Chiropractor bookkeeping in Edmonton, straightened out.

A chiropractic clinic looks simple from the front desk: patients book, get adjusted and pay. Behind the scenes, chiropractor bookkeeping in Edmonton has a few traps: exempt and taxable sales mixed together, associates on percentage splits, and insurance payments that arrive in lumps days or weeks after the visit.

This guide is for clinic owners and solo chiropractors across Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove who want books that make sense every month, not just at tax time.

1GST: exempt treatments, taxable products

Chiropractic services provided by a licensed chiropractor are generally exempt from GST. You don't charge GST on adjustments, assessments or treatment visits. But many clinics also sell or offer things that aren't exempt:

• Retail products such as pillows, supplements, heat packs and some braces or supports are often taxable. Some medical devices have their own rules, so check each product.
• Other services in the clinic, such as massage or wellness services, may be taxable depending on the service and who provides it.
• Room or space rental to other practitioners is generally a taxable commercial supply.

If your taxable sales stay at or under $30,000 over four consecutive calendar quarters, you're a small supplier and don't have to register. Cross it and you'll need to register and charge 5% on the taxable items. Our guide to GST registration in Edmonton walks through the test.

2Chiropractor bookkeeping in Edmonton: setting up the accounts

Separate accounts are what make a clinic's numbers readable. A practical setup in QuickBooks Online or Xero:

Splitting exempt and taxable revenue isn't just tidy. It's what makes your GST return and the small supplier test easy to check.

3Recording associate splits

If you have associate chiropractors on a percentage split, record the full patient fee as clinic revenue and the associate's share as an expense. Recording only your cut makes your revenue look smaller than your practice management software shows, and makes it harder to reconcile and to prepare any year-end reporting for your associates.

Say an associate at your Windermere clinic bills $18,000 in patient fees in a month on a 55% split. You record $18,000 of treatment revenue and $9,900 of associate fees, leaving $8,100 for the clinic. If the associate is GST-registered and charges GST on their fees to you, that GST is a cost you generally can't recover against exempt treatments.

As a journal entry, assuming the associate isn't charging GST, the month looks like this:

When you pay the associate, accounts payable is cleared against the bank. Your profit and loss now shows the true size of the practice and the true cost of your associates, which is exactly what you need when you're deciding whether to add another chair.

Whether associates are true independent contractors or employees depends on the facts of the working relationship, not just the contract title. It affects payroll deductions and slips, so confirm the setup with your accountant.

4Matching direct-billing and card deposits

A day's visits almost never equal a day's deposits. Patients pay by card (net of processing fees), some visits are direct-billed to insurers who pay later in batches, and some patients cover a balance after their plan pays its part.

• Treat direct-billed amounts as receivables when the visit happens, then clear them when the insurer pays.
• Record card deposits gross, with processing fees as an expense, so revenue isn't understated.
• Reconcile weekly, matching each deposit to the payments in your practice management software's reports.
• Chase denials quickly. A rejected claim sitting in receivables for months is revenue you may never collect.

If deposits never line up with sales, our post on why Square deposits don't match covers the same problem in more detail, and the fixes work for most payment processors.

5Deductions and how you're set up

Deductions clinics often miss

Equipment such as adjusting tables and imaging systems is generally claimed through capital cost allowance over several years rather than deducted all at once. Record it as an asset when you buy it, with a copy of the invoice, so your accountant can claim CCA properly. Meals with referral sources are generally only 50% deductible.

Sole proprietor or professional corporation?

Newer chiropractors often start as sole proprietors, reporting clinic income on the T2125. As income grows, many move to a professional corporation, which can let you leave profits in the company at a lower tax rate and pay yourself through salary, dividends or a mix. Your college has rules about professional corporations, so check those along with the tax side. Our guide on whether to incorporate covers the trade-offs.

Whichever structure you use, if you're self-employed you pay both halves of CPP on your earnings, and you may need to make quarterly tax instalments once your tax owing gets large enough.

6Common chiropractic bookkeeping mistakes

• Charging GST on treatments, or forgetting to charge it on taxable products once registered.
• Recording only the clinic's cut of associate fees.
• Booking insurer deposits as new revenue after already recording the visit.
• Expensing a new table instead of recording it as equipment.
• Mixing personal and clinic spending on one card.

Plum works with chiropractors and health practitioners across Edmonton, St. Albert, Sherwood Park and Spruce Grove, with flat monthly pricing on our pricing page. If your clinic's books need a tune-up, book a short call and we'll take a look.

7Questions people ask

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This article is general information for Alberta businesses and isn't tax or legal advice. Rules and thresholds change, so confirm your situation with your accountant or CRA.