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New Jersey Senate Committee Approves Bills To Let Marijuana Businesses Claim State Tax Deductions

New Jersey Senate Committee Approves Bills To Let Marijuana Businesses Claim State Tax Deductions As Partial 280E Workaround
A New Jersey Senate committee approved a pair of bills on Thursday that would allow licensed marijuana businesses to deduct certain expenses on their state tax returns, a partial remedy as the industry continues to be blocked from making federal deductions under Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E.

The Senate Budget and Appropriations Committee took up companion measures from its chamber and from the Assembly, making them identical before advancing them in a unanimous vote.

The version from Assemblymember Annette Quijano (D) passed that full chamber in October. It was previously amended in committee, with members agreeing to remove an earlier provision that would’ve made it so only cannabis licensees with gross receipts less than $15 million would be eligible for state tax deductions.

The Senate version was amended on Thursday to include those Assembly revisions before both were approved together.

While many state tax policies simply mirror federal law, the legislation says that, for the purposes of the New Jersey’s tax code, a licensed cannabis business’s gross income “shall be determined without regard to section 280E of the [federal] Internal Revenue Code.”

When it comes to federal tax policy, those businesses would still be subject to the IRS 280E code, which precludes entities that illegally sell Schedule I or II drugs from making key tax deductions in their federal filings. But if the New Jersey proposal is enacted, the licensed cannabis industry could at least see some state-level relief.