Medics Money podcast

Andy Pow hosts this week's podcast with Forvis Mazars healthcare accountants Dawn Laird and Lee Simmonett to explain Making Tax Digital (MTD) for income tax, described as the biggest change since the 1990s and arriving in 2026, with around three-quarters of affected taxpayers not registered. MTD currently applies mainly to self-employed clinicians such as GP locums (and some consultants with self-employed private practice) and to property income; it does not directly affect partnerships or limited companies. The trigger is cumulative income over £50,000 (before expenses), including combined self-employment and rental income, with thresholds falling to £30,000 then £20,000. Recipients must register separately (not auto-enrolled). Quarterly submissions start with the first due 7 August, plus a final declaration; tax payment dates remain January and July. Spreadsheets require bridging software; digital tools like Xero are recommended. Penalties begin next year: one point per missed quarterly submission, £200 at four points, lasting 24 months.
00:00 MTD Shockwave 2026
01:23 Who Must Comply
02:37 Income Thresholds Explained
05:15 Registering With HMRC
06:35 Quarterly Deadlines
07:10 Software Vs Spreadsheets
08:53 Final Declaration Basics
11:40 Penalties And Compliance
16:10 Rental Income Complications
20:12 New Businesses And Voluntary
21:45 Top Tips To Prepare
23:57 Accountant Support Options
26:51 Final Wrap Up
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Disclaimer:
The information provided in this content is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. You should not rely on this content as a substitute for professional advice tailored to your specific financial situation. The value of your investments can go down as well as up. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

This week's guest: https://nichols.co.uk/
This week we cover how NHS doctors, especially consultants with private work or side hustles, can use a “money box company” (a limited company/personal service company) to bridge the gap to retiring before the NHS pension age and to plan taxes flexibly. Steve Nichols explains that keeping private income in a company can help avoid the £100,000 “tax trap,” preserve tax-free childcare, and legitimately split income by paying a spouse salary/dividends (including NI credits). The conversation covers paying university (but not school) fees via benefits-in-kind for an over-18 child working for the company or via dividends using appropriate share classes. They also explain director’s loan accounts as legal borrowing from the company with interest and Section 455 tax cashflow implications. For higher earners, routing private income through a company can mitigate pension tapering exposure and allow accumulating profits to extract later via members’ voluntary liquidation at lower capital gains tax rates than dividends, subject to anti-avoidance rules and genuine cessation of private practice.
00:00 Retire Before NHS Age
01:41 Money Box Company Basics
03:17 Flexibility And Tax Levers
07:20 When To Set One Up
08:03 Beat The 100k Trap
12:36 School Vs University Fees
19:53 Directors Loan Accounts
27:19 Avoid Pension Tapering
31:05 Liquidation And CGT Exit
35:13 Wrap Up And Warnings
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Disclaimer:
The information provided in this content is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. You should not rely on this content as a substitute for professional advice tailored to your specific financial situation. The value of your investments can go down as well as up. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Tommy and Ed were invited to speak at the Association of Independent Specialist Medical Accountants (AISMA) Conference, then Tommy roamed around finding experts to interview in true Medics' Money style! AISMA chair Lizzie Lloyd highlights sessions on funding, tax and collaboration, advising doctors to focus on upcoming 2026/27 contract changes, budgeting and planning despite limited detail on the new GP scheme and “neighbourhoods.” Medics' Money legend Andy Pow says the conference focus is neighbourhoods but details remain unclear, notes major funding differences across the UK nations, flags Making Tax Digital, and warns uncertainty around the Carr-Hill formula and rising workload from advice-and-guidance and digital access without matching funding. Pete Farrier explains benchmarking, regional and practice-model variance, and improving finances via claims, effective PCN/federation working, and staffing/partnering. Sarah Edwards outlines AISMA’s Next Gen/AISMA Academy training videos for medical accounts. Will Ellis of BW Healthcare Surveyors stresses that ~89% of practices are underpaid on notional rent, offers no-win-no-fee checks, and recommends reviewing every three years.
00:00 Conference Intro
01:27 Meet The AISMA Chair
02:31 GP Contract Uncertainty
04:04 Andy Pow On Funding
06:32 Contracts Workload Pressures
07:56 Benchmarking GP Performance
09:43 Boosting Practice Earnings
11:45 Private Work And Tax Planning
13:49 AISMA Next Gen Academy
16:51 Premises And Notional Rent
19:28 Final Takeaways
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Disclaimer:
The information provided in this content is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. You should not rely on this content as a substitute for professional advice tailored to your specific financial situation. The value of your investments can go down as well as up. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

This week, Cyra (doctor and chartered accountant) interviews Cleo Nedd, a personal wealth strategist who helps high-achieving women turn income into lasting wealth and reduce reliance on exchanging time for money. Reflecting after International Women’s Day, they discuss how virtue signaling fails to close ongoing gaps in women’s financial access, confidence, and industry inclusion, shaped by the fact that women have only had independent banking and investing access for just over 50 years. Sarah shares subtle bias she experienced with mortgage brokers, estate agents, and solicitors, while Cleo highlights micro-aggressions, women self-disqualifying, and the male-dominated financial advisory sector. Cleo reframes higher income as requiring “added subtraction,” clearer personal money principles over rule-based advice, and better communication with partners. She also describes teaching children budgeting language and delayed gratification.
00:00 Welcome and Introductions
00:53 FU Money for Women
02:02 Beyond Managing to Owning
04:51 Why IWD Feels Hollow
07:51 Microaggressions in Money
11:52 Industry Barriers and Self Doubt
14:32 Radical Responsibility Mindset
18:38 Holding Wealth as Income Grows
24:12 Money Clarity with Partners
29:07 Principles Over Rules
32:18 Ethics and Investing Choices
34:18 Teaching Kids Money Habits
38:03 Wrap Up and Next Steps
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**Disclaimer:** The information provided in this content is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. You should not rely on this content as a substitute for professional advice tailored to your specific financial situation. The value of your investments can go down as well as up. Past performance is not indicative of future results.

Follow @drnatashaholmes on insta and TikTok.
Dr Natasha Holmes on Leaving the NHS and Moving to Cyprus: Push–Pull Factors, Risk, and What’s Next? On the Medics' Money podcast, Cyra chats with Dr Natasha Holmes, an FY10 pediatric locum/bank registrar, life coach, and co-creator of The Fully Well Doc Pod, who announces she is leaving the NHS and the UK after what she believes was her last NHS shift. Natasha explains her decision as a long “push–pull” transformation: reduced fulfillment from worsening NHS conditions and greater fulfillment from coaching, alongside pull factors including moving to Cyprus (where she grew up) for community, supporting aging parents, lower living costs, better savings prospects, and to explore starting a business and possibly medicine there. She discusses identity and mental health struggles during FY2, the need to prove she could do the job, and realizing colleagues often feel excited to work while she generally doesn’t. Natasha outlines risk mitigation via two years of savings, family housing/support, and a remote-working partner, and plans to maintain GMC registration through upcoming revalidation while exploring Cyprus requirements. They address public misconceptions about “paying back taxpayers,” medical training costs, limited training posts, and shared frustrations about NHS conditions; she leaves in 35 days on a one-way ticket and has received mostly supportive responses.
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https://www.medicsmoney.co.uk/medics-money-financial-wellbeing-course/
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Disclaimer:
The information provided in this content is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute financial advice. You should not rely on this content as a substitute for professional advice tailored to your specific financial situation. The value of your investments can go down as well as up. Past performance is not indicative of future results.