Structures

Practice structures

General information about four labels people use. This is not a recommendation, and not a conclusion that the PSI rules do or do not apply to you.

Sole trader

The income is in your own tax return. The ATO describes personal services income as income produced mainly (more than 50%) from your skills or efforts as an individual. A doctor’s patient income can meet that description. The doctors guide covers income, allowances and work deductions. It does not choose a structure.

Company

A company is a separate taxpayer. If it receives personal services income, the PSI rules can still attribute that income to the individual. The company-return instructions say a personal services business test can be the results test (at least 75% of the income) or, where less than 80% of the PSI comes from each client and their associates, the unrelated clients test, the employment test, or the business premises test. Putting a company between you and the patient does not, by itself, end the question.

Trust

A trust can receive personal services income. The same PSI rules can still apply to income that comes mainly from one person’s effort. A trust distribution to a child can also meet the tax rules for minors, which are a different page.

Service entity

A separate entity can charge for rooms, staff and admin. That fee is not the same thing as the patient income produced by the doctor’s own effort. The PSI page is the test for the patient income. This page does not say what the fee should be.

What doctors often miss

Personal services income is income produced mainly (more than 50%) from your own effort. A company or a trust between you and the patient does not, by itself, end that question.

ATO personal services income ↗

Included / Not included

Included

ATO personal services income ↗ · PSI is mainly (more than 50%) personal effort
ATO company tax return 2026, appendix 8 — PSI tests ↗ · Updated 30 May 2026
ATO doctors guide — income and work-related deductions ↗ · Updated 11 May 2026

Not included

A recommendation of a sole trader, company, trust or service entity
Whether the PSI tests are passed on a particular contract
State duty, ASIC fees, accounting fees and insurance
A service-entity fee amount. This page does not set one

Assumptions you can edit are the inputs on this page. This is a model, not a prediction, a tax assessment, or a recommendation.

Career path · Extra super in private practice

A rough figure — not advice. Terms

Advertisement — labelled, never inside the number.