Tax for private practice SLPs
A CPA for speech-language pathologists
Private practice SLPs tend to earn from several directions at once: private clients, school district contracts, and teletherapy that ignores state lines. Each one reports differently.
Where this return differs
What is actually different about speech-language pathologists at tax time
Not a longer version of the same advice. These are the places this practice type reliably differs from the return next to it.
District contracts pay on their own schedule
A school contract can be invoiced in one year and paid in the next, and districts frequently issue a 1099 that does not match what you counted as revenue. Reconciling that before filing is what keeps a notice from arriving later.
Teletherapy crosses state lines quietly
Serving a student in another state can create a filing obligation there. Practices built on teletherapy often have several without realizing it, because nothing about the clinical workflow signals a tax event.
Contracting through an agency is not the same as being employed by one
Whether you are a contractor or an employee on a given engagement changes what you can deduct, whether you owe self employment tax, and whether you can use a retirement plan of your own.
How it works
What working together looks like
A call first
Thirty minutes to hear what you have and whether this is a fit. If it is not, we will say so and point you somewhere useful.
A written scope and a fixed fee
You get both in writing before work starts, so the return you expected does not arrive with an hourly surprise attached.
Documents through a secure portal
Upload once, in one place, rather than emailing a K-1 with your Social Security number sitting in the attachment.
The questions, while they still matter
Anything that changes your number gets raised when it can still be acted on, not in a footnote after filing.
Then the next twelve months
Estimated payments, an entity change, a new state, a sale. Tax years are consecutive and treating them that way is most of the value.
What this firm does, and what it does not
PizzelloCPA, PLLC is a licensed CPA firm registered with the North Carolina State Board of Certified Public Accountant Examiners as firm no. 35339. It prepares returns and does tax planning. It does not perform attest services: no audit, no review, no compilation. If a lender or a landlord has asked you for an audited or reviewed financial statement, that is a different engagement at a different firm, and we will say so rather than stretch to fit it.
Books and the return are two different jobs. bookkeepz, LLC, an affiliated company, keeps monthly books for speech-language pathologists and other private practices, and its bookkeeping page for speech-language pathologists covers that side. bookkeepz is not a CPA firm and does not do tax work. Most clients who need both use both, under separate engagements.
Questions
What speech-language pathologists ask
The 1099 from a district does not match my records. What now?
It gets reconciled before the return is filed, not after. The difference is usually timing between invoice and payment, and documenting it at the time is what makes the position defensible if the mismatch is ever questioned.I do teletherapy for students in other states. Do I file there?
Possibly, and it depends on the state. The useful step is identifying where your caseload actually sits during the year, because that is when something can be done about it.Should I set up an entity for my practice?
It depends on what you earn and how, and an entity is not automatically better than a sole proprietorship. It becomes worth the added cost and administration at a level of consistent profit rather than at a stage of career.Do you provide reviewed financial statements?
No. This is a tax practice and does not perform attest services, including reviews and compilations.Talk to a CPA who has seen this practice before
Thirty minutes, no charge. Bring last year’s return and the thing you were not sure about.