Treasury and IRS prioritize Section 280E guidance for cannabis tax
The Sept. 29 plan gives cannabis operators no deadline or estimate of tax relief as the guidance project enters the new fiscal year.
Theo Marchetti
The U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service put guidance under Section 280E on their 2026-27 Priority Guidance Plan dated Sept. 29. The document names no individual company, including Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. TSECURA, and sets no deadline during the 12-month work period ending Sept. 30, 2027.
The agencies list the project as "Guidance under §280E" among 121 guidance projects for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. The entry does not specify a proposed rule, the expenses it might address or how it might apply to past returns. Listing a project directs agency work; it does not change a taxpayer's deductions.
Curaleaf shares closed down 3.07 per cent at C$14.21 in Toronto at 4 p.m. EDT on Oct. 2, the TSECURA quote page shows. That closing quote gives no basis for attributing the move to the tax plan, which had been released on Sept. 29.
Trulieve Cannabis Corp. NYSETRLV is another listed cannabis name for which the eventual treatment of Section 280E could affect U.S. tax costs. The IRS says the section bars deductions for businesses trafficking in certain controlled substances, while allowing gross receipts to be reduced by properly calculated cost of goods sold. The priority plan names neither company and supplies no estimate of tax savings for either.
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The Plan Gives No Guidance Deadline
Treasury and the IRS say their new plan allocates staff attention through the federal fiscal year, which runs from Oct. 1, 2026, to Sept. 30, 2027. It leaves open when any Section 280E document will be published and whether it will take the form of regulations, a notice or another kind of guidance. The agencies also say they may revise the project list during the year.
"However, the plan does not provide any deadline for completing the projects," Treasury and the IRS said in their Sept. 29 statement.
For shareholders, the distinction is between work on guidance and an enacted change in tax treatment. The plan itself contains no company accounts, taxable-income calculations or effective rule that can be applied to Curaleaf or Trulieve. An estimate of either issuer's current 280E exposure would require its own tax disclosures and a clear definition of the measure being compared, such as current tax expense or cash taxes paid.
The plan also does not decide the separate federal scheduling process for marijuana. Its Section 280E entry says only that tax guidance is on the agencies' work list, so it cannot be used to calculate a new tax rate or a refund. The next dated marker in the document is Sept. 30, 2027, the end of its plan year; Treasury and the IRS set no deadline by which they must issue the guidance.
