Today, the Department of Treasury released the first set of
proposed regulations and a related revenue ruling for the opportunity zone
incentives created by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, which was
enacted December 22, 2017.
The proposed regulations address: (i) the types of gains that
may be deferred by investors, (ii) the timing to invest such gains
in qualified opportunity funds (QOF), and (iii) the manner to elect
deferral of such gains. The proposed regulations also provide
guidance for self-certification of the QOF, valuation of QOF's
assets and qualified opportunity zone businesses. Treasury will
accept comments for 60 days. It is anticipated that additional
guidance will be released by Treasury in 2019.