IRS Hits Oakland Pot Shop With $2.4M Tax Bill

Jacob Bell

New Member
San Francisco, CA. – The federal government has found a new weapon in its war on marijuana – the tax man.

The founder of a major San Francisco Bay area medical marijuana dispensary said Tuesday he has been hit with a $2.4 million tax bill following an Internal Revenue Service audit of Harborside Health Center's income tax returns from 2007 and 2008.

The back taxes, penalties and interest resulted from an IRS determination that a tax code prohibiting cost deductions for businesses that traffic in illegal drugs applies to Oakland-based Harborside.

Harborside CEO Steve DeAngelo says the deductions the IRS disallowed includes standard operating costs such as rent, payroll, employee health insurance and licensing fees.

Government auditors did not dispute that Harborside had properly deducted its biggest expense – the millions it spent buying marijuana to sell.

An IRS spokesman says the agency does not comment on individual audits.

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Source: seattlepi.com
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Website: IRS hits Oakland pot shop with $2.4M tax bill
 
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