Writing off CE courses?

[Vottomatic]

Question for the accountants in the room...What's the deal (sorry for the Seinfeld reference) with writing off CE costs on income taxes? Say I paid $2,000 for a course in Chicago, and $1,000 for a local study club; those amounts are fully deductible as business expenses, correct? And what about transportation - we drove to Chicago, so can I deduct the gas expenses and hotel expenses from that trip? Sorry for the basic questions, but our practice accountant doesn't give me a clear answer, and I was looking to see what everybody here did concerning that. TIA

[jfoxcpacfp]

All of the above are deductible. Sorry you can't get a clear answer from your accountant. To help determine what business expenses are deductible, read this. Your first board exams to be certified as a doctor are not deductible because the costs of training for a new career are not deductible. Iow, after you practice medicine for a few years, should you decide to be a CPA  8O , the costs of training would not be deductible as business expenses although they would qualify for other deductions on your tax return.

[DMFA]

Also, if you're a W-2 employee, you're subject to the 2% rule, meaning you can only deduct expenses > 2% of your salary.

[childay]

jfoxcpacfp wrote:

ct to the 2% rule, meaning

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One might argue the initial exams are the STEP exams.  Specialty board exams are not required to be a doctor and thus presumably deductible?

 

OP: yes those are all deductible.  you can deduct mileage or the actual costs for the transportation.  hotels are deductible.

[Vottomatic]

If I didn't keep receipts (yes, I know, stupid on my part) for the gas, are credit card statements good enough?

And what if I paid for the hotel with reward points on my credit card? Is the value of the room still deductible, or since I didn't pay cash, I can't take that off at that point?

[childay]

Pretty sure you can't deduct rewards points.  You should spend those on personal travel instead.

I would just use the mileage rate it's easier than the gas, having to keep receipts etc

[Vottomatic]

Awesome. Thanks for the answers everyone. These are probably newb questions but for a newish grad it helps to get concrete advice about it.

[PhysicianOnFIRE]

Yes, take the $0.545 per mile. You don't need gas receipts. Keep food and hotel receipts, though.

[jfoxcpacfp]

OSUDent wrote:

If I didn’t keep receipts (yes, I know, stupid on my part) for the gas, are credit card statements good enough?

And what if I paid for the hotel with reward points on my credit card? Is the value of the room still deductible, or since I didn’t pay cash, I can’t take that off at that point?

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You are required to keep a contemporaneous log of your mileage. You are required to keep gas receipts only if you are deducting "actual" costs for your vehicle.

Sure, you can deduct the cost of the hotel room with reward points - if you want to claim the reward points as income. Make sense?