For anyone left wondering whether medical marijuana purchases are deductible on your federal taxes, the answer is no. But there was some confusion about the tax option after Internal Revenue Service (IRS) National Taxpayer Advocate Erin Collins was asked about the issue during an interview with C-SPAN’s Washington Journal on Thursday. A Nevada-based caller asked Collins why he couldn’t find an option on the tax service website TurboTax to deduct cannabis purchases, which are legal under state law but not federally. The official responded that she’d “plead ignorance on the marijuana” question, “unless you’re saying it’s a medical deduction.” “If it is a medical expense, and then you have an option on your Schedule A, you could potentially put it there,” she said.Marijuana is legal for medical and recreational purposes in Nevada, and the caller didn’t specify whether he was a registered patient. But federal law is clear, and while Collins—who was appointed to her role by Trump administration Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin in 2020—said there was “potentially” an opportunity to claim deductions if it was medical marijuana he was purchasing, she clarified in a statement to Marijuana Moment on Friday that that was not the case.
Kyle Jaeger, Marijuana Moment, 02/14/2022 08:42:00