Salary of doctors after taxes

Started by SilentAnon_404
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SilentAnon_404

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So this question just came to my mind: how much is the actual salary of those who are in the medical profession after the taxes are taken out? I see figures being posted of $200,000 - $400,000 average salary, but I assume that's not the amount you bring back home after all is said and done.
 
Some states have no income tax, others have state income tax above 10%. Usually states with no income tax also have a market in which doctors earn more due to supply and demand.obviously you pay federal income tax, social security and Medicare regardless.
 
You’ll never be able to get this number. As the previous post said, different states have different taxes. You then have to add in if they’re married, have a mortgage, kids, their partner’s salary, FSA’s, IRA’s and other retirement investments, etc. Also, does your practice group or hospital have non-salary incentives like retirement matching or bonuses that aren’t included in the base salary.
 
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You can get rough numbers for single unmarried income taxes to give you a general idea, but it's impossible to know exactly how much you're taking home until you're actually in that position.

e.g. using something like California Income Tax Calculator - SmartAsset, if you make $250k in CA, you could pay something like ~90k in taxes to take home 160k. But again, this is single unmarried + simplest everything, so it's impossible to get precise numbers.
 
CyrilFiggis said:
You’ll never be able to get this number. As the previous post said, different states have different taxes. You then have to add in if they’re married, have a mortgage, kids, their partner’s salary, FSA’s, IRA’s and other retirement investments, etc. Also, does your practice group or hospital have non-salary incentives like retirement matching or bonuses that aren’t included in the base salary.
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Very hard to answer as each physician contract is individual. The Devil is always in the details. My wife and I pay an effective fed tax rate of 24%. Fed income tax is a graded scale where each higher level of income pays more in tax. Then you must add payroll taxes, state and local taxes, sales tax, etc. So when Politicians demagogue the fact that YOU aren't paying your fair share and nearly one third of your income is not enough, tell them to spend a little less . The IRS sets a new record in tax collections every year.
 
SilentAnon_404 said:
So this question just came to my mind: how much is the actual salary of those who are in the medical profession after the taxes are taken out? I see figures being posted of $200,000 - $400,000 average salary, but I assume that's not the amount you bring back home after all is said and done.
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Subtract about 40% for taxes and healthcare costs. Then you have the take home pay.
 
Angus Avagadro said:
Very hard to answer as each physician contract is individual. The Devil is always in the details. My wife and I pay an effective fed tax rate of 24%. Fed income tax is a graded scale where each higher level of income pays more in tax. Then you must add payroll taxes, state and local taxes, sales tax, etc. So when Politicians demagogue the fact that YOU aren't paying your fair share and nearly one third of your income is not enough, tell them to spend a little less . The IRS sets a new record in tax collections every year.
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Why was I quoted?
 
I lose around 33% of my salary to taxes to give you an idea. I pay another 15% or so (roughly) of my gross salary towards my loans (attempting to pay them off in 10 years or less).

Malpractice insurance generally paid for by work. Insurance usually affordable as most of the cost paid for by most places of employment when you're a doctor.

States that have no state tax, you end up saving quite a bit more money though.
 
If you add up ALL the taxes you pay (income/state/property/sales/use tax etc) the number for me is well over 50%.
The government is a sponge
If self employed the numbers are higher--double SS and medicare taxes
 
46% to taxes, deductions, 401k, health, disability, etc. 54% take home pay into my pocket. That has been consistent for the last 3 years of attending-hood. Doesn't seem to matter what I change, that's how it shakes out. I also like getting a tax return though (unlike a lot of people) so I overpay the gov't by about 3%. And I'm a DINK

Take home pay 2021: $211,321. W2 hospitalist who picks up a crap ton of extra work here (~390k gross this year)
 
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thumbz said:
46% to taxes, deductions, 401k, health, disability, etc. 54% take home pay into my pocket. That has been consistent for the last 3 years of attending-hood. Doesn't seem to matter what I change, that's how it shakes out. I also like getting a tax return though (unlike a lot of people) so I overpay the gov't by about 3%. And I'm a DINK

Take home pay 2021: $211,321. W2 hospitalist who picks up a crap ton of extra work here (~390k gross this year)
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So you make over 120k more than a return entry offer I got in biotech ib, yet end up with ~27k more in take-home pay based on total compensation post-tax package. What the hell am a missing here?
 
Clint Southern said:
How can you possibly pay "more" taxes
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if you look it up, many of them pay an effective tax rate around 8%, in regards to income tax. Or less. Even if they pay a decent amount of money towards taxes, that means nothing to me when were on a progressive tax bracket system and the elite are paying 8% while everyone else is paying triple that. If you make 100 billion, and only pay 10 billion in taxes, that is quite BS, while i lose over 1/3 of my salary.

between 2015-2017 he paid less than 70k income tax.
 
Anon_help00 said:
So you make over 120k more than a return entry offer I got in biotech ib, yet end up with ~27k more in take-home pay based on total compensation post-tax package. What the hell am a missing here?
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They’re including health insurance, disability insurance, and 401k. Those aren’t taxes, they’re services and savings/investments.

Be careful not to compare apples to oranges. Someone may have a lower take home pay because they’re maxing out their 401k/403b, but they’re building a higher net worth.
 
DrAmazingishere said:
if you look it up, many of them pay an effective tax rate around 8%, in regards to income tax. Or less. Even if they pay a decent amount of money towards taxes, that means nothing to me when were on a progressive tax bracket system and the elite are paying 8% while everyone else is paying triple that. If you make 100 billion, and only pay 10 billion in taxes, that is quite BS, while i lose over 1/3 of my salary.

between 2015-2017 he paid less than 70k income tax.
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Not very concise language when you just say more or less taxes. Even if they pay 8% of income tax, that is way more than any of us pay.
 
Med Ed said:
He obviously meant a higher effective tax rate.
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That's an infererence you are making. Not obvious at all depending on an individuals background and education. Use concise language. That is all I am trying to say.
 
Clint Southern said:
Not very concise language when you just say more or less taxes. Even if they pay 8% of income tax, that is way more than any of us pay.
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The point of a progressive tax system is that the people at the top can afford to pay a higher percent, because 40 percent of 10 billion, still gives the person 6 billion left. 40 percent tax on 100k gives someone 60k to work with (just using extreme numbers as an example).

It doesnt matter that a billionaire may pay more in taxes, what matters is they arent paying the same SHARE of taxes that we pay. If our entire tax system is built on the ideology that the higher the income, the higher rate someone pays in taxes; but this is impacting the middle/upper middle class rather than the elite, who have done well at minimizing their tax burden. So yes I see a problem.
 
Med Ed said:
Not much of an inference.

Do you know what "concise" means?
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Do you?

Paying more in taxes as it is written means you literally pay more. In the case presented with Bezos and other entrepreneurs, clearly none of us pay "more." You are clearly using the context to deliver the precise meaning of the sentence which is a definition of inference.
 
DrAmazingishere said:
The point of a progressive tax system is that the people at the top can afford to pay a higher percent, because 40 percent of 10 billion, still gives the person 6 billion left. 40 percent tax on 100k gives someone 60k to work with (just using extreme numbers as an example).

It doesnt matter that a billionaire may pay more in taxes, what matters is they arent paying the same SHARE of taxes that we pay. If our entire tax system is built on the ideology that the higher the income, the higher rate someone pays in taxes; but this is impacting the middle/upper middle class rather than the elite, who have done well at minimizing their tax burden. So yes I see a problem.
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So you are saying the absolute amount ($$) doesn't matter? Only the percentages?
 
Clint Southern said:
Do you?

Paying more in taxes as it is written means you literally pay more. In the case presented with Bezos and other entrepreneurs, clearly none of us pay "more." You are clearly using the context to deliver the precise meaning of the sentence which is a definition of inference.
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Yes, "concise" essentially means brevity, delivering information with clarity in few words. It seems that you are asking for language that is accurate and/or comprehensive, not necessarily brief. So I thought I'd ask. Based on your response you seem to realize that you were in error, although I will go out on a limb and infer that you will never admit that.

@Angus Avagadro is a senior physician, so there isn't much concern about the education, and it's quite clear what he meant. I don't think any reasonable individual would infer from his statement that a doctor making 200K literally pays more dollars in taxes than a billionaire. It doesn't take much in the way of common sense to see that.

Also, nobody likes the Word Police. Have a good rest of your day.
 
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Med Ed said:
Yes, "concise" essentially means brevity, delivering information with clarity in few words. It seems that you are asking for language that is accurate and/or comprehensive, not necessarily brief. So I thought I'd ask. Based on your response you seem to realize that you were in error, although I will go out on a limb and infer that you will never admit that.

@Angus Avagadro is a senior physician, so there isn't much concern about the education, and it's quite clear what he meant. I don't think any reasonable individual would infer from his statement that a doctor making 200K literally pays more dollars in taxes than a billionaire. It doesn't take much in the way of common sense to see that.

Also, nobody likes the Word Police. Have a good rest of your day.
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Classical logical fallacy of "appeal to authority." Doesn't matter how much education one received. The person claimed you doctors pay more in taxes. Which is very inaccurate or confusing at best because it is not clear what the person meant as it is written.

No doctor pays more in taxes than Bezos.

I don't care whether you like word police or not. I have every right to make a comment.

Have a great day as well!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
DrAmazingishere said:
I usually dont give up on people, but I give up on you.
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What's great about it is "your words don't mean a thing to me."

Your opinion is highly biased and doctor-centric. I call that hypocritical. Everyone wants everyone else to pay more taxes.
 
Moderator note:
Let's keep this thread on topic and punt the side conversations to private chat if needed. Otherwise, this thread will be locked. Keeping it open for now as it is still potentially very useful for aspiring physicians and trainees.

To contribute:
My effective tax rate, which I calculate as (total take-home pay + retirement contributions) / (total compensation including retirement contributions), is ~30-34%. My effective tax rate is lower than most physicians though because of my comparatively meager academic salary (*whomp whomp*). I would love to pay more taxes as it would mean my take home pay is higher than it currently is. Still, I am saving 6 figures per year, so I can't complain too much.
 
For the most part, seems like most physicians have an effective tax rate of around ~30-35%.

Any physicians here willing to discuss what their take home percentage is usually like? Obviously, there will be differences based on COL and what not.

If some of yall are willing, it'd be nice to have some more specific geographical location, specialty, HCOL/LCOL, etc.
 
Bored_Conscious said:
For the most part, seems like most physicians have an effective tax rate of around ~30-35%.

Any physicians here willing to discuss what their take home percentage is usually like? Obviously, there will be differences based on COL and what not.

If some of yall are willing, it'd be nice to have some more specific geographical location, specialty, HCOL/LCOL,
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This is incorrect. But again, the issue is the 10 other factors that are included in calculating taxes. A single doctor will have a marginal rate around 35% but an effective rate of 24-26%. A married doctor will be a marginal rate of 24% but an effective rate of 18%, unless their spouse also works in which case it’ll be higher. And that’s just federal. You also have to add state taxes (if your state has them), FICA and any municipal taxes.

But then actual take home pay also has the pretax deductions of health insurance, FSAs, retirement contributions, etc which can all lower you MAGI and put you in a lower marginal tax bracket.

If you don’t care about any of that, the generic answer is that take home pay is conservatively 60-65% of your contract salary.
 
As above, most physicians are salaried or earning income as W2 or 1099 employees (either employed or contracting with group/hospital). Working as a 1099 usually means you have more options for write offs as business expenses, but also you are usually taking care of your own benefits or retirement.

There are exceptions. Partners in a group that is earning well may pay themselves a reasonable salary for their specialty and then take the rest as a dividend from the group, meaning you pay some of your taxes at income and some at capital gains rates. Ancillary earnings from surgery centers, imaging centers etc may be at capital gains rates depending on how things are structured.
 
CyrilFiggis said:
Man, what are you guys even arguing about? Physicians are salary employees, so we are taxed based on income tax rates. Musk and Bezos’ wealth comes from ownership and stocks which are taxed as capital gains at a totally different rate structure. Fair or not it’s apples to oranges.
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This but it’s also a weird take to be defending individuals that make more than the GDP of some countries rather than working physicians
 
arnim said:
This but it’s also a weird take to be defending individuals that make more than the GDP of some countries rather than working physicians
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I think it is better to have the goal aspiring to be wealthy, than to try and hose the people who have more than you. Physicians are considered wealthy by the mast majority of people.

My effective federal tax rate was something like 20ish% on low $300’s. I had mostly after tax investments when possible, but did max out a 457b, HSA, am married and have a couple kids. State taxes were probably 5% in property taxes and 8.25% in local sales tax on most things. My take home pay is like 60ish%.
 
arnim said:
This but it’s also a weird take to be defending individuals that make more than the GDP of some countries rather than working physicians
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Hes not defending those individuals per se. He is defending the notion that it makes any sense to tax based on asset appreciation.

Are you going to refund me if my stocks tank year over year?
 
SilentAnon_404 said:
So this question just came to my mind: how much is the actual salary of those who are in the medical profession after the taxes are taken out? I see figures being posted of $200,000 - $400,000 average salary, but I assume that's not the amount you bring back home after all is said and done.
Click to expand...
Just figure about 50 percent in taxes in general. So 500K you will take home 250K . 1M in income about 530K take home. Uncle Same takes a lot in taxes.
 
NITRAS said:
I think it is better to have the goal aspiring to be wealthy, than to try and hose the people who have more than you. Physicians are considered wealthy by the mast majority of people.

My effective federal tax rate was something like 20ish% on low $300’s. I had mostly after tax investments when possible, but did max out a 457b, HSA, am married and have a couple kids. State taxes were probably 5% in property taxes and 8.25% in local sales tax on most things. My take home pay is like 60ish%.
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Just a note about the 457b deferred compensation plans. If the hospital or Corp entity goes bankrupt or sold, that 457b money is not specifically earmarked for you. It can be given to creditors. A local health system went through this some time ago and many administrators lost 7 figure sums. I recently had this discussion with the plan administrator, our tax lawyer and financial advisor for my wife. They all agreed this money could be potentially be at risk, although small in most cases.
 
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OptionOffense said:
Just figure about 50 percent in taxes in general. So 500K you will take home 250K . 1M in income about 530K take home. Uncle Same takes a lot in taxes.
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Taxes? No, that's way too high.

Everything that comes out between gross income and net? Sure. That's about where I'm at with insurances, HSA, 401k, FSA, and so on.
 
Angus Avagadro said:
Just a note about the 457b deferred compensation plans. If the hospital or Corp entity goes bankrupt or sold, that 457b money is not specifically earmarked for you. It can be given to creditors. A local health system went through this some time ago and many administrators lost 7 figure sums. I recently had this discussion with the plan administrator, our tax lawyer and financial advisor for my wife. They all agreed this money could be potentially be at risk, although small in most cases.
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True that. Non-qualified 457 plan is an asset to the company, but it is also held by the leadership of hospital as well. It is the last thing to max out that is available to me. There is a risk, but I think it is very low.
 
arnim said:
This but it’s also a weird take to be defending individuals that make more than the GDP of some countries rather than working physicians
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Are you talking about Musk/Bezos or doctors? Because for reference, if you’ve worked a minimum wage job you’ve almost out-earned Afghanistan’s GDP within a week.
 
doomer_md said:
Are you talking about Musk/Bezos or doctors? Because for reference, if you’ve worked a minimum wage job you’ve almost out-earned Afghanistan’s GDP within a week.
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Afghanistan’s 2021 GDP was 20.46 Billion USD.

I don’t know any minimum wage jobs that pay that well…
 
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