medical deduction for Medical Marijuana for state of California

[Tax Prep by Deb]

I have a client in the office who has a prescription for Medical Marijuan. His question is can it be considered a medical deduction for the state of California?

We know it is not on the federal level, but I haven't found anything sayings yes or no for California. Does anyone have info on this that will help?

Thanks in advance.

Deb!

[joanmcq]

Yup, it is. Got some in the same situation.

[jainen]

>>We know it is not on the federal level<<

Like federal, California only allows a deduction for PRESCRIPTION medicine. You can deduct Marinol, but not marijuana.

Besides, no deduction is allowed for an expense that the taxpayer would have paid anyway even in the absence of the medical condition.

[joanmcq]

You need a prescription to get medical marijuana.

[Tax Prep by Deb]

He does have a prescription, does this change anything Jainen?

Joann, how do you make the adjustment?

[jainen]

>>He does have a prescription<<

No he doesn't, at least not in the usual sense of the term. It doesn't even prescribe a dosage, for example. And it is not anything that can be filled at a drugstore, at least not in the usual sense of the term. Ginseng tea is another powerful herbal remedy often "prescribed," but it is not deductible either.

[Tax Prep by Deb]

Thank Jainen,

I feel the same way. There is absolutely nothing I can find that leads me to believe it is deductible. All that I see in my research is opinions, nothing in the tax codes for California. I told my client I would check around, but I've prepared him for the no answer.

Deb!

[jainen]

>>nothing in the tax codes for California<<

There is a recent California law, name of SB401. This conformed the California law to the Internal Revenue Code as it read on January 1, 2009. In other words, there is no separate California deduction for medical expenses. As you say, there are lots of different opinions about how it should be--just no different laws or rulings about how it actually is. We are required to use the federal amount, period.

[Tax Prep by Deb]

Thanks again Jainen,

It confirms my opinion!

Deb!

[Tax Prep by Deb]

Jainen,

I looked up a summary of SB401 but all I could find is how it pertained to mortgage debt forgiveness. I would love to have something in print to give this guy. Do you have a link that will

take me to the part that speaks about the medical deduction?

Deb!

[jainen]

>>take me to the part that speaks about the medical deduction<<

The point is that it does NOT speak to the medical deduction in particular--nothing does. California has adopted the ENTIRE federal tax code unless there is a separate law, court decision, or FTB ruling. Which there aren't any about deducting marijuana, so none of the opinions you found are based on anything except phantasy. For TAX purposes it does not matter whether medical marijuana is legal to use. Many legal things are non-deductible. California conforms to the federal law for medical deductions, which means that because marijuana is not deductible under federal law it is not deductible under California law either. In fact, it's the same law.

SB401, "Conformity Act of 2010," updates California Revenue and Taxation Code to the "specified date" of January 1, 2009. See the top of page 7 at http://www.novoco.co..._sb_401_enr.pdf.

[Tax Prep by Deb]

Again, Jainen, thanks for such a clear explanation. Again I totally agree with everything you said, but your last reply gives me a easy way to explain it to him.

Deb!