Getting a Seller’s Permit for your Marijuana Collective

Getting a seller's permit for your business is free and easy (because they WANT you to pay taxes).  So, here's how you go about doing it:

A Seller’s permit is filed with the state board of equalization in CA you can find the information here http://www.boe.ca.gov/info/reg.htm 

and your local BOE field office here http://www.boe.ca.gov

I recommend going in to hand in your forms, or getting the forms at the office as they will be extremely helpful in helping you fill everything out.  Again, (refer to past posts) when mentioning what type of business you are in I recommend leaving out anything to do with marijuana and just saying you will be running a retail operation.  You can also fill out the forms online at the BOE website and mail them in.

Here is some information about using your seller's permit for your marijuana collective:

1. This permit is needed any time a tangible good is sold in the state of CA, which applies to your collective, even though technically there are no sells of mmj going on, just money being paid for the cost of production and labor.  But, nonetheless CA wants you to pay taxes on your hard earned crop, and so you must pay sales tax on all your distributions of mmj to the patients of your collective.
2. You will want to have your seller’s permit stored in a safe place with your other records, but keep a copy with you any time you are doing a sell to someone in your collective.  In case you get stopped you can show the officer your Doctor’s recommendation (if he asks for it) and your seller’s permit, to show that you are selling the legal amount (in most counties 8oz per patient on the premises) and are recording sales in order to pay taxes on them. 
3. For every sale be sure to keep records, and/or receipts.  They should say who the sale was made to (can remain anonymous, but you may want proof to show that they are a qualified patient and are a member of your collective.  It should also say, how much mmj was given, how much the monetary contribution was from the patient for reimbursement towards labor and other expenses (I'll give the calculations for this in a later post), and where the sale took place (this is necessary because CA is split into 4 districts, each with its own sales tax, and when you file your taxes at the end of the year they will want proof of where your sales took place so they know how much sales tax to charge you for your sales.

In later posts I will go into more detail about record keeping, and what I have seen done by collective owners both legally and illegally.  Tomorrow's post will cover - Incorporating your Medical Marijuana Collective for those of you that choose to so.