Employees

• Corporations, small businesses, nonprofits and school districts will often send employees and executives to educational conferences deemed essential to the performance of their jobs. However, organizations facing a financial squeeze may limit the number of conferences they will finance or ask employees to pay part of the cost. In this case, the employee may be able to claim non-reimbursed expenses as a miscellaneous itemized deduction on Form 1040, Schedule A if the total amount of all deductions (not just for the conferences) exceeds 2 percent of adjusted gross income.
  
  

Requirements

• In order for educational conference costs to be deductible for an employee, the purpose must be to either maintain or improve skills or meet some other requirement, like a legal requirement, for staying in the employee's current position. Educational costs to qualify someone for a better or different job are not deductible. For example, a teacher may be required by the state or school district she works in to receive a certain number of educational credits each year. In that case expenses would be deductible. However, educational credits to qualify a teacher for a principal's position would probably not be deductible.
  
  

Vendors

• Entrepreneurs, multinational publishers, software firms and small businesses that provide educational materials or consulting services for a wide range of industries and markets may attend these conferences as well, and all legitimate expenses are tax deductible. For sole proprietors, these expenses can be deducted on Form 1040, Schedule C. Corporations may deduct them on Form 1120 and partnerships on Form 1065.
  
  

Acceptable Expenses

• A range of expenses goes into attending educational conferences. Admission fees are standard, with costs concomitantly higher for vendors than attendees. Other acceptable expenses include long-distance travel, including plane tickets, ground transportation, rental cars, hotels and meals, subject to standard IRS limitations. If, however, the conference is close to home, these expenses are not generally deductible; there must be a demonstrable need for legitimate expenses.