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Starting a dental practice can be a fulfilling career step, but it requires more than clinical skills alone. Establishing a successful practice involves careful planning, strategic financial decisions, and a comprehensive understanding of business operations.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s that time of year again to start thinking about how to reduce your practice’s tax liability for 2024.

Section 179 of the IRS tax code, designed to encourage small businesses, including many private practices, to invest in their practice and allow them to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software that has been purchased or financed during the tax year from their total gross income.

For dental practices, this means that the cost of capital equipment such as CBCT, digital X-ray machines, intraoral scanners, and even software can be fully or partially deducted from gross income. This means your practice can write off the full purchase amount this year and are no longer required to depreciate the equipment over time as they have in previous tax years.

Calculating this deduction effectively can help reduce tax liabilities and improve cash flow for practices. Here’s a guide to understanding and calculating the Section 179 deduction for dental imaging equipment.

More and more, when it comes time to start shopping for dental imaging equipment - hunting for the best value can be tricky with so many different brands and models to choose from.

Like shopping for airfare, a car, or furniture, sometimes there's a certain time of year where you might expect to get a better price than others. Capital equipment for your practice, like a dental X-ray machine, is no exception!

Looking into the new year, dental practices are going to have countless options when shopping for dental equipment. Lately, it feels like the options are never-ending, based on what you’ll see at dental conferences, courses, webinars, and online. 

Is taking the leap to a dental start-up on your brain? While the leap may be daunting, the rewards and freedoms it could afford you could be much sweeter.

It’s hard to believe, but it’s that time of year again to start thinking about how to reduce your practice’s tax liability for 2023.

Section 179 of the IRS tax code, designed to encourage small businesses, such as dentists and dental specialists, to invest in their practices, allows them to deduct the full purchase price of qualifying equipment and/or software that has been purchased or financed during the tax year from their total gross income.

For dental practices, this means that the cost of equipment like CBCT scanners, digital X-ray machines, intraoral cameras, and even software can be fully or partially deducted from gross income. This means your practice can write off the full purchase amount this year and are no longer required to depreciate the equipment over time as they have in previous tax years.

Let's review how dental professionals can calculate their Section 179 deductions for dental imaging equipment.

Carestream is one of today's trusted names in dental imaging technology. And for good reason, they manufacturer a wide range of advanced X-ray machines that cater to the diverse needs of dental professionals.

Planmeca is one of the leading names in dental imaging technology today. Like a few other popular imaging brands, Planmeca offers a range of advanced imaging systems to meet the diverse needs of dental professionals. Among their industry-recognized lineup, the Planmeca ProMax family of extraoral imaging devices stand out as versatile and reliable solutions for capturing high-quality dental images.

With more and more dental and specialty practices making an investment in dental cone beam (CBCT) systems, you may be considering upgrading your practice’s imaging equipment. Three-dimensional imaging improves treatment planning capability while allowing your practice to expand your in-house service offerings to attract more patients. However, CBCT systems are sizable investments that require proper planning and consideration. With so many reputable products in the CBCT market today, how do you choose the right machine? If you focus on a few key features that are important to your practice, it will help you feel confident in your investment.