Updated October 23, 2026. Quick answer: The 2025 IRS chart lists 621111 for offices of physicians (except mental health specialists), 621210 for offices of dentists, and a separate row for each other kind of practitioner. The code goes on line B of Schedule C. A neighboring row such as 621400 or 621610 may fit better, depending on the principal source of your receipts.
Practitioner rows on the 2025 chart
The chart does not have one row for doctors. It has a row per kind of practice, and every one of them starts with the word offices. Dentists, chiropractors and optometrists each get their own row, and physicians are split in two by whether the practice is a mental health specialty.
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 621111 | Offices of physicians (except mental health specialists) |
| 621112 | Offices of physicians, mental health specialists |
| 621210 | Offices of dentists |
| 621310 | Offices of chiropractors |
| 621320 | Offices of optometrists |
| 621330 | Offices of mental health practitioners (except physicians) |
| 621340 | Offices of physical therapists, occupational & speech therapists, & audiologists |
| 621391 | Offices of podiatrists |
| 621399 | Offices of all other miscellaneous health practitioners |
Describing the practice on line A
Line A asks for a description of the work: “Describe the business or professional activity that provided your principal source of income reported on line 1.” Line B asks for the code: “Enter on line B the six-digit code from the Principal Business or Professional Activity Codes chart” The code goes in the box on line B, beside the description.
A solo practitioner would describe the work on line A in plain words, such as running a family dental practice treating patients. That is an example of the kind of description, not IRS wording. Line B then takes the row from the table above that reads closest to that description.
Rows beside the offices of practitioners
A practitioner who works outside an office, or whose receipts come from something other than seeing patients in a practice, may find the next rows closer.
| Code | Wording on the IRS chart |
|---|---|
| 621400 | Outpatient care centers |
| 621510 | Medical & diagnostic laboratories |
| 621610 | Home health care services |
| 621900 | Other ambulatory health care services (including ambulance services, blood banks, & organ banks) |
The row “Outpatient care centers” names a facility, while the office rows name a practice. “Home health care services” is about care delivered at the patient’s home, and “Other ambulatory health care services (including ambulance services, blood banks, & organ banks)” carries a parenthetical that lists ambulance services, blood banks and organ banks. A laboratory has its own row, “Medical & diagnostic laboratories”.
The chart’s rule has two steps: “Select the category that best describes your primary business activity”, and then “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts”.
Overlapping practices and words the chart skips
Several of these rows overlap in what they say. A physician whose practice is mostly therapy sits between “Offices of physicians (except mental health specialists)” and “Offices of physicians, mental health specialists”, and a counselor may look at “Offices of mental health practitioners (except physicians)”. The chart gives the words and leaves the reading to you: the step is to find “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts”.
The chart has no row that names a doctor; the nearest wording is the family of rows that begin with offices. Dentist and chiropractor, by contrast, do appear in the wording of their own rows, “Offices of dentists” and “Offices of chiropractors”.
Where the code goes next
After you choose the row, the six-digit code goes on line B of Schedule C (Form 1040) beside your line A description. The practice’s takings are reported on Schedule C line 1, staff pay is covered on lines 25 and 26, and the schedule’s bottom line is on lines 31 and 32.
Edition and chart year
This page reads the 2025 Schedule C (Form 1040) and its 2025 instructions, the current files irs.gov served on 2026-10-23 (byte-identical to the archived copies). They are the files for the tax year 2025 return, filed in 2026. The schedule says “Attach to Form 1040, 1040-SR, 1040-SS, 1040-NR, or 1041”. Check the tax year printed on the schedule you are filling in and use the chart that comes with that year’s instructions, because a different year’s chart can list different codes or reword them.
Common mistakes
- Looking for a row called doctor. The chart’s practitioner rows each start with the word offices, and the IRS says the codes “classify sole proprietorships by the type of activity they are engaged in”.
- Choosing a row from the profession alone. The rule’s second step is “Then select the activity that best identifies the principal source of your sales or receipts”, which depends on where the receipts come from.
- Putting two practices on one schedule. The instructions say “If you owned more than one business, complete a separate Schedule C for each business.”
Related: Schedule C (Form 1040), Schedule C line 1, Schedule C lines 25 and 26, and Schedule C lines 31 and 32.
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Answer againSources
- Instructions for Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1040sc.pdf
- Schedule C (Form 1040), Profit or Loss From Business (2025): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f1040sc.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 23, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.