On October 29, 2018 The U.S. Treasury published its first set of proposed regulations governing Opportunity Zone tax incentives. Comment deadline on the proposed rules is December 28, 2018, and a public hearing is scheduled for January 10, 2019.
Click here for the Treasury, IRS initial press release of October 19, 2018.
Click here for the proposed regulations as they appear in the Federal Register, October 29th 2018.
Below is a summary of key points of the proposed regs, as articulated by Treasury:
- Investors may defer tax on almost any capital gain up to Dec. 31, 2026 by making an appropriate investment in a zone, making an election after December 21, 2017, and meeting other requirements.
- Almost all capital gains qualify for deferral. In the case of a capital gain experienced by a partnership, the rules allow either a partnership or its partners to elect deferral. Similar rules apply to other pass-through entities, such as S corporations and their shareholders, and estates and trusts and their beneficiaries.
- Generally, to qualify for deferral, the amount of a capital gain to be deferred must be invested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QOF), which must be an entity treated as a partnership or corporation for Federal tax purposes and organized in any of the 50 states, D.C. or five U.S. territories for the purpose of investing in qualified opportunity zone property.
- The QOF must hold at least 90 percent of its assets in qualified Opportunity Zone property (investment standard). Investors who hold their QOF investment for at least 10 years may qualify to increase their basis to the fair market value of the investment on the date it is sold.
- The proposed regulations also provide that if at least 70 percent of the tangible business property owned or leased by a trade or business is qualified opportunity zone business property, the requirement that “substantially all” of such tangible business property is qualified opportunity zone business property can be satisfied if other requirements are met. If the tangible property is a building, the proposed regulations provide that “substantial improvement” is measured based only on the basis of the building (not of the underlying land).