Payroll Tax Checklist for Dental Practices: Associate Arrangements
WeGrow Accountants

Dentists · Tool

Payroll tax checklist for dental practices

Answer seven quick questions about how your associate dentists are engaged, and you'll see which of the factors revenue offices tend to look at apply to your practice. It isn't a ruling. Outcomes depend on your agreements, how they work in practice, your state and your total wages. Use it as a starting point for a review. Nothing you enter is sent to us.

Inam Asiful

By Inam Asiful

Senior Consultant, WeGrow Accountants · Director of a dental clinic in a metro region · Last reviewed 7 October 2026

Key points

  • Payroll tax can apply to payments to contractor dentists, not just employees.
  • Revenue offices look at payment flow, facilities, control, patients and time spent.
  • Thresholds: $1 million in Victoria, $1.3 million in Queensland.
  • The result shows which factors to discuss, not whether you owe tax.

The checklist

Where is the practice?
Are total staff wages plus payments to dentists above your state's threshold?
1. Does the practice collect patient fees and then pay the dentist their share?
2. Does the practice provide rooms, equipment and staff without a separate, priced service or facilities agreement?
3. Does the practice set the dentist's hours, leave or treatment protocols?
4. Are patients treated as the practice's patients (records, recalls and marketing all in the practice's name)?
5. Does the dentist work at the practice for more than 90 days in the financial year?
6. Does the dentist mainly treat the practice's patients, rather than running their own independent practice?
7. Has your associate agreement been reviewed in the last two years?

Your result

Answer the questions above to see your result.

Talk it through with us

Why these questions

They reflect the factors that come up when state revenue offices review contractor arrangements in health practices: who collects fees, how facilities are charged, how much control the practice has, who the patients belong to, and how much time the dentist spends there. Engagements of 90 days or fewer in a year, and genuinely independent practitioners, can fall within exemptions, depending on the facts.

The full explanation, including the Queensland and Victorian positions, is in payroll tax for dental practices.

Frequently asked questions

Does this checklist tell me whether I owe payroll tax?

No. It highlights the factors state revenue offices tend to look at, so you know what to discuss. Whether payroll tax applies depends on your agreements, how the arrangement works day to day, your state and your total wages.

What payroll tax thresholds apply to dental practices?

It depends on the state. Victoria's tax-free threshold is $1 million a year (from 1 July 2025) and Queensland's is $1.3 million. Payments to contractor dentists can count towards wages under the relevant contracts rules.

What should I do if a lot of my answers are flagged?

Get the arrangement reviewed. Fixing it usually has two parts: the contract (a lawyer, typically $1,500 to $5,000) and the day-to-day operations and accounting, which is included in our full-service packages.

Want this applied to your numbers?

Book a free 30-minute consult. We'll go through where you are now and what we'd do next if we were in your shoes.

Book your free 30-min consult More guides for dentists

Related guides

Payroll tax for dental practices

How the contractor rules work, what changed in QLD and VIC, and how to review your arrangements.

Associate dentists: pay, ABN, tax and agreements

Percentage rates, lab fees, contractor vs employee, structure and what you can claim.

Buying a dental practice

What it costs, how we check the numbers, buying as a non-dentist, and buy-in vs start-up.

Running a dental practice: the numbers that matter

Profit margin, cost ratios, chair revenue, owner pay and the three numbers to watch weekly.

Sources

General information only, not tax, financial or legal advice. Figures are ranges from our client base and public sources as at 7 October 2026; your situation will differ. Talk to us before acting on anything here.