Cannabis Accounting, Explained Plainly
280E, COGS, audits, structure, and survival economics — written by people who do this work every day. New articles weekly.
State Tax Guides — reviewed quarterly
Excise, the tax-on-tax sales calculation, and the local layer that decides your margin city by city.
The two-point system, AMR mechanics for integrated operators, and lessons from the most mature market.
A simple structure meeting brutal price compression — what the volume king demands from operators.
The leanest structure in the country, the local stacking fight, and what a record launch demands.
The SEEF that moves, town-by-town transfer taxes, and the 280E decoupling that saves real money.
The retail stack, the HCA reform story, and CCC-grade books that serve state and federal at once.
The potency-tiered excise, the cultivation privilege layer, and why product mix is your tax rate.
Dual-channel excise treatment, TPT mechanics, and the ledger vertical integration demands.
The repealed potency tax, the excise that replaced it, and 280E decoupling worth real money.
Section 280E denies ordinary business deductions to cannabis businesses. Here's what it means, why it exists, and what licensed op…
Cost of goods sold is the only thing that reduces a cannabis business's taxable income. Here's what can be capitalized, by license…
A dispensary's chart of accounts determines whether its 280E position is defensible. Here's how to structure it — and the mistakes…
If cannabis moves to Schedule III, Section 280E stops applying. What that means for licensed operators, what it doesn't fix, and h…
Cannabis IRS audits follow a predictable pattern. What examiners look for, the documents they request, and the mistakes that turn …
Cannabis retail still runs heavily on cash. The controls that protect it, the documentation the IRS expects, and how to bank it wi…
Entity choice determines a cannabis business's 280E exposure, personal tax picture, and exit options. How the analysis actually wo…
When seed-to-sale data and the general ledger diverge, cannabis operators face state compliance risk and IRS documentation problem…
Wholesale prices compress in every maturing market. Cultivators who know their true cost per gram survive it; those who don't pric…
The 2018 Farm Bill removed compliant hemp from the Controlled Substances Act. Hemp and CBD businesses escape 280E, but their tax p…
Worker misclassification, unallocated labor, and providers that vanish — the payroll errors that cost cannabis operators money and…
Buyers discount what they can't verify. How to prepare a cannabis business for sale — clean books, defensible 280E history, and st…
It still happens constantly: a CPA drops or declines a cannabis client. What it means, why it might be a favor, and how to land somewhere better.
CBD franchising layers royalty accounting on multi-entity hemp compliance. The chart of accounts, reporting, and structure that make it work.
What to verify before writing a check to a cannabis business: license standing, 280E history, real margins, and the diligence most investors skip.
The internal controls every cannabis business needs: separation of duties, dual counts, reconciliation cadence, and the habits that prevent quiet loss…
Beyond 280E sits a second tax layer: state cannabis excise. How the regimes differ, why the base matters more than the rate, and the filing traps to a…
In cannabis, the books and the license are connected: financial disclosures, tracking reconciliation, and tax standing all feed regulatory compliance.
A daily cash log is the humblest document in cannabis accounting and one of the most important. How to keep one that satisfies banks, auditors, and th…
Cultivator-retailer deals, brand licensing, white-label agreements — cannabis partnerships create leverage and accounting complexity in equal measure.
Multi-entity structures can legitimately reduce 280E exposure — real estate, management, and IP outside the license. When it works and when it collaps…
Most accountants will now take cannabis clients. Far fewer should. The questions that separate genuine specialists from generalists with a new logo.
The year-end close determines what your cannabis tax return can claim. What a real cleanup involves and why December beats March every time.
In an industry locked out of normal infrastructure, who you know is operational. Why a cannabis network of bankers, lawyers, and vendors matters.
Tax preparation reports what happened. Tax planning changes what happens. In cannabis, the difference is measured in real money every single year.
Preserved from August 2020: when COVID deadline shifts compressed the extension window, and what the squeeze taught about extension planning generally…
Moving retirement money toward real estate or a business without an immediate tax hit: the structures that work, and the mistakes that trigger the ful…
DIY tax software doesn't know Section 280E exists. Why self-prepared cannabis returns are consistently wrong — in both directions — and what it costs.
Self-directed retirement accounts can hold alternative assets — including, carefully, cannabis-adjacent investments. The rules, the traps, and the pro…
Stale books are a silent liability in cannabis: missed tax reserves, failed diligence, lost banking. Why current financials are operational equipment.
Preserved from May 2020: the PPP deductibility question as it stood before Congress resolved it. Kept as a record, with the cannabis footnote that mat…
Preserved from May 2020: what we told cannabis operators in the pandemic's early months. Much of it turned out to be permanent advice.
The C-corp is unusually popular in cannabis for one reason: 280E's phantom income problem. When the structure makes sense — and when it doesn't.
Preserved from April 2020: stimulus payment guidance from the first weeks of the pandemic. A record of the period, kept at its original address.
Preserved from March 2020: deadline and extension guidance published as COVID upended filing season. Kept as a record, with notes on what still applie…
280E survives every legalization wave because it turns on federal scheduling, not state law. Where things stand now — and the one change that would en…
The first decisions a cannabis business makes — entity type, capitalization, books — determine its 280E exposure for years. A founder's guide to start…
Federal bankruptcy courts are closed to plant-touching cannabis businesses. What that means for struggling operators and the workout alternatives that…
Harry Shurek's original 2017 guidance on audit-proofing your business records — preserved as written, with a 2026 update for today's cannabis operator…
From the archive — every post since 2017, preserved & updated
We have published about cannabis accounting for nearly a decade. Every article ever written on this site remains at its original address, refreshed for 2026.
2017 · Tips for Avoiding an Audit
2019 · Why Cannabis Companies Can't File Bankruptcy
2020 · Corporate Tax Deadlines & Extensions (archive) · Stimulus Payment Info (archive) · Where to Start and How to Structure · Why IRS 280E Isn't Going Anywhere · Why So Many Cannabis Businesses Are C-Corps · Coronavirus Business Advice (archive) · PPP Payroll Deductibility (archive) · Up-to-Date Financials Matter · Using a 401(k)/IRA for Alternative Investments · Why You Shouldn't DIY Cannabis Taxes · Deferring Tax on IRA-Funded Investments · 2020's Shortest-Ever Extension Window (archive) · Tax Planning and Why It's Important · The Value of a Strong Network · Year-End Cleanup: Why It Matters
2021 · Questions to Ask When Hiring a Cannabis Accountant · The Benefit of Multiple Entities · Strategic Partnerships in Cannabis · Cannabis Accounting 101: The Cash Log · Financials Affect License Compliance
2022 · Yes, Cannabis Businesses Pay Excise Taxes Too
2026 · When Your Accountant Turns You Down · Franchise Accounting for CBD Companies · Investment Checklist: Before You Invest · Checks, Balances & Good Accounting Practices
On the calendar
We publish weekly from a 100-article roadmap covering 280E strategy, state-by-state tax guides, compliance, and operations. Now live: an interactive map of cannabis laws in all 50 states. Coming next: state tax guides for Ohio, Maryland, and Connecticut, a deep dive on §471(c) and small-business inventory methods, and banking documentation that keeps accounts open.