After my first year with an LLC, the accountant assigned to me was excited to work with Illinois News Joint and learn about the new cannabis industry. The following year, the new accountant was indifferent at best, so this year, I decided to find a more suitable accountant for our needs. Coincidentally, I found exactly what I was looking for from a local business, Vineyard Accounting.

Vineyard Accounting, based in the Champaign-Urbana area, is a cannabis-specific accounting firm designed to work with both plant-touching and ancillary businesses. Owners, Boyd and Heather LaFoon, provided Illinois News Joint with full State and Federal tax services, including filing them. In addition, Heather scheduled personal meetings with me to go over adjustments on how to better categorize, label, and schedule business transitions that will pay big benefits in the future, and now, I feel comfortable asking about other accounting problems as they arise to fend off future issues with my bookkeeping.

Vineyard Accounting logos

Vineyard Accounting prepares small and large businesses for the challenges and pain points that exist in the cannabis industry.

“Cannabis owners have a hard enough time finding banks and payroll companies and insurance,” said Boyd. “They shouldn’t have to struggle to find an accountant. But walk into any big-four accounting firm, and there will not be a cannabis accounting division there. The Federal Schedule 1 designation scares them away.”

Cannabis business owners are faced with IRS Tax Code 208(e), which places an extreme burden on them to remain compliant, while also paying an elevated tax rate on income from cannabis sales. Vineyard Accounting can help Cannabis business owners work within the parameters of the IRS’s cannabis regulations and help maximize their return on investment.

Though Vineyard Accounting works with clients across the Unites States, the firm specializes in businesses located in Illinois.

“We live and work here and know what cannabis licensees in this state have been going through, especially the social equity licensees and independent craft growers,” Boyd said. “After years of licenses being held up in the courts, many cannabis business owners can’t get funding to pay for their build-outs or can’t find a bank that will let them open an account.”

In addition to the firm, Heather and Boyd are working with stakeholders to bring downstate cannabis events to Illinois, from Champaign to Anna. Vineyard Accounting can be reached by phone at 708-405-9532 or email info@vineyardaccounting.net or Instagram at @vineyard_accounting.

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