Buying a dental patient base: price, financing and depreciation

Yes. A patient base acquired for consideration up to 31 December 2029 gives rise to deductible depreciation, generally over ten years. The scheme, opened by article 23 of the 2022 Finance Act and extended by article 13 of the 2026 Finance Act, nevertheless excludes acquisitions from a related company or from one controlled by the same practitioner.

Buying a patient base is the most structuring transaction of a dental surgeon's career. It is also the one where the gap between a prepared deal and an improvised one shows up fastest, because the tax treatment is decided before signature, not when the entry is posted.

The general rule is straightforward: depreciation of goodwill is not deductible from taxable profit. An acquired intangible value is not written off, it stays on the balance sheet.

A temporary exception was opened by article 23 of Act no. 2021-1900 of 30 December 2021, the 2022 Finance Act, for goodwill acquired from 1 January 2022. It first covered commercial goodwill, but the tax authorities extended it to holders of non-commercial profits under the controlled declaration regime. Qualifying items are the intangibles that cannot be valued separately and that contribute to maintaining the activity: the patient base, the client base and the professional name.

The scheme was due to expire on 31 December 2025. Article 13 of the 2026 Finance Act extended it to acquisitions made up to 31 December 2029.

The period applied is the useful life, where that life is limited and can be justified. Failing that, depreciation runs over ten years, a period small businesses may apply without having to demonstrate it. A dental practice always qualifies: the test looks at two of the three criteria of 12M EUR net turnover, 6M EUR total assets and 50 employees.

This is the point we see missed most often, and it is expensive.

Anti-abuse adjustments closed the door on internal transactions. Excluded from the scheme are acquisitions from a related company within the meaning of article 39, 12 of the French Tax Code, and from a company under the control of the same individual as the buyer.

In practice terms: a practitioner who contributes their own patient base to the SELARL they control, or sells it to that company, creates no right to depreciation. Yet that is precisely the structure often proposed when moving into a company, and often presented as an optimisation lever. The transaction may still make sense for other reasons, governance, succession, admitting a partner, but it will not produce the tax saving announced.

There is no scale. The percentages of turnover that circulate rest on no authoritative source, and a deal is negotiated on concrete factors.

What actually weighs:

• location and immediate competition, very different between a dense city centre and an underserved area;
• the mix of procedures: a practice weighted towards prosthetics or implants has a different margin profile from general practice under the standard fee schedule;
• patient loyalty and average patient age, which drives how needs renew;
• the condition and age of the clinical platform, bearing in mind that a chair or imaging unit needing replacement within two years is an investment to add to the price;
• the lease: remaining term, rent, clauses, assignability;
• the presence of a trained assistant who stays on, often undervalued in negotiations although it drives continuity;
• the handover period the seller accepts, which secures the transfer of patient trust.

Our view: in the files we work on, the gap between the asking price and the price paid is almost always explained by two items, the real condition of the clinical platform and the length of the handover. Those are the two points to cost before opening the discussion.

Two very different transactions hide behind the phrase "buying a practice".

Buying the patient base means acquiring an asset. The buyer does not take on the seller's liabilities, and depreciation is available where the conditions are met. It is the clearest structure for a first setup.

Buying the company's shares means acquiring the structure with its history: contracts, debts, any litigation, leasing commitments. The price paid for shares cannot be depreciated. In exchange, legal continuity is complete, which simplifies taking over the lease, employment contracts and existing finance.

The choice is made before signature, based on price, any liabilities revealed by due diligence, and the financing structure. It cannot be corrected afterwards.

A patient base purchase is almost always debt-financed. Two points deserve to be anticipated.

Capital repayment is not deductible. Only interest is, along with depreciation of the patient base where it is available. That is precisely why eligibility for the scheme changes the cash balance of the deal: without deductible depreciation, the practitioner repays capital out of income already taxed.

The first-year cash gap is the second point. CARCDSF and URSSAF contributions at the start of activity are provisional and later adjusted, while the loan instalment falls due from the first month. A 24-month cash plan is worth more than a five-year profit projection.

A disposal generates a professional capital gain. Several relief regimes exist for self-employed professionals, subject to conditions relating in particular to the length of activity and to the level of receipts or the value of the assets sold. They do not combine freely and must be checked case by case.

The point to remember is one of timing: these regimes are assessed at the date of disposal, based on a situation built over previous years. A seller who discovers the conditions on the day of signature has no room left to manoeuvre. Our article on selling a professional practice sets out that preparation.

• audit of the last three years, with a breakdown of procedures and fees;
• condition of the clinical platform, age of each item and a two-year replacement budget;
• lease: remaining term, rent, assignment and permitted-use clauses;
• current employment contracts and the applicable collective agreement;
• collaboration or locum agreements to take over or renegotiate;
• confirmation of eligibility for depreciation, in particular the absence of any link with the seller;
• structure decided between buying the patient base and buying shares, before the offer;
• 24-month cash plan including provisional contributions;
• length and terms of the seller's handover, in writing.

For depreciation of the equipment itself, distinct from the patient base, see our article on depreciating clinical equipment. And for the practice as a whole, see our dentist accountant page.

Updated 24 July 2026. Informative content reviewed by a chartered accountant registered with the Ordre des experts-comptables of Ile-de-France. It does not replace an analysis of your own situation.