You will be able to bill the respective provincial or territorial health authority personally for services or procedures you perform. Be sure that all overhead necessities are provided and that a reasonable percentage is charged. Evaluate each locum opportunity on its merits. In addition to reviewing the nature of the practice, workload and on-call requirements, look into billing arrangements, fee schedules, travel reimbursements and overhead costs. If accepting a locum requires you to relocate more than 40 kilometres, you can deduct certain travel expenses against income earned at the new location.
Many physicians perform locums in under-serviced northern locations.
These two deductions include the Residency deduction and the Travel Benefits deduction. If you are considering accepting a locum in a northern location, obtain the Northern Residents Deduction Tax Guide from Revenue Canada. It contains a detailed list of locations in which the deductions apply, as well as an extensive discussion of the criteria for the deductions. Traveling expenses for no more than two trips made in the taxation year by the employee and each member of his or her household are deductible. One of our consultants can identify potential pitfalls and suggest other sources of assistance or information to help evaluate your locum opportunities.