California Cannabis Accounting and Tax Guides

All guides

Planning a new retail location? Start with California dispensary startup costs and financial planning — how to budget one-time capital, ongoing operating cost, tax reserves and working capital before opening.

Setting up the ledger? Our cannabis chart of accounts template and sample shows a full sample account structure for assets, liabilities, equity, revenue, COGS and operating expenses, with guidance on adapting it by license type.

Trying to understand where accounting fits into compliance? Our California cannabis financial compliance guide covers accounting controls, tax records, inventory reconciliation, 280E documentation and audit preparation, plus a financial compliance checklist.

Need a number rather than a narrative? Our California Cannabis Tax Calculator estimates excise, sales and local cannabis business tax on a single retail transaction using current 2026 rates.

Working through cost of goods sold? Our 280E and COGS guide explains how inventory accounting produces COGS for retailers, cultivators and manufacturers, and what records support it.

Wondering where 280E stands this year? Our guide to 280E in 2026: medical vs. adult-use cannabis after Schedule III covers mixed medical and adult-use operations, expense allocation and apportionment, chart of accounts segmentation, and which federal questions remain unresolved.

Budgeting or planning a new location? The cannabis financial model and dispensary pro forma guide walks through revenue drivers, COGS, payroll, working capital and scenario analysis, with a planning worksheet you can use directly on the page.

• Tax Law 9 min read

  280E Explained

  Why a two-sentence tax provision from 1982 determines the economics of every licensed cannabis business in California — and what lawfully reduces its impact.

• Accounting 22 min read

  California Cannabis Accounting Guide

  A transaction-level manual for licensed California producers: how to isolate cost under IRC Section 471-11, code the general ledger so cultivation labor, packaging inputs and extraction utilities never blend, close the period in ten to fifteen days under DCC disclosure rules, and reconcile physical warehouse weight to Metrc so manufacturing shrink survives examination.

• Accounting 8 min read

  Cannabis Bookkeeping Guide

  The daily, weekly and monthly bookkeeping routines that keep a licensed cannabis business audit-ready and decision-ready.

• Compliance 8 min read

  METRC Guide

  An accounting-focused guide to California's track-and-trace system and how its data ties to inventory, COGS and the general ledger.

• Advisory 8 min read

  Cannabis CFO Guide

  How financial leadership differs in a 280E business, and what an operator should expect from CFO-level support.

• Retail 8 min read

  Dispensary Accounting Guide

  A working guide to the retail-specific accounting routines that keep a California dispensary compliant and profitable.

• Cultivation 9 min read

  Cultivation Accounting Guide

  How to run manufacturing-grade cost accounting in a cultivation operation and turn it into a cost per pound you can manage against.

• Payroll 7 min read

  Cannabis Payroll Guide

  Payroll is the largest controllable cost in cannabis and the most valuable one to allocate correctly. Here is how to run it.

• Startup 9 min read

  Cannabis Startup Guide

  What to build financially before the first sale, so the business is not repairing its foundation two years later.

• Tax 8 min read

  Cannabis Tax Planning

  Effective cannabis tax planning happens during the year in the way costs are captured — not in the weeks before a filing deadline.

• Audit 8 min read

  Audit Preparation

  Audit readiness is a continuous practice, not a response. Here is the file every California cannabis operator should already have.

• Tax 21 min read

  California Cannabis Tax Guide

  Every federal and California tax variable a licensed operator manages in 2026: the moving state of Schedule III rescheduling, medical and adult-use cost-allocation models built to defend deductions against IRC 280E, CDTFA excise and sales tax mechanics, the cultivation tax history that still shapes open periods, and local gross receipts rules across Los Angeles, San Francisco, San Diego, Sacramento and Oakland.

• Tax Law 14 min read

  280E & COGS Guide

  Cost of goods sold is the one lever 280E cannot touch, but whether a given dollar qualifies depends on license type, production activity and the records built to prove it.