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Owning

Starting your own

Starting your own practice, in order.

The steps before your first patient, in the order they happen.

  • 1. An ABN. Free from the Australian Business Register. Usually issued as you finish the online application; a review can take 20 business days.
  • 2. A Medicare provider number for each location. Needed to bill Medicare, one for every place you practise. No fee.
  • 3. GST, if your turnover will reach $75,000. Register within 21 days of knowing it will. Medical services with a Medicare benefit are GST-free, and so are listed health services such as nursing, dental, physiotherapy and occupational therapy by a registered professional. Cosmetic work with no Medicare benefit is not.
  • 4. NDIS, if you will see participants. Registration is needed for some supports, and for participants whose funding the NDIA manages. Self-managed and plan-managed participants can use unregistered providers.
  • 5. Professional indemnity for all your practice. You declared it at registration and declare it again at every renewal.
  • 6. Your Ahpra details. Your principal place of practice shows on the public register; update it in the Ahpra portal.

A second location needs a second provider number; wait 2 business days before claiming with it. Sources: business.gov.au; the Australian Business Register; Services Australia; the ATO; the NDIS Commission; Ahpra.

Buying into a practice

Buying into a practice or buying one outright.

Buying into a practice means buying a share of its goodwill, equipment and income, usually with a loan. A lender asks for a file on you and on the practice.

The file a lender asks for

GPs, specialists, dentists and allied health

Specialist healthcare lenders fund goodwill, fit-out and equipment, up to 90% of the price. They weigh your standing and the practice’s cash flow. We assemble the file they ask for.

  • Practice financials, two yearsFrom the vendorAdd it
  • Billings or service fee reportsFrom the practiceAdd it
  • Your service agreement or partnership deedIn your vaultReady
  • The practice leaseFrom the vendorAdd it
  • Your registration and tax returnsIn your vaultReady

This is business finance, so a broker needs no credit licence to arrange it. Source: lender policies.

Before you sign

What a buyer reads first

  • The lease: its term and options, and whether your state’s retail leases law applies to it.
  • The service agreements of the practitioners who stay.
  • Patient records: who owns them, and how long your state says they must be kept.
  • The price: what it assumes about billings, and what happens to goodwill if a principal leaves.

We read the documents and set out what each says; your lawyer and accountant advise. Source: state retail leases and health records laws.

What to know

Good to knowYou can borrow against goodwillSpecialist healthcare lenders fund goodwill up to 90% of a practice’s price, not just the fit-out and equipment.Source: Lender policies
Good to knowA practice lease may be a retail leaseWhether retail leases law applies varies by state, and it changes the tenant’s rights.Source: State retail leases laws

Your entities

Every deadline for your trusts and companies.

Many private practitioners work through a company or trust. Each has its own dates: tax returns, an ASIC review, a trustee resolution.

Your structure, on one page

GPs, specialists and dentists with entities

Examplea GP who owns a practiceAs at 11 Sep 2026
Family trust
Trustee resolution due by 30 June 2027
Practice company
ASIC annual review, 14 February 2027
Service trust
Agreement with the practice renewed 1 July 2026
Activity statements
Next due 28 October 2026
Company tax return
Through your agent, by its due date

The family trust’s resolution must be made by 30 June each year, and it is easy to miss. Your accountant prepares it. We track it so it isn’t missed.

Example dates. Source: ATO and ASIC.

What your accountant decides

And what we keep ready for them

  • Personal services income: income mainly from your own skills can be taxed as yours even when it runs through a company or trust.
  • Service entities: a service trust must charge the practice on commercial terms.
  • Medical services are generally GST-free; service fees and some other supplies are not.
  • We keep the deeds, agreements, statements and dates. Your accountant makes the tax decisions.

Source: ATO.

What to know

RequirementTrustee resolutions are due by 30 JuneA family or service trust needs its trustee resolution made by 30 June each year. Your accountant prepares it; a late one can change who is taxed on the income.Source: ATO
Good to knowMedical services are generally GST-freeMost medical services are GST-free; service fees paid to a practice and some other supplies carry GST.Source: ATO
RequirementCompany or trust income can still be taxed as yoursIncome that mainly comes from your own skills can be taxed as yours even when it runs through a company or trust.Source: ATO

What we do

  • Keep your entities on one page, with every date they carry

What we don’t

  • Advise on your structure or your tax. Your accountant does that

Practice cover

The cover a practice needs, checked against your policies.

A practice needs its own cover for the business, its premises and its people, on top of each practitioner’s indemnity.

If you own a practice

Owners and part-owners

  • Business expenses cover pays the practice’s fixed costs, such as rent and staff, for up to 12 months if you cannot work.
  • Key person cover pays the business if a principal dies or cannot work.
  • Your lease and practice loans may require cover. We check them for it.

We read your policies and agreements; we do not recommend cover. Source: insurers.

Indemnity in private practice

Contractors and owners

Private practice needs indemnity for the work you do there. What is covered depends on when cover began and what happens after you stop.

Examplea GP’s indemnity policyAs at 11 Sep 2026
Your policy
Private practice, general practice
Covered from
1 July 2019, the retroactive date
After you stop
Run-off cover included
Private hospital rights
Proof of cover goes in each credentialing pack

We read your policy; your defence organisation sets the terms. Your admitting-rights packs in Credentials & Training use it.

What to know

Good to knowBusiness expenses coverPays a practice’s fixed costs, such as rent and staff, for up to 12 months if you cannot work.Source: Insurers

What we do

  • Read your practice and indemnity cover back in plain English

What we don’t

  • Recommend cover or a lender