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Employment status of Associate Dentists

Newsletter issue – April 2023

For years HMRC has accepted that associate dentists can be treated as self-employed rather than as employees of the dental practice they work for, but this informal agreement is about to end on 5 April 2023.

This was first announced by HMRC in September 2021, in December 2021, and again in the February 2023 Employer Bulletin.

Where a contract for engaging an associate dentist runs from or over 6 April 2023 the Dental Practice that they work for will no longer be able to rely on the guidance in the HMRC employment status manual (para ESM4030 ). Instead, HMRC recommends that the Dental Practice should use the Check Employment Status for Tax ( CEST ) tool to establish whether the associate dentist should be treated as an employee or self-employed.