Financial Options

About CME Tax Deduction & Write-Offs with WCEI

So you can't wait to complete a certification course or attend the WOW conference, right? You're excited to hang out with your wound-care tribe, learn from exciting speakers, and participate in hands-on demonstrations. But what about those travel and lodging expenses – are they tax deductible?

In a word, yes! If you are traveling to a conference or continuing education event that is purely related to your practice, you may be able to write off your expenses. Here are the basics :
 
Your Education Matters
If attending a class or conference benefits your business or contributes to your continuing education, then you can write off your travel expenses. However, deductions don’t count if you are attending for other reasons (i.e., social, financial or political). According to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) guidelines, you can’t be gone for more than a week, and at least 75% of your trip needs to be devoted to continued education or business matters. And what about the other 25%? Go have fun!
 
Separate Business Expenses from Pleasure
Lots of travelers extend their education and business trips to see the sights or tour local attractions, and the IRS knows that. It’s perfectly fine to tack on a day or two, but you can’t claim your personal expenses as part of your education and business write-offs. So if you go see the Hoover Dam? Great, but don’t include it in the education and business portion of your expenses.
 
Track Additional Expenses
When you go to a conference or attend a week-long class, at some point (we hope) you’ll want to get some sleep, which means that you can write off your hotel as well as your travel expenses. This includes meals (as long as they’re not “lavish” - so no caviar). You can also deduct 50% of all those other things that you pay for, like tips, taxis, dry-cleaning, printing or faxing. Just make sure you save your receipts. And if you travel with an associate or employee and pay for their expenses, you can also write off travel costs for them, too. But no writing off expenses for family members.

Making the Claim and Getting Credit
Here’s the crucial part: you’ll need to keep detailed records of expenditures and accurately calculate deductions. If you are an employee of a company, then you can deduct your conference costs that were not reimbursed. Employee spending is considered a Miscellaneous 2% Expense. Clear as mud? We know how you feel. And because we’re certainly not in the tax business, you’ll need to make sure you get help with your conference tax-deductions from a qualified accountant, or visit these IRS websites: Business Travel ExpensesTuition and Fees Deduction; and Work-Related Education Expenses.

Also, don’t forget that by attending a WCEI® week-long course or the WOW conference, you can earn continuing education contact hours.
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