Tax for doctors, architects and other professionals
A professional practice sits under section 44ADA, which lets you declare 50% of gross receipts as income up to ₹75 lakh and skip detailed books — attractive for a consultant with low overheads and expensive for a practice paying staff, rent and equipment finance. The other difference is that professional receipts arrive after TDS under section 194J and often from several payers at once, so reconciling 26AS is a real monthly task rather than a formality.
यह पेज आपके लिए है यदि
- You are a doctor, architect, lawyer, engineer or other notified professional
- You are choosing between presumptive taxation and keeping proper books
- You run a clinic or practice with staff, rent and equipment
- You draw income from a hospital as well as a private practice
- Your receipts are approaching the tax audit threshold
- You are wondering whether your services attract GST
क्या अलग है
जो केवल आप पर लागू होता है
Section 44ADA works for consultants and against practices
Declaring 50% of receipts as income is a good deal when your costs are a laptop and a phone. A clinic with two staff, rented premises and financed equipment frequently runs a real margin well below 50%, and presumptive taxation then charges tax on profit that was never made. Compute it both ways on last year's figures before choosing.
Equipment is depreciation, and only if you keep books
Diagnostic equipment, dental chairs, imaging systems and their finance costs are deductible with depreciation over their useful life — but only under regular books. Under presumptive taxation the 50% is deemed to cover everything, so a practice that has just financed a major purchase is usually better off out of the scheme in that year and the years that follow.
Healthcare services are exempt from GST; not everything you do is
Healthcare by a clinical establishment or an authorised medical practitioner is exempt. Consultancy to a pharmaceutical company, medico-legal opinions, cosmetic procedures and equipment rental are not. A practice with a mixed profile can find itself required to register and to apportion input credit under Rule 42.
Your TDS comes from several payers and arrives at different times
A hospital, an insurer, a diagnostic chain and a corporate client may each deduct under section 194J, and each appears in 26AS only when they file their quarterly return. Reconciling receipts against 26AS is where professionals most often discover credit that was deducted and never reported against their PAN.
The audit threshold for professions is not the business one
Section 44AB requires an audit for a profession above ₹50 lakh of gross receipts — half the business figure, and reached much sooner than most practitioners expect. Opting out of presumptive taxation after having used it triggers an audit requirement of its own for the following five years.
हम कैसे काम करते हैं
आपके मामले में यह कैसे चलता है
We run 44ADA against your real practice economics
Fifty per cent of receipts as deemed income is excellent for a consultant with a laptop and a phone. For a clinic with two staff, rented premises and financed equipment the real margin is frequently well below that, and presumptive taxation then charges tax on profit nobody made.
We compute both on last year's actual figures, including depreciation on equipment, which the presumptive route cannot claim at all. In the year of a major equipment purchase the answer often changes for several years at once.
We reconcile TDS from every payer you have
A hospital, an insurer, a diagnostic chain and a corporate client may each deduct under section 194J at different times, and each appears in 26AS only when they file. We match receipts against 26AS quarterly and give you the list of what is missing, with the payer's TAN.
Professionals with several payers lose more TDS credit than any other group we work with, simply because nobody is checking.
We sort out where GST does and does not apply to you
Healthcare by a clinical establishment or authorised practitioner is exempt. Pharmaceutical consultancy, medico-legal opinions, cosmetic procedures and equipment rental are not. A practice with a mixed profile has to register, charge correctly on the taxable part, and apportion input credit under Rule 42.
Getting the line right at the start is much cheaper than amending a year of invoices after a departmental query asks about it.
जो अक्सर ग़लत होता है
- Choosing 44ADA for the simplicity while running a practice with a real margin under 50%
- Opting out of presumptive taxation without realising it triggers five years of audit
- Assuming everything a doctor does is GST-exempt, when consultancy and cosmetic work are not
- Missing TDS credit from a payer who filed against the wrong PAN
- Treating the ₹1 crore business audit threshold as yours, when the professional figure is ₹50 lakh
- Buying equipment under presumptive taxation, where the depreciation cannot be claimed at all