Financial Advisor and CPA for Cannabis Business Owners
A flat-fee CPA and Financial Planner team that gives you personalized, holistic advice across your taxes and financial plan. We plan around 280E, your inventory costs and estimates, and prepare your business and personal returns.
What we handle for cannabis business owners
A licensed cannabis business can be profitable and still owe federal tax on income it never kept, because of one section of the tax code. This is the work we do with you.
- 01
Section 280E
Section 280E allows no deduction or credit to a business trafficking in a Schedule I or II controlled substance. Rent, payroll outside production, marketing and professional fees are disallowed, so federal tax falls on gross profit: sales less cost of goods sold.
- 02
Cost of goods sold
Cost of goods sold is not a deduction, so 280E does not reach it. The IRS position is that it follows the Section 471 rules as they stood in 1982: a dispensary capitalizes the invoice price plus freight, while a cultivator or manufacturer also capitalizes production labor and certain indirect production costs.
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Books built for inventory
Inventory costs only hold up with records behind them: counts, cost layers, labor time by production task and a reconciliation to your state seed-to-sale system. We set up the chart of accounts so production costs land in inventory rather than in disallowed expenses.
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Cash and Form 8300
Cash over $10,000 received in one transaction or related transactions goes on Form 8300 within 15 days. Splitting deposits to stay under a reporting threshold is a crime in its own right, even when the cash is clean. Some IRS Taxpayer Assistance Centers accept tax payments in cash.
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Estimates sized for 280E
Estimates are due April 15, June 15, September 15 and January 15. Because tax is figured on gross profit, the bill runs far above what your profit and loss suggests; to avoid a penalty, pay 110% of last year’s tax if last year’s AGI topped $150,000.
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Business and personal returns
On the Premier plan your CPA keeps the business books and prepares the business return, priced by complexity, and your federal and state personal returns, with 280E and inventory treated the same way on each. Nothing is filed until you approve it.
How Nino helps cannabis business owners
With 280E in place, the federal tax bill can take most of what the business makes, so the owner’s plan has to be built from after-tax cash, not book profit. On the Premier plan your CPA and Financial Planner run the business and the household from the same numbers.
Book a free consultation-
A plan in your first two weeks
Your CPA and Financial Planner build your tax and financial plan from the business’s returns, your licenses, your inventory method and your household goals, then revisit it every quarter.
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Schedule III status tracked
Rescheduling is moving in pieces. Your CPA follows the federal orders and Treasury guidance as they are issued and reworks your estimates and entity plan when one changes what 280E reaches.
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Your cash in one view
Nino’s AI software connects the business and personal accounts you have read-only, so you can ask how much of this quarter’s cash belongs to the IRS before you pay yourself.
What should cannabis business owners decide?
Four choices that change how much of 280E you carry.
C corporation or pass-through
A C corporation pays 21% on income figured under 280E, then dividends are taxed again. In a partnership or S corporation the 280E income lands on your own return at your rate. Under 280E an owner’s salary outside production is not deductible either, so we price both structures after tax.
Whether to split off non-plant-touching work
A separate entity for work like branding, consulting, or leasing property it owns can deduct its expenses if it is a genuine separate business: its own books, staff, contracts and market-rate prices. The IRS scrutinizes these, and courts collapse them when the work is incidental to selling cannabis.
How to split medical and adult-use
Since April 28, 2026, marijuana under a state medical license is Schedule III; adult-use marijuana is still Schedule I. A business holding both licenses will need to apportion expenses between them, and Treasury has said guidance on how is coming. Keep the two activities separately traceable now.
Your retirement and reserves
Under 280E a contribution the business makes for you may not be deductible, so we check that before choosing a pre-tax or Roth Solo 401(k), up to $24,500 of deferrals in 2026. Keep a reserve for a 280E audit outside the business, since examinations of inventory costs can reach back years.
Pick your plan
Every Advisor plan includes a CPA and Financial Planner team, federal and state tax filing, and our Ultra software.
Essential
- Everything in Ultra software, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you
- Single-filer return, quarterly taxes included
- Retirement & equity planning
- Quarterly advisor access
- Rentals
- 0
- K-1s
- 0
- States
- 1
- Brokerage
- 3
Plus
Most Popular- Everything in Essential, plus:
- A dedicated CPA and Financial Planner team for you and your spouse
- Married filing jointly return, international coverage included
- One coordinated plan for both of you
- Quarterly and ad hoc advisor access
- Rentals
- 2
- K-1s
- 5
- States
- 3
- Brokerage
- 5
Premier
- Everything in Plus, plus:
- Business bookkeeping and tax filings, priced by complexity
- Joint or single return, complex international coverage
- Advanced equity & estate planning
- Priority advisor access
- Rentals
- 5
- K-1s
- 10
- States
- 5
- Brokerage
- 10
Software plans starting from $20 a month
Our AI financial assistant on its own, with a 7-day free trial.
Guides for cannabis business owners
Read up on these decisions, or run your own numbers.
Solo 401(k) vs SEP IRA
A Solo 401(k) beats a SEP IRA at most incomes because it adds a $24,500 employee deferral and catch-ups. See the 2026 math at $60K, $150K, and $300K.
Read guideTax and Financial Deadlines for 2026 and Early 2027
Every date from October 2026 to April 2027: estimated taxes, December 31 moves, tax forms, IRA and HSA deadlines, and the life-event clocks that run on their own.
Read guideWhere to Put Cash Above Your Emergency Fund
Keep 3 to 6 months of spending in insured savings. Park cash you need within a few years in T-bills, money market funds, or CDs, and invest the rest.
Read guide2026 Tax Changes
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act changed SALT, charitable, QSBS, and AMT rules for 2026. What changed, who it affects, and what to do by December 31.
Read guideSEP IRA Contribution Calculator
Estimate your 2026 SEP IRA maximum as a sole proprietor or S corp owner, the federal tax it saves, and the Solo 401(k) alternative.
Open calculatorState Income Tax Calculators
Estimate take-home pay after federal, FICA, and state income tax, for all 50 states.
Open calculator
More people we work with
See how our CPA and Financial Planner team helps people in situations like yours.