Paying team members' dues

My office manager wants to join a professional association and asked if I'd pay the annual dues. Should I? Should I do the same for other employees? Are the dues deductible?

Gary Glassman

"Dues to any organization related to the hospital's business activity or the professional growth of the employee are a tax deductible business expense," says Gary Glassman, CPA, a Veterinary Economics Editorial Advisory Board member and partner with Burzenski and Co. PC in East Haven, Conn. Before you agree to pay, though, check out the organization and make sure it's worthy of your money and your employee's time, he says.

If so, paying an employee's dues encourages the team member's professional development, Glassman says. Plus, he says, supporting employees' efforts to improve will fuel their enthusiasm for their work and encourage them to see veterinary practice as a career.