California Cannabis Tax Troubles: Insights into collection and penalties

Mike Goral | Armanino LLP

Mike leads Armanino’s National Cannabis Tax Practice. A tax professional since 1989, he has significant experience in federal, state, and local tax from both an accounting and legal perspective. He spent time with multiple Big 4 firms, including serving in KPMG’s Washington National Tax Office, and has worked with cannabis companies both large MSO’s and smaller cannabis companies in California, Nevada, Oregon, Washington, and Colorado. He advises cannabis clients on a broad range of issues that affect the cannabis space, including mergers and acquisitions, loan structuring, and funding mechanisms from venture capital, private equity, and investment banking. Mike provides guidance on cannabis technology, manufacturing, transportation, and retail issues. Mike is the contributing editor of Cannabis Taxation a 350-page treatise for Thomson Reuters discussing all states that tax cannabis sales. He is a Board member of the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce and founding member of the Tri-State Chapter of the Cannabis Chamber of Commerce. Mike is on the Banking and Finance Committee for NCIA. He is a member of the California Society of Certified Public Accountants, the National Cannabis Industry Association, and the California Cannabis Association, which nominated him for their CPA of the Year award for 2019. He holds a B.S. in mathematics and psychology from the University of Alabama, a J.D. from Cumberland Law, and a Masters of Tax Law from Emory Law School.

I. IRC Section 280E | 1:00pm – 1:15pm

II. Various court cases that are involved with cannabis taxation| 1:15pm – 1:30pm

III. How COGS is interpreted for IRC Section 280E purposes | 1:30pm – 1:45pm

IV. The latest initiatives in Washington to deschedule cannabis from Schedule 1 to Schedule 3 | 1:45pm – 2:00pm