Passing Marijuana Banking Bill Would Increase ‘Integrity And Quality Control’ In Financial System, IRS Commissioner Says – Medical Marijuana Program Connection

The head of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) says marijuana industry banking access would make the agency’s job easier, and officials “shouldn’t just sit on our hands” as the federal government moves to reschedule cannabis.

At a hearing before the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government on Tuesday, Chairman Dave Joyce (R-OH) pressed IRS Commissioner Daniel Werfel about cannabis banking and tax compliance issues.

The commissioner said the Justice Department’s decision to move marijuana from Schedule I to Schedule III of the Controlled Substances Act (CSA) is “recent,” and “what we need to do in a moment like this is understand the implications that this change will have on a whole variety of different elements of this part of the economy.”

“What will their status be with respect to financial institutions? Will they remain mostly a cash-based industry or would they move into something other than cash?” Werfel said. “All of these things are important moving pieces for the IRS to determine how this emerging and changing industry is assessed at the right level and paying what they owe.”

“We shouldn’t just sit on our hands,” he added. “We should be active and looking at what steps we need to take—and we need to interact with this community and make sure we understand and talk to them.”

The IRS commissioner also said that, in his experience, industries are generally “very amenable” to getting…