The IRS Is NOT Your Friend

Remember back in October when I wrote about the IRS taxing medicinal marijuana facility, Harborside Health Center, like an illegal drug trafficking operation? The center was run in an exemplary fashion regarding taxes. It filed them and paid them, and was happy to do so. However, the IRS disallowed all of their cost deductions, claiming that they were dealing illegal drugs. The Federal government was using the IRS as a weapon against what it feels should be an illegal business, despite the State of California's laws regarding the use of marijuana to treat certain illnesses.


Well, the IRS is attacking legal marijuana operations once more. This time, the IRS has placed a $2.7 Million tax lien on The Hemp and Cannabis Foundation, which is one of the nation's largest brokers of medical marijuana permits.

So far, Paul Stanford, the Foundation's director, doesn't seem to be disputing the tax liability (except to say it is half penalties...which is often the case with high IRS debts). In fact, he is planning on requesting an Offer in Compromise instead of disputing the tax liability as Harborside Health Center did. Given his record of not paying parking tickets, it is very likely that the Foundation earned this IRS bill. But, it wouldn't have mattered if Paul Stanford had been an angel and turned in pristine tax returns along with his full tax bill.
I'm not trying to say the IRS is part of an evil conspiracy. I'm not trying to say marijuana should be legal on any level. What I really want to communicate is just how powerful the IRS, and just how little it cares about taxpayers. The Federal government can't tell California to shut down all of the clinics it recently legalized, but the IRS can swoop in and financially deconstruct them.

The IRS is not your friend. They are not there to make sure that your tax problems are solved. It is a collection agency for the Department of Treasury. Its mission is to get as much money from you as fast as possible, because the government is drowning in debt.

MY job is to protect you, your family, your income, and your assets from the IRS by using my experience as a former IRS revenue officer. There ARE laws that limit the IRS, and I know what they are. If you have IRS back taxes and want help, don't go to the IRS. Give me a call at 888-415-1337 or fill out the submission form for a free, no-obligation consultation on what you need to do to survive the IRS.