[gadders]

Aren't these conferences setup like this as they are tax write-offs so you get a holiday for cheap?

[simonw]

I've heard that a lot of medical conferences take advantage of the fact that doctors need to fulfill a quota of "professional development" every year, so they set themselves at very pleasant resort hotels.

[dekhn]

When I was in grad school in SF, my Aunt who was a doctor (dermatologist) attended the annual dermatology conference there. She invited us out to dinner at several of the nicest restaurants in the city and we were treated to the full course experience, plus lots of nice wine.

At the end, all the doctors fought to pay the bill because it was a tax write-off (business expense? I don't know how professional doctors with practices account for these things). As a grad student in SF living on $25K/year it was quite an eye-opener.

[quickthrowman]

> At the end, all the doctors fought to pay the bill because it was a tax write-off (business expense?

Either these doctors went to the Michael Scott School of Business or it was some other reason they were fighting over who pays.

A tax write off is only worth (dollar amount - (dollar_amount * tax rate in percent)

Example: You spend $100 and pay 30% in corporate tax. Your write off that you spent $100 for is worth $30, end result is you’re out $70.

If you let someone else pay and just pay $30 of taxes on your $100, you keep $70, which is over twice as much money as the previous scenario.

If no one else was willing to pay for the meal, having the business pay for it would save you the tax rate.

This only makes sense if it’s something like a car that you’re going to own anyways, not for fancy ass meals unless that’s how you eat anyways.

[blitzar]

Jerry, all these big companies, they write off everything.

[epistasis]

"Tax writeoff"? What?

[gadders]

Or to be more specific, you can take your whole family to a tropical location and pay for it out of pre-tax money, effectively getting a discount of whatever your tax rate is.

At least that is how it would work in the UK if it was allowed.