Money · California
What the practice actually pays you, after everyone else is paid.
Rate and caseload go in one end; what reaches your bank account comes out the other, with 61 calculators and 14 guides covering the gap. Entity choice, the tax you can defer, the tax you must send quarterly, and the twelve expense categories most therapists forget to count.
Model the money behind my practice →Four decisions sit under everything here. What to charge and how full a week to run. Whether to stay a sole proprietor or put the practice inside a California professional corporation. How much of the profit to defer into a retirement account instead of sending it to the IRS. And how to get the quarterly installments right so June does not arrive short. The tools on this page take your own rate, caseload and running costs and carry them all the way to a net figure, on 2026 federal and California rates, with every step traceable to the rule it came from.
What the site can settle: the arithmetic. A $217,350 profit carries about $18,244 of tax that is optional rather than owed. A corporation costs $800 a year before you see a client, and California's 1.3% SDI has no wage cap, so the S-corp saving is smaller than the usual pitch. California's estimated installments run 30, 40, 0 and 30, not four equal quarters. What it cannot settle: whether your specific salary figure is reasonable compensation, whether your old SEP balance should be rolled before a Roth conversion, or anything that depends on facts only your accountant has.
14 pages, in 4 sections: What the practice pays you · Sole proprietor, or a corporation · Tax you can defer, and tax you must send · Before you talk to an accountant. Every figure below is computed or cited, and links to the page that carries it.
Key insights
$24,500 more, deferred
Solo 401(k), SEP or SIMPLE, worked at three real profit levels
What you should know about this figure
This figure comes from Which retirement plan should I actually open?, on 2026 federal and California rates, for a California resident, with no other household income. Your own number will differ — the page shows the working and, where there is a calculator, runs it on your figures.
$18,244 optional on a $217,350 profit
Your own profit priced against every deferral account, and the entity choice
What you should know about this figure
This figure comes from How much of my tax bill is optional?, on 2026 federal and California rates, for a California resident, with no other household income. Your own number will differ — the page shows the working and, where there is a calculator, runs it on your figures.
$5 a square foot, or more
Both methods worked, plus the commuting rule it unlocks
What you should know about this figure
This figure comes from Can I deduct the room I do telehealth from?, on 2026 federal and California rates, for a California resident, with no other household income. Your own number will differ — the page shows the working and, where there is a calculator, runs it on your figures.
Money tools
What the practice pays you
Sole proprietor, or a corporation
Tax you can defer, and tax you must send
Before you talk to an accountant
The other four areas
What to charge, sole proprietor or corporation, how much to defer, and what to send quarterly. Everything else follows those four.
Seven calculators and fourteen guides, including the $18,244 that is optional on a $217,350 profit and the twelve expense categories most therapists forget.
