Money, Taxes & Banking

Accounts payable is not just bookkeeping. In NY cannabis, mismanaging invoices can choke your inventory flow and drain working capital long before you ever land on the C.O.D. list.

In New York cannabis retail, your lease can expose you to more risk than regulators do. Indemnification clauses shift liability to you. Landlords often require higher limits than OCM mandates. Insurance does not automatically override contract language. This page explains how lease risk transfer works and how to prevent signing a clause that bankrupts you.

New York’s Cash on Delivery (C.O.D.) system is an enforcement mechanism used by the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) to address unpaid supplier invoices. When a retailer fails to pay a licensed supplier, the supplier may report the delinquency to OCM. Once reported, the retailer is placed on the C.O.D. List and faces immediate purchasing restrictions until the issue is formally resolved.

Payroll taxes are one of the most aggressively enforced areas of federal law. When a cannabis dispensary withholds payroll taxes but fails to remit them properly, the IRS does not treat it as a bookkeeping mistake, it treats it as misuse of trust funds. That can mean penalties, interest, enforced collections, and personal liability for owners or managers who had control over financial decisions. This page explains what payroll taxes are, the biggest payroll mistakes dispensaries make, and how payroll errors trigger audits.

An IRS audit reviews your tax return, bank records, payroll filings, and 280E calculations. This page explains the audit process so dispensary owners know what to expect and how it unfolds.

SAFE Banking is a proposed federal law to protect banks that serve state-legal cannabis businesses. It could make bank accounts and lending more available over time. It would not remove 280E taxes, federally legalize THC, or replace New York OCM compliance requirements. This page explains what changes and what doesn’t.

How cannabis sales tax and excise tax work in NY, what your POS must report, and what errors trigger audits or penalties.

Banks monitor deposit activity, revenue reporting, and financial consistency. If your POS, METRC reporting, and bank deposits do not align, your account may be flagged for review. This page explains why reconciliation between POS systems and banking records is a compliance requirement, not just an accounting task.

A profitable menu is not about variety. It is about balance. This page shows how many SKUs you actually need, how to split categories, and why too much product variety hurts sales and cash flow.