Special report · federal hemp deadline
Your hemp products now have a federal deadline. Which one depends on how the cannabinoid was made.
Congress rewrote the federal definition of hemp. A stopgap bill signed on September 2nd, 2026, delayed part of it — and only part. Most operators still think there is one deadline. There are two.
November 12th, 2026
Converted cannabinoids — Delta-8, Delta-10, HHC, THC-O, THCP. This date did not move.
No further delay expected
December 11th, 2026
Plant-derived — THCA, live resin, full-spectrum CBD, hemp delta-9 drinks over the limit.
The 0.4 mg upper limit arrives
Free, and nothing leaves your browser.
The one question that decides your date
Was your cannabinoid extracted from the plant, or lab-converted from CBD?
Most operators do not know these are two different dates. You are about to.
Made in a lab, from CBD
Cannabinoids synthesized or converted outside the plant. Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 excludes these, and the delay language does not reach them.
This date did not move. No further delay is expected.
Was the cannabinoid
extracted from the plant,
or lab-converted from CBD?
Made by the plant
Naturally occurring cannabinoids. The upper limit of 0.4 mg of total THC per container, and the total-THC standard including THCA, both arrive on this date.
The 0.3% delta-9 standard holds through Dec 10th.
What is actually happening
Nobody passed a payments law. They changed what your products are classified as.
The 2018 Farm Bill carved hemp out of the Controlled Substances Act, and that carve-out is what created this industry. Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 pulls the line back toward where it sat before 2018 — a narrower definition of what counts as hemp, closer to the older and stricter reading.
A product that no longer meets the narrowed definition loses the exemption and falls back under the Controlled Substances Act as a Schedule I substance, with its exact classification depending on what it is and how it was made.
Card networks and acquiring banks will not knowingly process a Schedule I substance. That is the whole mechanism. The pressure is not coming from a payments rule.
The definition narrows
Total THC replaces delta-9. Finished products face an upper limit of 0.4 mg of total THC per container.
Products lose hemp status
Anything outside the narrowed definition is no longer exempt from the Controlled Substances Act.
Banks and networks exit
No acquirer knowingly underwrites a federally scheduled substance.
Processors follow
Not because they want to. Because the rail above them closed.
Which means there is no processor that fixes a product problem. If your catalog falls outside the narrowed definition, no rail is the answer — not card, not ACH, not crypto.
So the first decision is not who processes your payments. It is which products you will still be allowed to sell once the dates pass, because that is what determines whether a processor can take you at all. Settle the catalog, and the payments question answers itself.
A separate clock, running ahead of the law
Square set its own dates, and those did not move
Square sent two different letters. Which one you received determines whether you are losing an account or losing a shelf. Most merchants have not been asked which one they got.
Letter A — remove the items. For merchants selling hemp alongside unrelated products. Strip CBD and hemp items from the Square catalog, in person and online. The account stays open. You lose the shelf, not the business.
Letter B — the account closes. 11:59 pm EST, for merchants whose catalog is primarily hemp or CBD. Not a restriction. A closure.
Federal date for converted cannabinoids. Delta-8, delta-10, HHC, THC-O, THCP. Unchanged by the September delay to Section 781 of Public Law 119-37.
Federal date for plant-derived cannabinoids. The 0.4 mg upper limit per container and the total-THC standard including THCA.
Both Square dates land before the law does. A private underwriting decision does not un-make itself on a statutory schedule, so waiting on Congress does not bring the account back.
Square Letter A
Remove the items
Mixed catalogs strip hemp and CBD from Square. The account stays open.
Square Letter B
The account closes
Hemp-primary accounts shut entirely at 11:59 pm EST.
These arrive before either federal date.
Three things that matter more than the extra 29 days
What is still unresolved
No further extension is expected
The White House has told senators there will not be another delay. The 29 days bought in September were the extension, not the first of several.
The FDA has published nothing
Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 required cannabinoid lists and a definition of "container" within 90 days of enactment — by February 10th, 2026. None of it exists. A retailer still cannot determine compliance for a multi-serving package.
35 state attorneys general pushed the other way
They wrote urging Congress to keep the November date and reject any effort to delay, repeal or weaken it. The state-level wind is not blowing toward relief.
The tool
Which date does your product fall under?
How was it made?
Extracted from the plant, or lab-converted from CBD. This picks your date.
How much total THC?
Milligrams per container, from the lab report. This decides whether you clear the limit.
Your date
Nov 12th, 2026, Dec 11th, 2026, or no date at all.
The big number on the front of the package is usually CBD. CBD does not count toward the upper limit.
Product Analysis LiteFree, unlimited, no sign-up. Type a description, or upload a catalog using our template. Runs entirely in your browser.
Product Analysis AIReads photographs of labels and lab reports, and messy catalogs that no template would fit. Open to verified businesses in the hemp trade.
Everything here runs inside your browser. Spreadsheets and photographs are read on your own machine and are never uploaded, stored, or sent to us.
Product Analysis AI sends your photo or description to our server to be read by a U.S.-based AI language model. We do not keep the photo or the description. The business details you enter, and the results of any checks you ran on this page, come to us so we can follow up.
More detail gives a better read. Cannabinoid type, milligrams per piece, pieces per container, and whether it is full-spectrum, broad-spectrum or isolate.
Drop a spreadsheet here, or choose a file
.xlsx, .xls or .csv — product name, description and milligram columns are read automaticallyYour own spreadsheet works — we read whatever columns we recognise. But the template below asks for the four things that actually decide a date, so the results come back complete instead of half of them saying "needs a lab report".
Drop a photo here, or choose a file
A product label, a cannabinoid facts panel, or a Certificate of AnalysisThe text is read on your device. Check what it picked up before you trust the result — labels photograph badly, and you can correct it.
The reader is open to businesses in the hemp, CBD and cannabinoid trade. Tell us who you are and where to find you, and it unlocks immediately.
A website or a social page is fine in place of a storefront address. We ask because each reading costs us money, and we would rather spend it on operators with real inventory than on curiosity.
20:00left in this session
15readings remaining
Drop a photo here, or choose a file
A product label, a cannabinoid facts panel, or a Certificate of AnalysisWhere you land
Every merchant in this position ends up in one of three places
Which one you are in decides everything that follows — including whether a payment processor is even the right conversation.
Your catalog survives
Broad-spectrum, isolate, or anything that stays under the 0.4 mg upper limit per container. The narrowed definition does not reach you. You are losing Square, not your products.
What you need: a processor that will take the category A straight replacement. Nothing about your shelf has to change.
You are reformulating
Your current products will be over the limit on your date, but you have a compliant version coming and a plan to get there. The hardest of the three, and the one most worth helping.
What you need: acceptance that bridges the transition Underwriting that understands the plan, not just the current catalog.
Your products do not survive
Converted cannabinoids, or plant-derived products well over the limit, with no reformulation planned. After your date these are federally controlled.
What you need is time, and you still have some Until your date it is still hemp. Sell it through at home, sell it into states that still allow it, or return it to your supplier. On your date every one of those doors closes. The section below shows where they are still open.
For products that will not survive
Where inventory can still go, and when that stops
Until its federal date, a product that meets today's definition is still hemp. It can still be sold, and shipped to states that still allow it. We reviewed all fifty states and the District of Columbia. A few markets are still wide open: North Carolina, South Carolina, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania permit THCA flower and hemp delta-9 products at retail. Florida and Texas still sell compliant hemp delta-9 edibles. Illinois and Missouri stay open only until November 12th. Most of the rest closed their doors early. See which states are open, conditional or closed.
Two things do not change. No licensed cannabis business can buy your leftover stock, in your state or any other, because licensed operators source only through their own state's tracked supply chain. And on your date the window shuts everywhere at once: the product becomes cannabis under federal law, and it cannot be sold through ordinary retail or cross a state line.
State programme status as of September 29th, 2026.
Choose your state
Your federal date is identical in all fifty states. Until then, what changes state to state is which products may still be sold there, and on what terms. No state's licensed cannabis programme takes a retailer's leftover inventory.
See where sunsetting inventory can go, state by state — we checked all fifty states and the District of Columbia.
Today: hemp ≠ cannabis. Same plant. Different label.
The leaf never changes. On your date, the definition does — and the label is the only thing standing between the two jars.
On timing, and on writing it off
There is no sell-through window written into the statute. Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 sets an effective date. It does not, on its face, give retailers a grace period to clear stock afterwards. Confirm your position with your own counsel and your state regulator before assuming you can run inventory past your date.
The practical consequence follows from that: stock still on the shelf after your federal date has no ordinary retail outlet. The time to move it is now, while it can still be sold at home and in the states that allow it. Plan your inventory cycle around the federal deadline rather than around the season.
Move fast, and check two things first. Many states restricted this inventory ahead of the federal date, so confirm the destination still allows the product before you sell or ship into it. And sell to someone who can sell it through in time: a consumer, or a store that turns stock quickly. Wholesaling it to a business that will still be holding it on the date only transfers the problem.
On the tax question, talk to your accountant, and ask one thing specifically. Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code denies deductions and credits to a business trafficking in a Schedule I controlled substance. Most merchants assume unsellable inventory is a straightforward write-off, which it may or may not be, but Section 280E exists and interacts with how losses and inventory are treated — ask a certified public accountant who knows the industry, and ask before the date rather than at filing.
Wondering where it can still be sold? We reviewed every state's rules for selling before the federal dates, and checked the open ones twice. Pick a state and see which doors are open, including the caveats.
Common questions
Square, Section 781 of Public Law 119-37, and what happens to your products
Is Square banning CBD and hemp products?
Square is exiting the category and sent merchants two different notices. Merchants with a mixed catalog were told to remove all CBD and hemp items from their Square catalog, in person and online, by October 15th, 2026 — the account stays open. Merchants whose catalog is primarily hemp or CBD were told the entire account closes on November 5th, 2026, at 11:59 pm EST.
Which notice you received decides whether you are losing a shelf or losing an account. Most merchants have never been asked which one they got.
When exactly is Square removing hemp and CBD products?
October 15th, 2026 for mixed-catalog merchants, who strip the hemp items and keep the account. November 5th, 2026, 11:59 pm EST for hemp-primary merchants, whose accounts close entirely.
Both dates are private underwriting decisions. They do not move if federal law moves.
What is Section 781 of Public Law 119-37?
Signed on November 12th, 2025, it rewrites the federal definition of hemp. Two provisions matter: total THC replaces delta-9 THC, which captures THCA and similar cannabinoids, and a hard upper limit of 0.4 mg of total THC per container arrives for finished products intended for human or animal use.
It is a milligram limit, not a percentage. It cannot be diluted around.
Why do delta-8 products have a different deadline than THCA?
H.R. 6500, signed September 2nd, 2026, delayed most of Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 from November 12th to December 11th, 2026. The delay does not reach cannabinoids synthesized or manufactured outside the plant.
So converted cannabinoids — delta-8, delta-10, HHC, THC-O, THCP — lose hemp status on November 12th, 2026, unchanged. Plant-derived cannabinoids — THCA, live resin, full-spectrum CBD, plant-extracted hemp delta-9 — fall under December 11th, 2026.
That is why the first question about any product is how the cannabinoid was made.
What is the 0.4 mg total THC limit, and does CBD count toward it?
The limit is 0.4 mg of total THC per container for finished hemp products intended for ingestion, inhalation or topical application.
CBD does not count toward it. The large milligram figure on the front of a package is usually CBD strength, which is a different measurement entirely. A 1500 mg CBD tincture might carry 4.5 mg of THC or almost none, depending on whether it is full-spectrum, broad-spectrum or isolate. Only the Certificate of Analysis settles it.
Can I still accept credit card payments for CBD after Square leaves?
Yes, if your products stay inside the narrowed definition. Stripe, PayPal and Shopify Payments do not support CBD or hemp sales at all, so you need an account with an acquiring bank that has specifically approved the category.
How the bank classifies your business matters as much as what you sell. The classification follows your main line of business, your counter and your website can be treated differently, and the wrong classification can add cost or end the account. Running one line of business under another line's classification is a common way accounts get terminated. We work that out before an application goes in, not after.
What happens to products that do not meet the new hemp definition?
They lose the exemption from the Controlled Substances Act and become federally controlled substances. No payment rail changes that — not card, not ACH, not crypto.
After the date they cannot lawfully be sold to the public through ordinary retail or shipped across state lines. State-licensed cannabis programs do not take them either, because licensed operators source only through their own state's tracked supply chain.
Before the date, they are still hemp. That is the window: sell them through at home, sell them into states that still allow them, or return them to your supplier. Whatever is left afterwards has to be destroyed with records kept. See which states are still open.
Can I still sell hemp inventory into other states before the deadline?
Yes, where the destination state still allows the product. Until a product's federal date, the 2018 Farm Bill bars states from blocking the transport of compliant hemp. That protects the trip, not the sale: whether you can sell there depends on that state's own rules, and several states closed early.
Three more conditions apply. Keep a batch Certificate of Analysis and production paperwork with every shipment. The shipment has to arrive before the date, not just leave. And carriers set their own, stricter rules, so line up one that will take it first. See the state-by-state findings.
Why do you need my Certificate of Analysis instead of the brand's?
Certificates of Analysis are batch-specific. THC content varies materially between production runs of the same product. A report pulled from a brand's website may cover batch 0449 while the jar on your shelf is batch 0612, with a different result.
A determination made on the wrong document is worse than no determination. The Certificate of Analysis is also the only place total THC is stated — the number the limit measures.
Is there a sell-through window after the federal deadline?
Not one written into the statute. Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 sets an effective date. It does not, on its face, give retailers a grace period to clear stock afterwards.
Confirm your position with your own counsel and your state regulator before assuming you can run inventory past your date.
Will Congress delay the hemp deadline again?
The White House has told senators there will not be another extension. The FDA has published none of the cannabinoid lists or the definition of "container" that Section 781 of Public Law 119-37 required within 90 days of enactment. And 35 state attorneys general wrote urging Congress to keep the original November date.
Square's dates are separate and earlier. An underwriting decision does not un-make itself on a statutory schedule.
If you need somewhere to go
Knowing the date is the first half. The second half is what you do about it.
Tell us what is on your shelf and we will tell you which of the three you are, including when the answer is the one nobody wants to hear. No charge, and no obligation to buy anything.
If a product will not survive, we will tell you plainly, and how long you have
Until its date it is still hemp, and it can still be sold at home and in states that allow it. After its date no store or website can sell it, no licensed cannabis business can buy it, and it cannot cross a state line.
So the plan is about speed: keep what survives, move what will not while the window is open, and document anything left to destroy. We will tell you which products are in which pile rather than sell you a terminal. We do not buy or broker inventory.
That is with us.
A payment processing professional will be in contact with you about these changes, usually the same day and always within two business days.
Nothing you sent is shared with anyone else, and you will not be added to a list.
What this tool is, and is not
This site explains publicly available federal law in plain terms and sorts products by which effective date applies to them as the statute is written.
It is not legal advice, and it is not a compliance determination. It cannot tell you whether a specific product is lawful in your state, and it does not substitute for a Certificate of Analysis or for your own counsel.
Verify every result against your lab report and your attorney before making an inventory or contractual decision.