The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit has sided with the Internal Revenue Service over access to third-party held information in audits of licensed Colorado marijuana dispensaries and rejected the taxpayers’ reliance on Justice Clarence Thomas’ nonprecedential statement doubting the integrity of Gonzales v. Raich as supplemental authority.
According to the opinion, Standing Akimbo is a Colorado-licensed marijuana dispensary owned by Spencer Kirson, Samantha Murphy and John Murphy. The IRS began investigating the dispensary and its owners “to determine if they had taken deductions in violation of U.S.C. § 280E.” IRS code prohibits deductions for business expenses if that business consists of trafficking in controlled substances.