Legislation has been filed in the Florida Legislature that would allow licensed medical marijuana businesses to take tax deductions that they are currently prevented from taking due to federal law.
Senator Ana Maria Rodriguez (R) filed Senate Bill 974 on Friday. The measure is seen as at least a partial remedy to Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code 280E, which prevents any business that distributes a federally illegal product from taking standard tax deductions, even if the business is legal under their state’s law.
Specifically, the measure would allow medical marijuana businesses to take tax deductions in an amount “equal to an expenditure that is eligible to be claimed as a federal income tax deduction but is disallowed because marijuana is a controlled substance under federal law”.
You can find the full text of SB 974 by clicking here.
On the federal level, bipartisan legislation that would protect state marijuana laws and allow state-legal marijuana businesses to take federal tax deductions recently gained its sixth sponsor.
In August a bill similar to SB 974 that applies to both medical and recreational marijuana businesses was signed into law by Maine Governor Janet Mills. A similar bill was signed into law in Illinois in June. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy signed an almost identical proposal into law the month prior in May.
