NEW JERSEY CANNABIS TAX
Cannabis tax revenue in New Jersey: three taxes, three filing schedules
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Retailers collect 6.625% sales tax and file ST-50 quarterly. Cultivators pay the Social Equity Excise Fee, or SEEF, of $2.50 per usable ounce on a monthly SF-100, and a municipality that has adopted one charges a transfer tax of up to 2%. The Division of Taxation administers the first two, and each municipality runs its own.
Who files each NJ marijuana tax return
RETAILER OR DELIVERY
A Class 5 retailer collects the 6.625% sales tax on the sale and on the delivery fee, then files ST-50 quarterly by the 20th, including zero returns. A Class 6 licensee delivers on that retailer's behalf and makes no sale of its own.
CULTIVATOR
A Class 1 cultivator reports usable recreational ounces on SF-100 by the 20th each month, or the next business day, and files even in a month with no sales or transfers. You owe no SEEF on a transfer to another cultivator, or to a licensed alternative treatment center for use in medical dispensing. An ATC that also holds a Class 1 license still pays on its recreational ounces.
LOCAL OPERATOR
A municipality charges up to 2% on a cultivator's, manufacturer's or retailer's receipts and up to 1% on a wholesaler's, and you charge it on retail sales to consumers despite its name. A municipality adopting one must also impose a user tax at the same rates on transfers between a concurrent license holder's own establishments. The municipal chief financial officer administers both, so bring a transfer tax question to the town hall.
Check your municipality's cannabis transfer tax
You owe the transfer tax on a retail sale whether or not you charged the customer for it. New Jersey then charges 6.625% on a base that includes it, so you owe $2.00 transfer tax and $6.76 sales tax on a $100 sale in a 2% municipality. Send us your locations and we will read each ordinance against what you are collecting.
$67.5M
Cannabis sales tax collected in calendar 2025, on more than $1.16 billion of sales. New Jersey counts medicinal and recreational together in that total and charges no state sales tax on medicinal.
What New Jersey cannabis tax support covers
SET UP
We confirm the NJ-REG business registration, the sales tax account, and the license class, then map recreational, medical, and transfer activity to separate ledger accounts.
FILE
We prepare ST-50 and SF-100 by the 20th, including zero filings. We add the monthly voucher, formerly ST-51, when a month's tax tops $500 and prior-year collections topped $30,000. We file it only for the first two months of a quarter.
RECONCILE
We match POS reports, deposits, tax collected, and invoices to the filed return each period.
How to file New Jersey cannabis returns
1 · SCOPE
Identify locations, license classes, products, municipalities, and open filing periods.
2 · CLOSE
Reconcile taxable sales, medical activity, usable ounces, transfers, and tax already collected.
3 · FILE
Prepare the state and local returns, remit balances, and retain confirmations.
4 · MONITOR
Watch for a new SEEF rate at the CRC's November and December meetings, and re-check municipal ordinances, since municipalities amend them on no statewide schedule.
What changes after the first reconciliation
BEFORE
- One combined tax line you cannot tie to bank deposits.
- Deadlines tracked informally by the owner or store manager.
AFTER
- Separate sales tax, SEEF, and local schedules tied to source reports and returns.
- A filing calendar with assigned ownership, zero-return controls, and confirmation storage.
CULTIVATOR
- $2.50 per usable ounce
- SF-100 monthly
RETAILER
- 6.625% sales tax
- ST-50 quarterly
MUNICIPALITY
- Up to 2% transfer tax
- Local administration
PERIOD CLOSE
- POS + invoices + bank + returns
- One reconciliation
New Jersey charges no state sales tax on medicinal cannabis and no SEEF on medical dispensing. It excludes medical from the statutory definition of cannabis, and has not settled whether a municipality can still reach a medicinal sale with its transfer tax. Read each municipality's ordinance before you apply a rate.
Dimov carefully researched the tax law regarding my particular circumstances, responded to questions promptly, and communicated professionally and courteously.
New Jersey cannabis filing and bookkeeping support
Dimov Tax handles sales tax filing and bookkeeping, and ties cannabis tax revenue in New Jersey to the return you file. Send your license classes, locations, POS reports and last filed returns. For cross-state modeling, use the cannabis sales tax calculator.
Button 1: Request a New Jersey cannabis filing review
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