Dental Clinic BAS + PAYG Buffer: The 3-Bucket System (2026)
Dental clinic BAS and PAYG buffer system – Switchboard Finance
🦷 Dental clinic buffer system · Whitecoat Hub · 2026
In a dental clinic, the “bad week” is predictable: tax obligations land, payroll runs, and a supplier bill hits at the same time. The fix isn’t motivation — it’s a repeatable buffer.
This is a simple playbook for BAS + PAYG pressure: 3 buckets, one rule for when you touch Cashflow, and a clean separation from upgrade funding (cars, chairs, imaging) via Low Doc Asset Finance. If you want the Whitecoat-specific lane, start here: Whitecoat Pack.
1) The 3 buckets (BAS · PAYG · “shock absorber”)
The objective is boring: make tax weeks feel like normal weeks. The buckets below give you a floor so you’re not making decisions under pressure.
If you’re unsure what your “floor” should be, start with a simple Cash Flow Forecast and set a weekly top-up day. Keep the rules consistent (and align to the baseline guidance at ato.gov.au).
Floor: never “zero” going into quarter end. Rule: weekly top-up, not monthly panic.
Floor: cover the next withholding run. Rule: treat it like payroll, not profit.
Floor: one “annoying surprise” (lab bill, chair service, supplier spike). Rule: refill first.
2) Facility rules: what cashflow tools are for (and what they’re not)
Dental clinics get into trouble when a short-term buffer quietly becomes long-term debt. The clean approach is to use a facility for timing gaps — and keep upgrades in the asset lane.
If you want a clinic cashflow file that maps “tight weeks” cleanly, weave this into your internal cluster: Clinic Wage Weeks: LOC + Working Capital Loans + Payroll (2025).
| Tool | Good use in a dental clinic | One rule that keeps it healthy | Avoid |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Business Line of Credit
Hub: Business Loans
|
Quarter-end weeks, supplier lumps, short gaps between receipts and obligations. | Use it as a bridge, not a lifestyle: repay back down after the peak week. | Letting the balance hover near max as the new “normal”. |
|
Working Capital Loans
For defined short squeezes
|
A known squeeze with a clear end date (e.g., staged rollout, marketing ramp). | Write the end date first. If it’s indefinite, restructure instead. | Funding ongoing overhead without an exit plan. |
|
Invoice Finance
When receivables timing is the bottleneck
|
Speeding up cash against invoices where timing is the problem (not demand). | Use it to improve cash speed, then keep spending discipline the same. | Trying to “fix margin” with a finance product. |
3) Make it assessable fast (so approvals don’t drag)
High-value clinic cashflow files move faster when the pattern is obvious and the usage rules are tight. If the lender can’t see control quickly, you’ll get more questions and a slower path to approval.
Keep the story grounded in what the bank can actually see: your Bank Statements, and how each Facility Drawdown gets repaid.
- Purpose (1 line): “BAS + PAYG buffer for quarter-end weeks.”
- Usage boundary: draws only for tax weeks and known spikes, not upgrades.
- Repayment habit: a “reset” rule tied to receipts (don’t leave it floating).
- Limit discipline: define a comfortable Credit Limit that doesn’t squeeze normal operations.
- Affordability view: prove it clears in a normal month using Affordability, not best-case months.
Dental clinics don’t need a complicated system. Build three buckets (BAS · PAYG · shock absorber), then use a facility only to bridge timing — not to fund upgrades.
Keep your paths clean: Business Loans · Business Line of Credit · Working Capital Loans · Invoice Finance · Whitecoat Hub · Whitecoat Pack · Medical professionals asset finance (hero guide).
FAQ
It depends on your pattern, but many clinics like a flexible option because it behaves like a reusable buffer. The concept is covered in Business Line of Credit.
When the squeeze has a clear end date (a short ramp, a staged change, a known timing gap). That’s the core idea behind Working Capital.
Then you’re solving “cash speed”, not “cash amount”. The glossary definition for that approach is Invoice Finance.
Often, yes — especially where the clinic is trading through an entity structure. It’s worth understanding Director’s Guarantee before you sign.
Always scan for restrictions that trigger at awkward times (especially around reporting or cashflow stress). The definition to know is Loan Covenant.
