Pubdate: Tue, 26 Jan 2016
Source: Alaska Dispatch News (AK)
Copyright: 2016 Alaska Dispatch Publishing
Contact:  http://www.adn.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/18
Note: Anchorage Daily News until July '14

MAILING MARIJUANA MONEY GETS OK FROM ALASKA TAX DIVISION, POSTAL SERVICE

Commercial marijuana growers statewide have another avenue to deposit 
their cash taxes rather than traveling to Anchorage, the state Tax 
Division said.

In an article published last week, the Tax Division said that growers 
must travel to Alaska's largest city to deposit excise tax payments, 
regardless of where they live, as it could only afford to invest in 
one drop deposit box.

In reply to the news, readers asked whether they could use registered 
mail to send currency to the state. The answer: Yes.

"If the cash is mailed to our Anchorage office, we'd be happy to 
accept it," Brandon Spanos, deputy director of the Department of 
Revenue's Tax Division, said in an email.

"We would, however, want the taxpayer to let us know it's coming and 
to ensure that we need to sign for the delivery," he added.

Spanos also noted that marijuana sales are illegal federally, and 
wrote that he wasn't familiar with the U.S. Postal Service's stance 
on mailing marijuana cash. "The state can't be responsible for the 
cash until we receive it," Spanos wrote.

So can businesses legally use the Postal Service to mail marijuana 
money to the state?

"Yes," Postal Service Alaska District spokesperson Ernie Swanson 
replied in an email.

That position differs from the Postal Service's stance on mailing 
marijuana advertisements, which it says remains illegal under federal law.

Once Alaska's commercial marijuana industry gets up and running later 
this year, growers will pay excise taxes every month. The division is 
proposing $50 per ounce of flower or bud, and $15 per ounce for the 
rest of the plant.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom