Selling a regular business is tough, selling a cannabis business is even tougher. Between legal and regulatory standards from local, state, and federal levels it’s important to provide the right advisory services to clients not only to navigate the process but get out the best deal possible for them.  While there has been a great deal of interest in cannabis M&A few service providers have any significant level of experience. Inexperience is a serious hazard in this area.

M&A is already a complicated activity so when you layer on a confusing regulatory scheme the complexity level increases exponentially. Buyers and sellers must navigate the sometimes novel requirements of a city and state agencies when going through a transaction. The parties must also decide on whether they will be seeking tax-free treatment for the transaction. Buyers and sellers need to have frank discussions about the tax liabilities that the seller is transferring to the buyer.  

Awareness and education are essential. The good news is that these issues and processes can be managed so that you can bring added value to your clients as they navigate this process.

Learning Objectives:

• To Identify the tax challenges of cannabis acquisitions


• To identify the most common accounting and tax pitfalls before they harm the deal


• To recognize how to help buyers in the diligence process


• To understand how to help sellers in the sale process


• To understand the non-tax challenges facing the parties