Roz Marketing November and December 2018

PRACTICE CORNER FROM THE Marketing: New Emerging Industries for Tax Resolution

BY MICHAEL ROZBRUCH

When it comes to marketing, I always say, “One is a lonely number, and you need more than one marketing strategy to attract prospects.” Let me take that one step further and say that you also need different groups of people or industries to market to. And I have two hot tips for industries you should be focusing your marketing on, because these two industries are going to produce a lot of clients with tax problems who are going to need IRS representation. Those two new industries are the cryptocurrency and cannabis industries. Let’s focus on cryptocurrency. A few months ago, the IRS was successful in suing Coin Base for their customer list. Coin Base had to turn over 15,000 names of U.S. taxpayers who used their platform to buy cryptocurrencies. And as we all know, cryptocurrency was a dollar about eight years ago, and it’s trading now at about $6,000. But during 2017 and early 2018, it was up around $19,000. A lot of people “cashed in” and haven’t reported those transactions on their income tax returns. And I got news for you: There are about 15 million more taxpayers behind those 15,000 who had cryptocurrency transactions, and the IRS is going to get their hands on their names and contact information and go after them.

The next market is cannabis. Most of the people in the cannabis industry, especially dispensaries, cannot deduct anything other than the cost of goods sold on their federal income tax returns. It’s known as Section 280E. This means that they have large “phantom” tax liabilities. Thirty states have now legalized marijuana. The last state to legalize pot was a big surprise to me, and that one is Oklahoma. So, if Oklahoma can legalize marijuana, my prediction is that all of the other states in the nation will legalize marijuana within the next 12–18 months. These businesses need your help right now. They need help in structuring their operations, filing returns, and audit representation. Most of these entities can’t even open or maintain bank accounts. They will also need help with their resultant IRS collection issues. Marketing to these industries is a huge opportunity. Here’s to your success!

–Michael Rozbruch

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