction.
The math: a married owner with $500,000 of taxable income, $400,000 of it from the practice, adds a $50,000 cash balance contribution. Taxable income falls by about $69,800, and federal tax by about $22,200: roughly 44 cents per dollar from a 32 percent bracket. Your result depends on your W-2 wages, which is why the salary move comes first.
The law lets you adopt the plan after year-end, up to your extended filing deadline, but the W-2 that drives the contribution locks when December payroll runs. That is why the decision is now.
Deadline: Decide by December 31.
Starting in 2026, itemizers deduct only giving above 0.5 percent of AGI, and above $768,700 of taxable income a gift is worth 35 cents on the dollar instead of 37 (how the One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed charitable giving). Put two or three years of giving into a donor-advised fund at once, and give appreciated stock instead of cash: you deduct its value and skip the tax on the gain. Start the stock transfer by mid-December; a transfer that settles January 2 is a 2027 gift. At 70½ or older, give straight from your IRA instead, up to $111,000 in 2026.
Deadline: December 31.
Texas property tax bills are due by January 31, and paying by December 31 puts the deduction on your 2026 return. The 2026 state and local tax cap is $40,400, but it shrinks once income passes $505,000 and bottoms out at $10,000 around $606,300. If you itemize and sit under your cap, pay in December. Above $606,300, the date changes nothing.
One check before you write the check: property tax is not deductible for the alternative minimum tax, and the AMT phase-out now starts at $1 million for joint filers. Near that line, prepaying can buy nothing. We run the AMT test first.
Deadline: December 31.
Choose your filing status on purpose. Married filing jointly is the default, not always the answer. If a spouse carries student loans on income-driven repayment, married filing separately can cut the payment by more than it costs in tax. Texas is a community property state, so separate returns split community income on Form 8958, and the national blog math does not carry over. Run it both ways before December payroll, because withholding should match the status you file.
Make sure overtime shows up on your staff's 2026 W-2s. Hygienists and assistants only get the new overtime deduction if the practice reports the overtime premium separately on the W-2. If your payroll provider is not tracking it now, January means corrected W-2s. One call to the provider settles it, and our 2026 payroll checklist for private dental practices covers the rest.
Pay staff student loans tax-free. An educational assistance plan lets the practice pay up to $5,250 a year of an employee's student loans, deductible to you and tax-free to them. It is now permanent. It is one of the few retention tools that costs less than a raise, and it needs a written plan in place before the first payment.
The ones that close with the year: 401(k) deferrals, health insurance on your W-2, a withholding true-up, accountable plan reimbursements and equipment placed in service. Five of them close with your last payroll, which usually runs before December 31.
Yes, below the income limits. A married owner gets the full 20 percent deduction below $403,500 of taxable income, a partial one up to $553,500, and none above that. For single filers the range is $201,750 to $276,750.
Only if the practice needs it. Equipment counts for 2026 only when it is installed and ready to use by December 31, and the deduction is only worth your tax rate: a $100,000 purchase at a 37 percent bracket saves $37,000 and still costs $63,000.
IRA and HSA contributions can be made until April 15, 2027. Employer profit sharing and cash balance contributions can be funded up to the practice's extended filing deadline, and the plan itself can be adopted after year-end. The W-2 that funds it cannot. Employee 401(k) deferrals cannot wait.
Not sure where to start? Contact us today!
General information for private practice owners, not legal or tax advice. Figures are 2026 federal and Texas amounts. Examples are illustrative.
References
Dallas Central Appraisal District. (2025). $125,000 exemption rendition insert (HB 9). https://www.dallascad.org/Admin/125K_Exemption_Rendition_Insert_HB9.pdf
Internal Revenue Service. (n.d.). Family employees. https://www.irs.gov/businesses/small-businesses-self-employed/family-employees
Internal Revenue Service. (2025). 401(k) limit increases to $24,500 for 2026, IRA limit increases to $7,500 (IR-2025-111). https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/401k-limit-increases-to-24500-for-2026-ira-limit-increases-to-7500
Internal Revenue Service. (2025). Notice 2025-67: 2026 limitations adjusted as provided in section 415(d), etc. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/n-25-67.pdf
Internal Revenue Service. (2025). Revenue Procedure 2025-32. https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-drop/rp-25-32.pdf
Internal Revenue Service. (2026). Working Families Tax Cuts: Businesses. https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/working-families-tax-cuts-businesses
Public Law 119-21, 139 Stat. 72 (2025). https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1/text
Social Security Administration. (2025). Contribution and benefit base, 2026. https://www.ssa.gov/oact/cola/cbb.html
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (n.d.). Franchise tax. https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/franchise/
Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts. (n.d.). Paying your property taxes. https://comptroller.texas.gov/taxes/property-tax/pay