Financial Advisor and CPA for Therapists and Psychologists
A flat-fee CPA and Financial Planner team that gives you personalized, holistic advice across your taxes and financial plan. We plan your practice income, quarterly estimates, retirement plan and loans, and file your returns.
What we handle for therapists and psychologists
Private practice turns a clinician into a small business owner, often while school loans are still being repaid. This is the work we do with you.
- 01
Insurance and private-pay income
On the cash method, income is what reaches your account: insurer payments, copays and private fees, when they arrive. A contractual write-down or a balance a client never pays is not a deduction, because it was never income. Count every payment, with or without a 1099.
- 02
Quarterly estimates
No one withholds tax from practice income. Estimates are due April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15. To avoid a penalty, pay 90% of this year’s tax or 100% of last year’s, or 110% if last year’s AGI topped $150,000.
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The QBI deduction for a health practice
Psychologists and similar clinicians provide a health service, so the 20% deduction phases out from $201,750 of 2026 taxable income, or $403,500 joint, and is gone at $276,750 or $553,500. Below the start, it is generally 20% of your practice profit.
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Solo 401(k) or SEP IRA
With no staff but a spouse, a Solo 401(k) usually allows more: $54,500 at $150,000 of net earnings under 50, against $30,000 in a SEP. Hire eligible staff and a SEP must contribute for them too. See Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA.
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Malpractice, licensing and training
Malpractice insurance, license renewals, board fees, continuing education, paid consultation, your records system and billing service are practice expenses on Schedule C. Coursework that qualifies you for a new profession is not deductible, even when it builds on the one you have.
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Loans from your clinic years
Full-time W-2 work at a nonprofit or government clinic, a county agency, a hospital or the VA counts toward PSLF’s 120 payments. Private practice does not, but leaving keeps the payments already made. Forgiveness on an income-driven plan is federally taxable after 2025.
How Nino helps therapists and psychologists
Clinicians are trained to run sessions, not a payroll or a tax calendar. On an Advisor plan your CPA sets each quarter’s estimate from your practice’s real deposits, and your financial planner decides what the practice can pay you and what it should save.
Book a free consultation-
A plan in your first two weeks
Your financial planner and CPA build a plan from your returns, your practice’s profit and loss, your payer mix, your loan servicer’s figures and your goals, then revisit it every quarter.
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Schedule C and your returns
Your CPA prepares your Schedule C from your profit and loss with your federal and state returns, or your S corporation or group practice return on Premier, priced by complexity. Nothing is filed until you approve it.
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Practice and household in one view
Nino’s AI software connects your practice and personal accounts read-only, so you can ask what a slow month of insurer payments does to your next estimate or what you can safely pay yourself.
What should a therapist decide when opening a practice?
Four choices that set your taxes and your caseload for years.
Schedule C or an S corporation
An S corporation pays you a reasonable salary with payroll tax and the rest as distributions without it. That salary is not qualified business income, so near the QBI phase-out the payroll savings and the smaller deduction have to be priced together.
Solo or group practice
Adding clinicians adds income from sessions you do not run, and it is still a health service for QBI. Whether they are employees or contractors depends on who controls the work, not the agreement’s label, and employees bring payroll and retirement plan coverage.
Which insurance panels to keep
Panels bring referrals with lower rates and slower payments; private pay brings payment at the session and fewer clients. We model your caseload both ways against what you need to take home after tax and estimates.
When to leave the clinic
Close to 120 PSLF payments, staying full time at a qualifying employer can be worth more than the first years of private practice. A small practice on evenings or weekends does not stop PSLF while you keep that full-time job.
Pick your plan
Every Advisor plan includes a CPA and Financial Planner team, federal and state tax filing, and our Ultra software.
Essential
- Everything in Ultra software, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you
- Single-filer return, quarterly taxes included
- Retirement & equity planning
- Quarterly advisor access
- Rentals
- 0
- K-1s
- 0
- States
- 1
- Brokerage
- 3
Plus
Most Popular- Everything in Essential, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you and your spouse
- Married filing jointly return, international coverage included
- One coordinated plan for both of you
- Quarterly and ad hoc advisor access
- Rentals
- 2
- K-1s
- 5
- States
- 3
- Brokerage
- 5
Premier
- Everything in Plus, plus:
- Business bookkeeping and tax filings, priced by complexity
- Joint or single return, complex international coverage
- Advanced equity & estate planning
- Priority advisor access
- Rentals
- 5
- K-1s
- 10
- States
- 5
- Brokerage
- 10
Software plans starting from $20 a month
Our AI financial assistant on its own, with a 7-day free trial.
Guides for therapists and psychologists
Read up on these decisions, or run your own numbers.
Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA
A Solo 401(k) beats a SEP IRA at most incomes because it adds a $24,500 employee deferral and catch-ups. See the 2026 math at $60K, $150K, and $300K.
Read guideSEP IRA
A SEP IRA lets a business owner contribute up to 25% of pay, capped at $72,000 for 2026. Here is the self-employed math, the employee rule, and the deadlines.
Read guideTax and Financial Deadlines for 2026 and Early 2027
Every date from October 2026 to April 2027: estimated taxes, December 31 moves, tax forms, IRA and HSA deadlines, and the life-event clocks that run on their own.
Read guide2026 Tax Changes
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed SALT, charitable, QSBS, and AMT rules for 2026. What changed, who it affects, and what to do by December 31.
Read guideSEP IRA Contribution Calculator
Estimate your 2026 SEP IRA maximum as a sole proprietor or S corp owner, the federal tax it saves, and the Solo 401(k) alternative.
Open calculatorRetirement Calculator
Estimate retirement income, how long savings could last, and any funding gap.
Open calculator
More people we work with
See how our CPA and Financial Planner team helps people in situations like yours.