LYNN — Apothca, a marijuana dispensary on the Lynnway, is facing a more than $1.5 million tax lien.
The lien, which was filed at the Southern Essex County Registry of Deeds in early July, totals $1,513,448 in unpaid corporate 1120 taxes from 2021.
According to CEO Joseph Lekach, the lien is a result of actions on the Internal Revenue Service’s end.
“The tax lien is a result of two different IRS departments not communicating with each other,” a statement from Lekach reads.
Lekach explained that Apothca has been approved for tax credits exceeding the tax lien, which has already started to bring down the company’s balance.
“We expect the entire lien to be removed in the coming months,” Lekach said.
Lekach would not identify the specific IRS departments and tax credits he was referring to in his statements when asked by The Item.
Revenue Officer Frank Enaire, who signed the lien notice on July 6, could not be reached for comment.
Apothca previously was served a federal tax lien in October 2021 for $251,240 in unpaid corporate 1120 taxes from the 2020 tax period. A notice of release for the lien was signed in November 2021 after the balance was paid off.
Apothca began operations as a co-located medical and adult-use dispensary in 2019 after operating as a medical dispensary since 2018. The dispensary was one of five in the city that helped Lynn collect approximately $1.72 million in revenue from recreational cannabis sales from July 2019 to January 2023.
Apothca currently operates a 26-acre cultivation and production campus in Fitchburg, as well as co-located medical and adult-use dispensaries in Arlington and Boston, and one in Eugene, Ore.
According to IRS.gov, a federal tax lien is the government’s legal claim against a property when the agency puts a balance due on the books or sends a bill explaining how much a person or a business owes after neglecting or failing to pay a tax debt in time.
A lien attaches to assets such as property, securities, vehicles, and future assets acquired throughout the duration of the lien. It also limits one’s ability to get credit and attaches to all business property and to all rights to business property and may continue in the event of a bankruptcy filing.
