Doctors & Dentists in BC

Financial Advisor for Doctors and Dentists in BC

Fee-for-service financial planning built for physicians and dentists who are incorporated in British Columbia, addressing the specific tax and investment challenges of a Medical or Dental Professional Corporation.

Physicians and dentists in BC are among the highest earners in the country, but the financial planning complexity of running a Medical Professional Corporation or Professional Dental Corporation is equally significant. You've likely accumulated substantial retained earnings. You may be bumping against the passive income threshold that claws back your small business deduction. Your RRSP room may be limited because you've been drawing dividends rather than salary. And your accountant, while excellent at compliance, isn't thinking about the strategic question of how to build and protect wealth over a 30-year career. That's what Ocean 6 does.

For Physicians

What We Address for Incorporated Physicians

01

Passive income clawback, protecting your small business deduction

BC physicians with a Medical Professional Corporation are taxed at the small business rate (approximately 11%) on the first $500,000 of active professional income, as long as passive investment income stays below $50,000/year. Above that threshold, the clawback begins. At $150,000+ in passive income, the full small business deduction is lost, costing approximately $55,000/year in additional tax. COLI, holding company structures, and careful investment selection are the primary tools we use to manage this.

02

RRSP underutilization

Many physicians draw primarily dividends from their MPC, which creates no RRSP room. Over a 20-year career, the lost RRSP room can represent hundreds of thousands of dollars in missed tax-sheltered growth. We evaluate the salary vs. dividends split specifically to optimize RRSP contribution room where it makes sense, while balancing CPP contributions, personal tax bracket management, and retained earnings strategy.

03

Disability and overhead insurance

A physician's ability to practice IS the asset. The financial consequence of a disability is not just lost income, it's the cessation of a highly profitable professional practice with ongoing overhead costs. We conduct an insurance audit to assess whether your current disability coverage is adequate and whether corporate overhead insurance should be in place.

04

Practice wind-down and MPC dissolution

When a physician retires or transitions out of practice, the MPC has to wind down. The assets inside it need to be extracted in a tax-efficient sequence, RRSP/RRIF withdrawals, corporate dividends, capital dividends from the CDA, and life insurance proceeds. Getting this sequencing wrong can mean paying tens of thousands more in tax than necessary. We plan the wind-down strategy years in advance.

For Dentists

What We Address for Incorporated Dentists

01

Corporate accumulation and investment strategy

Dentists with an established practice often accumulate $500,000–$2M+ inside the PDC over their career. Passive income inside the corp is taxed punitively, and the investment strategy for a corporate account is fundamentally different from an RRSP or TFSA. We build an investment policy for your corporate account that maximizes after-tax returns, typically through capital-gains-oriented investments, corporate class structures, and COLI where appropriate.

02

Practice succession and sale

Dental practice sales are among the most complex small-business transactions in Canada. The value is partly in the goodwill (which may or may not qualify for the LCGE), partly in equipment, and partly in the patient base. We work with your accountant and lawyer to structure the sale to maximize what you keep, including LCGE planning, share vs. asset sale analysis, and post-sale investment strategy for the proceeds.

03

Associate integration and partnership buyouts

Bringing in an associate or partner creates new financial complexity, shareholder agreements, share valuation, buyout mechanics, and tax-efficient transaction structure. We advise on the financial planning implications and work alongside your corporate lawyer to structure transitions that make sense for both parties.

04

Holding company for accumulated wealth

Dentists with substantial retained earnings often benefit from establishing a holding company to receive dividends from the PDC tax-free and invest them in a more protected structure. We analyze whether a holdco adds value and advise on the investment policy, insurance integration, and how the holdco interacts with your estate plan.

Common Questions

Frequently Asked Questions

I have a Medical/Dental Professional Corporation, what makes financial planning different?

A professional corporation introduces a layer of tax complexity that most financial advisors don't specialize in. You have two tax entities (you personally, and the corp), and the decisions about how money flows between them (salary, dividends, capital dividends, inter-corporate dividends) have significant tax consequences. Standard financial planning software doesn't model corporate structures properly. We build our plans on tools designed for incorporated professionals, and our advisors have worked with physicians and dentists specifically throughout their careers.

My accountant handles my taxes, why do I need a financial planner?

Your accountant files your tax returns and ensures you're compliant. They typically don't model the long-term implications of your compensation structure, don't advise on insurance strategy, don't run the analysis on whether COLI or direct investing produces a better after-tax outcome, and aren't tracking your RRSP room optimization year over year. These are financial planning functions. We work alongside your accountant, they handle compliance; we handle strategy. Most clients say we've changed the conversation they have with their accountant.

When should I think about a family trust?

A family trust is most useful for income splitting with adult beneficiaries and LCGE multiplication on a future business sale. For physicians and dentists, LCGE multiplication is often the biggest driver, if you have adult children who could hold trust-allocated shares at the time of a practice sale, each gets their own $1.25M exemption. Trusts need to be established well in advance of a sale to meet CRA's holding period requirements. The earlier you start the planning, the more flexibility you have.

Do you work with residents and early-career physicians?

Our ideal client is typically a physician 3–5+ years into independent practice with a functioning professional corporation and meaningful retained earnings. We occasionally work with residents or early-career physicians planning ahead, particularly around RRSP vs. debt repayment strategy and the timing of incorporation. Book a discovery call and we'll tell you honestly whether we're the right fit right now.

Many of the same planning strategies apply to other incorporated professionals, lawyers, consultants, engineers, architects, accountants. If you're not in healthcare, see how we work with incorporated professionals across all disciplines →

Ready to Talk?

Book a Discovery Call

30 minutes. We'll focus on your professional corporation, retained earnings, and what financial decisions you've been putting off.