The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) would like to get paid, and it would help if the cannabis industry had access to banks like companies in other legal markets do, an official with the federal department said. She also talked about unique issues related to federal tax deductions for cannabis businesses.
At an event hosted by UCLA’s Annual Tax Controversy Institute on Thursday, October 21st, IRS’s Cassidy Collins talked about the “special type of collection challenge” that the agency faces when it comes to working with cannabis businesses while the product remains federally illegal.
While IRS is not taking a stand on federal cannabis policy, Collins said that the status quo leaves many cannabis businesses operating on a cash-only basis, creating complications for the agency, in part by making it harder for banks to “pay us.”
“The reason why [the cannabis industry is] cash-intensive is twofold,” she said. “Number one, a lot of customers don’t want a paper trail showing that they’re buying cannabis, and number two, the hesitancy of banks to allow cannabis businesses to even bank with them.”
Read more at marijuanamoment.net