Maryland Cannabis Sales Tax Guide

Classification at the register

The tax outcome is decided when the transaction is rung, not when the return is prepared. Patient verification, product category mapping, and discount handling all affect taxability. A single mis-mapped SKU replicated across thousands of transactions becomes a material exposure quickly.

Accrual and reconciliation practice

Treat the tax as a liability accrued daily from point-of-sale data, reconciled to the seed-to-sale record and to the bank deposit. When the filing period closes, the return should be a report off the general ledger rather than a spreadsheet rebuilt from exports.

• Daily POS-to-deposit reconciliation with documented variances
• Separate liability accounts for adult-use tax collected and remitted
• Period-end tie-out from POS gross sales to the general ledger to the return
• Retention of exemption and patient documentation supporting medical treatment

Common exposures

Under-collection on bundled promotions, incorrect treatment of accessories and non-cannabis merchandise, and unreconciled voids and refunds are the recurring findings. Each is a controls problem before it is a tax problem.