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| Millions At Stake in IRS Audit of MMJ Dispensary |
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Posted by CN Staff on February 18, 2011 at 05:54:23 PT By Peter Hecht Source: Sacramento Bee 
California -- Harborside Health Center proclaims itself the world's largest marijuana dispensary. For certain, it is California's most ambitious – a holistic care center with a naturopathic physician, acupuncturist, chiropractor, yoga instructors and therapists in "universal life force energy." Its Oakland facility handles $22 million in annual medical marijuana transactions.Now Harborside is attracting scrutiny from the Internal Revenue Service. Since last year, the IRS has been auditing 2008 and 2009 federal tax returns for the Oakland location, one of two outlets Harborside operates for 70,000 medical marijuana users. The other facility is in San Jose. The outcome may eventually establish whether U.S. tax authorities treat medical marijuana as a legitimate enterprise or illicit drug trafficking. IRS tax code passed during the Reagan administration to keep drug dealers from making business deductions could cost Harborside millions of dollars in tax deductions for salaries, overhead and the expenses of buying and furnishing medical pot. Steve DeAngelo, Harborside's director, said the IRS has been examining the nonprofit dispensary's books for months and has informed him it is being audited for compliance with IRS code 280E, which covers rules for "expenditures in connection with the illegal sale of drugs." While the IRS would not confirm or deny the audit, Harborside is lobbying Congress to change the code for dispensaries in states where medical marijuana is legal. Marijuana remains an illegal narcotic under federal law. "We're ... objecting to the fact that something designed for cocaine kingpins is being applied to licensed medical cannabis facilities following state law," DeAngelo said. He said Harborside and other California dispensaries – which currently pay more than $100 million in state sales taxes in addition to local fees – may be in peril if the IRS rigidly enforces its tax code. Donald Heller, a former Sacramento federal prosecutor of narcotics cases, said DeAngelo has cause to worry. "I'm sure the IRS is going to aggressively pursue this," he said. "Because, under federal law, you cannot deduct something that is illegal." Snipped Complete Article: http://drugsense.org/url/rt0bbMXP Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) CannabisNews Medical Marijuana Archives Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help
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| Comment #1 posted by The GCW on February 18, 2011 at 12:46:16 PT |
| US CA: PUB LTE: A Highly Discriminatory Tax Webpage: http://www.dailycal.org/article/111998/letter_to_the_editor Pubdate: 18 Feb. 2011 Source: Daily Californian, The (UC Berkeley, CA Edu) Referred: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v11/n088/a01.html?1101 A Highly Discriminatory Tax If sick citizens do not have to pay taxes on pharmaceutical drugs such as Vicodin or Percocet, then to force citizens and the Berkeley Patients Group to pay taxes on cannabis (marijuana) amounts to discrimination. And for the government to have the power to force them to pay back taxes does not make it right. [ Post Comment ] |
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