Most dentists are brilliant clinicians and hopeless with numbers — and Bilal Ahmed has built a career filling exactly that gap. 

A chartered accountant and tax adviser who stumbled into the dental world through his wife's professional circle, Bilal brings a corporate finance sharpness to a profession that's long been underserved by the accounting industry. 

In this episode, Payman and Bilal cover the full financial landscape for dentists: from the quirks of associate contracts and HMRC tax investigations to the thorny arithmetic of Invisalign, the hidden traps in popular tax schemes, and the long game of inheritance tax planning. 

Honest, direct, and refreshingly unafraid to say when something just doesn't work — this one's a must-listen for any dentist who's ever wondered if they're paying more tax than they should.

In This Episode

00:00:50 - Introduction

00:01:05 - Finding dentistry

00:03:05 - Nuances of dental accounting

00:08:35 - Tax investigations

00:19:25 - Good accountant vs great accountant

00:21:05 - Practice valuations and the post-Covid hangover

00:59:00 - Pricing strategy

01:07:05 - Making Tax Digital

01:09:30 - Expensing and entertainment

01:23:00 - Tax avoidance schemes

01:28:25 - Inheritance tax planning

01:34:05 - Last days and legacy

01:36:05 - Being an outlier

About Bilal Ahmed

Bilal Ahmed is a chartered accountant, tax adviser, and business consultant working exclusively with dental professionals. He came to dentistry by accident — through his wife's network — and recognised quickly that dentists were operating in a financial vacuum, using accounts only at tax time rather than as a tool for planning and growth. Drawing on a background in corporate finance, Bilal now helps dentists make sense of their numbers, structure their businesses correctly, and plan for long-term wealth — all while keeping things firmly on the right side of the line.