Your Taxes are Unique

When you attended medical school, you absorbed the equivalent of several encyclopedias worth of information on physiology and pathology, as well as the art of patient care.

Most likely, there were zero lectures on the tax system of the United States, nor did you have much time or bandwidth to learn it on your own.

With all that being true, it’s imperative to at least learn the basics of how taxes work. Why? Because taxes are most likely your largest lifetime expense.

If you earn virtually all of your income as a W2 employee, there unfortunately isn’t much you can do about this, besides choosing to work less. You also probably don’t even need a tax professional to help you with your taxes.

If you receive most, or all of your income through self-employment (i.e. as a 1099 contractor), it’s a totally different game. On top of regular income taxes (which can top out at over 50% when state taxes, local taxes, and phase-outs of deductions and credits are factored in), you pay an additional ~14% in self-employment taxes*. What’s more, none of your income is withheld for your tax liability, which can result in significant underpayment penalties when tax season arrives.

The good news is that, although the tax code is extraordinarily complicated and dumb, doctors are smart. If you got through medical school, residency, and passed all your board exams, you have the intellectual horsepower to do almost anything. You can become tax smart and use the complexity to your advantage.

This is where I can help. If you want to learn this on your own (like I did), fantastic! However, if you want to accelerate your learning by partnering with a skilled professional and put it into action ASAP, then I’m here for you. At the same time, I know that not everyone has the bandwidth or interest to become a tax ninja, and if that’s you, you can offload as much to me as possible. I’m happy to meet you where you are!

If you’re new at this, you likely have a plethora of questions about how to calculate your income (and tally expenses), how to figure out what benefits are deductible, what your best options are for retirement accounts, and how to handle taxes for multiple states. It’s also perfectly normal to wonder what other deductions or strategies are out there that haven’t even made it onto your radar yet. My goal is to maximize the effectiveness of your overall tax strategy.

Interested in learning more? As someone who has worked with a wide variety of clients and financial professionals, I think it’s important that you have a chance to meet anyone you hire for a professional service, so you can determine if it’s a good fit. I’m happy to look at your previous tax returns and offer an evaluation of how I can provide value. You can schedule an introductory call here.

* - This is the rate for self employment income up to the Social Security wage base, which is $176,100 in 2025 and subject to annual increases.