Opportunity Zones Program

[Alex Bekeza]

I just read an interesting article about the "Opportunity Zones Program".  I'm interested to see if anyone here on BP is already engaged with it and what there experience has been so far as well as their goals and expectations.

Established by the Tax Cut and Jobs Act, the Opportunity Zone program aims to give investors an incentive to put money into an Opportunity Fund that then invests in low-income neighborhoods, according to the census, as designated by the governor of each state. In exchange, part of an investor's investment in the Opportunity Fund would be forgiven with the rest subject to a tax that varies depending on the length of the investment.

The Opportunity Zones tax incentive was included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act President Donald Trump signed into law in December. But the idea stems from a 2015 white paper from the Economic Innovation Group, a D.C.-based think tank that is now working closely with states to help implement the program.

Is anyone participating in this program yet?

How is it going and what are your expectations and goals???

[Zach Hefton]

An existing rental would not qualify for multiple reasons. 1) It has to be in a qualified fund, and 2) the property needs to be substantially improved. There’s a lot more that goes into these funds that I haven’t looked into yet, but I will once I’m off vacation. 

Brandon Hall has written some good and informative articles on these funds. I’d recommend going to read some of his work on LinkedIn.