On December 19, 2019, nearly two years to the day since the
enactment of the Opportunity Zones legislation (Pub. L 115-97), the
U.S. Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service issued 544
pages of anticipated final regulations on the Opportunity Zones
program. The final regulations make important changes and
refinements to the first two tranches of proposed regulations as
well as provide guidance to other unanswered tax-related
issues.
Opportunity Zones were designed to spur economic development and
job creation in urban and rural distressed low-income communities
by providing tax incentives for qualified investments in designated
Opportunity Zones. Qualified investors who reinvest capital gains
in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF) within 180 days of the
property's disposition can achieve the following three tax
benefits:
