As long as the time you spend is primarily to attend the conference, you should be able to deduct your travel, lodging and meal expenses for the CME. Travel outside the U.S. gets more complicated, but just out of state should not be an issue. If you are self employed, you should be good to go.

However, if you are an employee, your deduction will be a Miscellaneous Itemized Deduction on Schedule A and will be subject to a "floor" equal to 2% of your Adjusted Gross Income. Whether you can itemize depends on your overall tax situation.

Gary

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Replying to:

I just received an advertisement from American Medical Seminars for their self-directed courses. There so called "Home, Commute or Travel CME" product line. If I travel out-of-state and complete one of their courses while there can I deduct any of the travel related expenses?

Thanks.

JD

Zip Code: garyd@davisandbrandel.com

Gary is this true even if this is a self-instructional course and not a "live" conference?

Thanks

James Decker

Zip Code: jddecker@chartermi.net

I'm skeptical of trying to deduct travel expenses related to a self-study course. Your travel has to be for a legitimate business purpose and traveling away from home to take a self-study course doesn't pass the "sniff test" (it seems far fetched). Taxpayers have regularly been turned down when they attempt to justify personal travel expenses by claiming a business purposes that just doesn't hold water.

If there was some more specific facts and some reason why you had to travel in order to take the self-study course, I might be able to comment further.

Gary

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Replying to:

Gary is this true even if this is a self-instructional course and not a "live" conference?

Thanks

James Decker

Zip Code: garyd@davisandbrandel.com