Valuation experts may have second thoughts about accepting an engagement involving a marijuana business that’s illegal under federal law but legal under state law. A key advisory group to the IRS urges that there should be no worry about this, at least with respect to tax pros.

High ground: Tax professionals who give advice to marijuana firms in the states where marijuana is legal should not have to suffer adverse consequences because the businesses are illegal under federal law, recommends the IRS Advisory Council in a report. The council suggests that the IRS publish formal guidelines for accountants and tax pros to clarify that they won’t be audited by the federal government or face other sanctions for working with cannabis companies.

For a rare chance to learn about valuing sellers and dispensaries of medicinal and newly legalized cannabis, listen to a webinar, Valuing Marijuana Dispensaries, conducted by Ronald Seigneur (Seigneur Gustafson LLP) and Jim Marty (Jim Marty and Associates LLC), two Colorado-based financial experts.