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Because that would be illegal?

It wouldn't be illegal, but there would be no tax advantage. Certainly in the UK it would be classed as a benefit-in-kind to the employee and the company would be liable to pay tax on the value of the benefit.

Where it may save money is with standing relationships with travel agents for favourable rates.

Right, it's only legal if you pay the taxes. But the comment I responded to specifically said 'pre-tax'.

Tax law isn't that black and white and your answer doesn't really address any aspect of how to think about the problem.

For example, you can send an employee on a company retreat pretax. How do you seperate a company retreat from an individual's vacation? It is a continuum where somewhere between those there is an answer where it is legal and illegal.

Not if you also register them for a conference that happens to be going on at the same time/place. I've always assumed that's the purpose of most conferences anyway.

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