Being a DG for a living and paying taxes.

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
I've been taking a long hard look at growing for a living legally. Which means paying taxes and I'm confused how that would work being a DG. I would like to hear from anyone that is doing this and how they handle their taxes.

Im looking for factual info here so I only want hear from people that are DG's. I also dont wanna hear how immoral it is to make a living off the sick. Lets face it, anyone with a license of 10g/day or more probably (most likely) couldn't afford to build an op that could supply this much anyways so a DG would be the only real option.
 
  • Like
Reactions: rnr
I don't think being a DG is morally wrong...we have medical piracy sucking the life blood out of us. I'm sure you have compassion and would help where you can...best of luck...robin
 

jessica d

Well-Known Member
ya good luck and i am different i got more of a problem with you paying taxes with someones medicine costs lol fuk the government bro... some sick guys medicine should be as cheap as possible.

A street dealer makes a 100% profit at most, so many professions make 1000% that we all use in our lives. Shit lawyers, dentists and even shoes. What you make in margin is minimal. Some med user will be thankfull
 

oakley1984

Well-Known Member
long story short. you cant.
the laws are written as such that reguardless of what you believe is morally RIGHT
you cannot sell/supply/trade/give or otherwise provide cannabis to anyone that is not your patient.
Period.
even as is, you cannot "sell" to your patient either.

which puts it at with the CRA, you are committing a crime. goto jail.
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
I have to disagree with you. Compassion Clubs/Dispensaries are allowed to operate, granted they're "not for profit" but the employees get paid, the bills get payed and I'm sure the owner would pay themselves also. So even though these clubs operate in a grey area they must be paying taxes otherwise they would be busted for tax evasion. The cops may leave them alone but you can bet the farm the government wants their cut.

And if you check the current MMAR regulations you can sell to your patient.
 

ditrbag1

Member
I too was looking at the exact same questions you are redi jedi, if it were completely illegal than how is Prairie Plant Systems allowed to charge for their cannabis??? I think the tax issue would be pretty straightforward, i.e; you're a DG, selling meds to your patient(s) through your company, and claiming the federal, and provincial taxes on its retail, and corporate income tax on whatever the business generates. I would think as long you're identifiable as a tax paying business than the CRA would probably leave you alone, I wouldnt go putting any poorly chosen cannabis phrases as your business name though. :lol:
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
I thought it would be pretty straight forward also but its not so. I contacted MedicalMarijuana.ca about being a DG and they said you dont need to collect and remit GST/HST from the patient, but they also expect you to operate at a loss as a "compassionate grower". I believe they expect you to make your money from black market deals.

Anyways, I swore I read on HC website that GST/HST does need to be collected and remitted so I contacted a Tax Lawyer by e-mail and although he knew very little about MMAR regs he did say that if I was collecting taxes from my patients, then they (the patient) could claim those expenses on their income tax. The lawyer than said he hasn't encountered anyone who has been able to claim their pot meds because it isn't recognized as a legitimate medication.

To further complicate things, most patients can't afford to buy their meds (especially the ones with 10 plus gram/day) so you couldn't even claim your patient as your revenue stream because they sure as fuck cant be buying that much pot on a disability income.

So to say the least, its far from straight forward if you want to be a DG and do things as legally as possible.
 

oakley1984

Well-Known Member
simply put with the current government there is no way you can safely do it without being fucking near being crucified by our government for trying.
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
The government may not like the idea of growing for a living, but if you cover your ass properly it can be done. I've been in contact with Ted Smith of the Cannabis Buyers Club and I've ran my plan by him. He agrees its as solid plan as you could get in the current situation.
 

bigmanc

Well-Known Member
you have a great idea, i can tell you have done the foot work and want to do this properly. I have personally sold to a dispensarie for 4$ a gram because i could not find med patients to take it off my hands up until recently even then i will probably get rid of my extra to the club once all is done. patient gets at 3$ a gram club at 4$+
 
I thought it would be pretty straight forward also but its not so. I contacted MedicalMarijuana.ca about being a DG and they said you dont need to collect and remit GST/HST from the patient, but they also expect you to operate at a loss as a "compassionate grower". I believe they expect you to make your money from black market deals.

Anyways, I swore I read on HC website that GST/HST does need to be collected and remitted so I contacted a Tax Lawyer by e-mail and although he knew very little about MMAR regs he did say that if I was collecting taxes from my patients, then they (the patient) could claim those expenses on their income tax. The lawyer than said he hasn't encountered anyone who has been able to claim their pot meds because it isn't recognized as a legitimate medication.

To further complicate things, most patients can't afford to buy their meds (especially the ones with 10 plus gram/day) so you couldn't even claim your patient as your revenue stream because they sure as fuck cant be buying that much pot on a disability income.

So to say the least, its far from straight forward if you want to be a DG and do things as legally as possible.

So pats can claim there med or can not claim their meds? I got a little lost on that, because if they can claim their meds, I wonder if looking at a DQ as a retailer or as someone that rents out spaces and only charges to cover their bills can claim there losses on income tax. Just like if you rent out a room or a apt you can claim portions of your mortgage/interest. If you have a room mate that does not pay into the utility bills you can claim there portion of the bill at tax time.
So as a dg I wonder can I claim a larger portion of the electrical bill that is being used by the grow, and the taxes being charged on all the equipment/ nutes I had to buy from a retailer as a business expense, similar to a business owner or landlord.
Never mind about the Pats claiming I had a read though again and understand what was said, but the question about claiming losses might still apply? maybe I dunno, this is very intersting and would like to see where it goes.
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
In regards to claiming losses, it would basically be the same as running a small business. Which means you would need to have a business license and thats the next roadblock I'm looking into. Designated Growing may not fly with the people issuing those licenses...may need to get creative there....lol

There's still the unavoidable risk of getting pinched for trafficking. Unless you can find a patient that could afford their meds...lol. Good luck to that. Even if they could afford it, why would they when there's all these retards willing to give it to them for free....
 

insan3

Well-Known Member
why not make a small business and laundry your money through it ? as long as your operation is small and secure, you got nothing to worry about. i understand u want to be as legit as possible but under the current laws there's always a loop hole where you get fucked by the government/police.
 

bigmanc

Well-Known Member
In all honesty, i know heavys that turned down getting a mmar because in no way do they want anything attached to ther name address let alone photo, if you want to make money your going to need to sell to clubs or find patients, even then most of the patients will take advantage of your low price thats why clubs put limits on sales and price is high to avoid resell. It will be impossible to avoid the black market. We all started on the black market, noone got ther license then after tried marihuana for the 1st time...
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
Well if your savy enough to know how to launder money through a fake business on top of being able to handle a large scale grow op, why even bother becoming a DG? Being a DG gives you the ability to grow legally but your exposing yourself for that privilege.

I'm having a hard time putting word to thought here......the best lie is 90% truth.

Like bigmanc said, to make money as a DG (especially if your giving your pot to patients for free) you would still have to make illegal transactions. And since your already exposed why step further from cover by adding a complex laundering scheme to the mix?

For me its about growing pot for a living and not having to live the lonely isolated life a successful underground grower would have to live.
 

Sir.Ganga

New Member
Being a DG in Canada I can say without a doubt you can NOT profit from the sales of Cannabis...even to legal patients. Dispenseries and commpassion clubs are still considered as illegal in Canada...so thats out too!

I do not claim cannabis sales as my income, I claim my services of growing for others. I write off my expenses and charge for my labour. You need to talk to an accountant about setting it up as a company and pick his brain a little.

This will be my second tax period so cross your fingers.

Good Luck
 
Top