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Business Taxes Law Guide—Revision 2024
Cannabis Tax Law
Revenue and Taxation Code
Division 2. Other Taxes
Part 14.5. Cannabis Tax
Chapter 3. Administration
Section 34015.1
34015.1. Deficiency determination; unlicensed persons. (a) (1) Any unlicensed person who is required to be licensed pursuant to Division 10 (commencing with Section 26000) of the Business and Professions Code and who possesses, keeps, stores, or retains for the purpose of sale, or sells or offers to sell any cannabis or cannabis products, shall be liable for the cultivation tax imposed pursuant to Section 34012 as if the person were the cultivator of the harvested cannabis and that cannabis entered the commercial market, the cannabis excise tax imposed pursuant to Section 34011 or 34011.2 as if the person were the purchaser of the cannabis or cannabis product in a retail sale from a cannabis retailer, and for applicable penalties and interest, if any, which shall become immediately due and payable.
(2) (A) The department shall ascertain as best it may the category and amount of the harvested cannabis deemed as having entered the commercial market, and the average market price or gross receipts, based on any information within the department’s possession or that may come into its possession, of the retail sale of the cannabis or cannabis product deemed as purchased from a cannabis retailer, and shall determine immediately the tax on that amount, adding to the tax a penalty of 25 percent of the amount of tax or five hundred dollars ($500), whichever is greater, and shall give the unlicensed person notice of that determination in the same manner as prescribed for service of notice by Section 55061. However, if the department determines that the failure to secure a license was due to reasonable cause, the department may waive the penalty. Sections 55101 and 55102 shall be applicable with respect to the finality of the determination and the right of the person to petition for a redetermination.
(B) Any person seeking to be relieved of the penalty imposed pursuant to subparagraph (A) shall file with the department a signed statement setting forth the facts upon which they base the claim for relief. Any person who signs a statement pursuant to this section that asserts the truth of any material matter that they know to be false is guilty of a misdemeanor punishable by imprisonment of up to one year in the county jail, or a fine of not more than one thousand dollars ($1,000), or both the imprisonment and the fine.
(3) If the department believes that the collection of any amount of tax required to be paid by any person under this part will be jeopardized by delay, it may make a jeopardy determination pursuant to Article 4 (commencing with Section 55101) of Chapter 3 of Part 30.
(4) The department may collect the tax, penalty, and interest due from the person by seizure and sale of property in the manner prescribed for the collection pursuant to Section 55181.
(5) In the suit, a copy of the jeopardy determination certified by the department shall be prima facie evidence that the person is indebted to the state in the amount of the tax, penalties, and interest at the modified adjusted rate per month, or fraction thereof, established pursuant to Section 6591.5, from the date the amount, or any portion thereof, should have been reported until the date of payment.
(6) The foregoing remedies of the state are cumulative.
(7) No action taken pursuant to this section relieves the person in any way from the penal provisions of this part or the Fee Collection Procedures Law (Part 30 (commencing with Section 55001)).
(b) Any licensed person, on or after January 1, 2023, who sells or transfers to any person cannabis or cannabis products and who knowingly does not report or falsely reports that sale or transfer in the track and trace system required pursuant to Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section 26067) of Division 10 of the Business and Professions Code or any regulations promulgated for purposes of that chapter, shall be, with respect to the cannabis or cannabis products knowingly not reported or falsely reported in the track and trace system, liable for the cannabis excise tax imposed pursuant to Section 34011 or 34011.2 as if the person were the purchaser of the cannabis or cannabis product in a retail sale from a cannabis retailer, and for applicable penalties and interest, if any, which shall become immediately due and payable.
History—Added by Stats. 2022, Ch. 56 (AB 195), in effect June 30, 2022.