Whether or not it makes sense to combine travel with conferences is a pretty common question - there is certainly an appeal to tax deductibility for your flight, hotel, and food. It can also be an incredibly effective opportunity for point and status generation; cash fees for your hotel and airfare are effectively reduced by their pretax handling, giving an outsized personal benefit. Unfortunately this is often counterbalanced by high conference fees, or lack of availability of relevant conference material at a date/location of your preference. Understandably this has lead to an industry of providers looking to bridge the gap between your travel interests and your professional education needs.
Intellectures is one such program who I've had the opportunity to test and review with a unique approach to obtain tax deductibility. Intellectures has provided me with a custom discount/referral code "RewardsMD" for 20% off your first conference series, however I signed up and paid for my conference prior to any discussion with them and they have no editorial oversight to my comments. Referrals and disclaimers at the bottom, note in particular for any business deductions the importance of reviewing with your accountant. As always my focus biases towards Canadian MD's but does apply to other professionals.
Conferences and Deductibility
As professionals we are required to obtain sufficient ongoing medical education to maintain our licensing. This requirement may look somewhat different depending on the province and profession, but typically involves some number of ongoing professional education hours and/or various certifications. Costs associated with this training can be considered eligible tax deductions in the right contexts. Broadly speaking, conferences that provide training relevant to your practice, that are not provided at a closer location at the same date, should be considered reasonable. For example an ACLS course in Tahiti would likely be hard to defend when there is one down the street in Brampton, but the NYSORA conference in Cancun makes a lot of sense for an Anesthetist looking to add to their regional anesthesia skills. Where each conference lands is open to interpretation like much of Canadian tax law and as such the input of your accountant and your own personal values/preferences is important.
For eligible conferences, expenses including travel, lodging, and food are deductible. Note that this does not include travel for family members, but does typically include lodging a day prior and a day after the conference.
Conference Travel Overview
In my mind there is a spectrum of offerings in the conference/travel space ranging from those that prioritize the conference to those that prioritize the travel. They each have their own advantages and disadvantages in terms of cost, convenience, tax deductibility, flexibility and so on.
'Conference first' events are often the major national/international annual conferences in your field - it may be located somewhere of interest, or perhaps just at a major urban conference center. These conferences have clear tax deductibility, but might not be located in areas you wish to travel and may have high registration fees offsetting any "savings". The conference scheduling is inflexible and is unlikely to include much in the way of travel focused activities.
'Travel first' conferences are marketed instead on the basis of the travel opportunity. Perhaps they are held on a cruise ship, at a desirable resort, or in a farflung country. They often have flexible or limited conference hours, as well as potentially having excursions or activities for you and/or your family.
E-conferences have, in my mind, been the most extreme version of the travel first approach and the most questionable in terms of tax deductibility. They certainly have the appeal of low cost and maximum flexibility, but how is it that I could claim deductibility for a conference that I could attend from any location? This is the area where Intellectures has innovated.
Intellectures
While there are other companies that provide e-conferences with the promise of generating bespoke travel conferences at a low cost and high flexibility, Intellectures focuses on a few aspects of CRA rules/precedence to increase the defensibility of tax deduction.
Intellectures not only geolocks the conference to the city of interest, but they do not provide the same lecture in multiple locations on the same date. This means that if you registered for a review of the management of COPD in Milan on October 13th, then only in that location and at that date will that conference material be available. They also track your attendance including the times you press play and pause, your location at the time, and provide that along with the receipt and conference certification to verify that you were indeed in the correct location at the time of the conference.
Finally, and perhaps most interestingly, they contracted with tax firm Deloitte to obtain an interpretation on the tax deductibility of this model, including reaching out to the CRA for a technical interpretation, the full letter and discussion can be found here but the conclusion I have copied below
Experience
After reviewing the documentation from Deloitte and discussing with my accountant, and with the hope to review the experience for others, I made an account with Intellectures and signed up for a conference overlapping with a trip to the US.
The registration process was easy, and after inputting my hotel locations and dates, I was allowed to select one lecture from a list. They only allow you to select specific lectures for a subset of your trip duration and the rest are automatically assigned. This restriction is seemingly to balance the desire to provide registrants with choice and the reality that course options can be impacted by the selections of other registrants to other locations on that same day. Given my 4 night/5 day trip I was allowed to select a single lecture and was assigned two additional ones which were unknown to me until they were unlocked for my use. In terms of pricing they charge $50USD per day of conference material, and with discount/referral code "RewardsMD" you can get your first conference for $40USD per day (I paid the full price for this conference to review). Note that while it is priced in USD it is charged in Canadian, so there is no need to use a no forex card for this charge.
Prior to my trip I received email confirmation and periodic reminders of my conference. After arriving at my destination I logged into my account, had my location verified, and the lecture link unlocked for my access. The first lecture I watched was a refresher on AKI taught by an enthusiastic Nephrologist from the US. It covered the prevalence and patient oriented significance of AKI in the hospital and reviewed the typical pre/post/intra renal approach as well as helpful information on when to involve nephrology.
The video lectures can not be fast forwarded beyond where you have already watched and the playback speed can not be increased. You can however jump back and forth in previously viewed material. The video also can be watched as picture in picture which I found to be useful.
After the lecture completes you are presented with the option of reading an associated journal article for a second credit hour or going straight to the questions for the lecture. Note that if you agree to the journal article, it starts a one hour timer that has to elapse before you can complete the questionnaire. I realized this after starting my reading at around 2330 PST and when I finished the article early I didn't feel like sitting around waiting for the timer before bed. I was happy to see that the test was easily accessible after I rested, and knew that next time I would start the lecture/article earlier.
My second lecture was on Observational Studies. First going over why we use them and their utility, and then discussing issues with them both in terms of bias and confounding. I found the examples to be effective, solidifiying for example my understanding of the "immortal time bias".
My third and final lecture was on Acid-Base balance/disorders. Again starting with foundational knowledge before going into a clinical approach. It was familiar knowledge to me but presented well, and a good refresher as I don't frequently manage these problems in my practice but do at times interpret blood gases. The associated article was on the management of chronic renal metabolic acidosis via diet, a topic I was not familiar with and found to be interesting.
In terms of criticisms/comments there were some minor audio glitches and pauses and the use of American units made some of the discussion regarding AKI and acid base less convenient as I had to pause and reference the appropriate conversions at times. I also mentioned the timer for the journal article, but I can understand that they might feel this is necessary to provide an additional credit hour.
After completing the lectures I received receipts, certificates, and detailed logs (see below) of my participation should they be required (note that I've cropped out some of the specific information below)
Maximizing Benefit
In addition to the obvious benefit of tax deductibility, conference travel creates an opportunity for organic hotel and airfare spending which can be useful for hitting credit card sign up bonuses and elevating your loyalty status through nights stayed/miles travelled.
To maximize this, I opened a new Amex Marriott Bonvoy card and booked my hotel stays through the Aeroplan eStore getting both Aeroplan and Bonvoy points (after comparing options like rocketmiles and booking through aeroplan directly). This trip was sufficient to unlock the sign up bonus, and also coincided with multiple Bonvoy App/credit card promotions leading to a total return of over $800 worth of bonvoy points and $120 in Aeroplan points from my ~$1500 in hotel stay.
I also booked an Avis car rental utilizing the elevated status I obtained from my credit card and promotional codes from Aeroplan for discounted rates and increased Aeroplan point earnings.
Promotions from TD/Aeroplan further benefited me by boosting my point earning significantly while abroad, and crediting me 25% back on any inflight purchases.
The combined point accumulation was significant, while also refreshing/learning useful medical information and going on a trip to a location of my choosing.
The travel experience can also be further enhanced with premium card benefits. Luxury tier Amex cards like the Amex Platinum, and business Platinum for example waiving the valet parking fee at Pearson and crediting back 15% on parking, as well as giving you access to a priority security lane and lounges. My business platinum also providing me with $25 back on $50 spent at various Pearson restaurants.
Premium Aeroplan cards like the TD AP VIP, Amex AP Reserve, and Business AP Reserve instead giving free checked bags, Mapleleaf Lounge Access, priority boarding and priority baggage handling. As well as allowing for the foreign spend point promotion and in air purchase crediting.
If you're interested in a business card reach out to me to discuss the best offers available for your specific situation.
Conclusion
While you may ultimately wish to defer to the opinion of your own accountant or your own personal preferences regarding the use of conference travel, Intellectures provides a unique spin on the travel focused e-conference model with several tweaks to help protect tax deductibility. If you're considering planning a big trip and want help optimizing the point return from all aspects of it, consider reaching out for a consult to discuss which card(s) might get you the most personal bang for your travel buck.
Referral Links
If you want to give Intellectures a try, use discount/referral code "RewardsMD" to get 20% off your first conference series.
With its best in market 5x multiplier Amex Cobalt is a powerful point earner that can get you on flying for free 5 times faster than much of the competition - sign up here.
To see the access the best offers for different Amex card such as the Business Gold, or Platinum click here.
You're going to need somewhere to stay during these conferences. The Amex Bonvoy or the Business Bonvoy card will earn you free hotel stays and can be combined with the Aeroplan eStore for some incredible double dipped rewards.
If you're on the fence, or wondering about other cards reach out to me for a free consult, and if you sign up for a card through my link, let me know and I will walk you through advanced tricks and personalized advice to help you get the maximum benefit both from earning and redeeming points - getting your travel journey going faster than you ever thought possible.
Disclaimer
This should not be taken as financial advice and details are subject to change. I have made good intentioned efforts to be accurate but particularly with regards to subjects of tax deductibility I encourage you to discuss with your accountant, review relevant CRA documentation, and make a decision that feels consistent with your own priorities and values.
While my conference series was booked at full price and this review is my own writing, I do receive referral bonuses/credits for links contained on this page.
