Will we see tax reform in 2023 for cannabis sellers? Specifically, will Congress finally get something done about the pain inflicted on industry by the Internal Revenue Code at 26 USC § 280E? (“IRC 28oE”.) It feels like a long shot, but you never know. After many attempts to get the SAFE Banking Act through
For several years one of the biggest problems the cannabis industry has faced is I.R.C. Section 280E. It suffocates the regulated marijuana industry. A recent decision by the Oregon Tax Court addresses Section 280E and what may properly fall under Cost of Goods Sold (“COGS”) in the context of a marijuana grow operation. (See here, here, here, here and here
As we blogged about last week, the SAFE Banking Act is trying to claw its way back from the dead during this lame duck session of Congress. Interestingly, on December 2, Punchbowl News reported that the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a memo outlining its “issues” with the SAFE Banking Act. Here’s the memo (“Memo”).
Last week, I wrote a piece entitled “Deschedule Cannabis, Don’t Reschedule It.” The post came on the heels of President Joe Biden’s announcement that the federal government is considering the federal scheduling of cannabis. As I noted, rescheduling cannabis to schedule II or below is a bad idea, because it would subject cannabis to DEA
The Oregon marijuana industry is hurting, much like industry in California and other states. Among the many reasons (overproduction, market saturation) is that federal marijuana laws have not been reformed at all. For years marijuana entrepreneurs and their cheerleaders have repeated the refrain that federal reform of marijuana laws is just around the corner. These
Cannabis Recession on the Horizon A cannabis recession may be coming and no cannabis business is immune. Prices are rising, operations are expensive to run, over regulation is rampant, local control is stifling, and you can’t even take many business deductions with the IRS because of IRC 280E. While things like interstate commerce agreements are
The struggles of failing marijuana businesses to wind down and pay creditors in an orderly fashion serve no one. Among the problems marijuana businesses face such as lack of access to banking and onerous taxation stemming from IRC 280E is the lack of access to bankruptcy proceedings. This post discusses a Michigan-based medical marijuana company
Welcome to the penultimate installment in my write-up of the proposed Oregon psilocybin program rules. This post focuses on facilitators and related client matters. It does not canvass the already-adopted rules related to facilitator licensing, which we covered back in April. As with earlier installments in this series (see links below), this post will highlight
I’m guilty of dunking on the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) in the past for not doing more to protect cannabis consumers, despite the current federal illegality of cannabis. That may be changing, at least with respect to CBD consumers. Before diving into this latest development, I should mention that historically, cannabis is treated differently from
A federal law that prohibits tax deductions or credits on a trade or business relating to the trafficking of substances on Schedule I or Schedule II of the Controlled Substances Act. Judicial decisions have allowed deductions only for the cost of goods sold, or deductions tied to a “separate trade or business.”
