White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council Launches New Opportunity Zones Website
Oct 6, 2019
The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council introduced a new website www.OpportunityZones.gov for all stakeholders working with the OZs initiative. This new resource will serve as a hub of information for the array of audiences that work with the OZs initiative.
The new OZs website features:
In 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which established OZs to incentivize long-term investments in low-income communities across the country. These incentives offer capital gains tax relief to investors for new investment in designated zones. OZs are not a grant program but a new investment tool – similar to the home mortgage interest deduction that creates tax preferences, which then drive individual and market behavior.
The incentives offer capital gains tax relief to investors for new investment in designated OZs and are anticipated to spur $100 billion in private capital investment. Qualified OZs retain this designation for 10 years. Investors can defer tax on any prior gains until no later than Dec. 31, 2026, so long as the gain is reinvested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund, an investment vehicle organized to make investments in Qualified OZs. In addition, if the investor holds the investment in the Opportunity Fund for at least 10 years, the investor would be eligible for an increase in its basis equal to the fair market value of the investment on the date that it is sold.
Communities can make the most of this program by matching private-sector investment with public-sector goals to accelerate and amplify economic development in their low-income neighborhoods. The federal OZ statute is not prescriptive in terms of the types of qualified investments, which provides the flexibility to create local and state strategies that will allow these investments to assist in achieving local and statewide policy objectives.
The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council is engaging all levels of government to identify best practices and assist leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs in using the OZ incentive to revitalize low-income communities. In April 2019, the White House hosted over 170 municipal and county officials for an OZ Conference. The event consisted of briefings and discussion on regulatory and implementation developments, sharing best practices, and highlighting successes. A full video recap of the White House Opportunity Zone Conference is available online.
Additional Resources for Cities
The new OZs website features:
- An interactive map of all 8,764 OZs across the United States.
- Easy access to links for state and territory-specific OZs websites.
- Latest news happening with the council and in OZs around the country.
In 2017, President Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which established OZs to incentivize long-term investments in low-income communities across the country. These incentives offer capital gains tax relief to investors for new investment in designated zones. OZs are not a grant program but a new investment tool – similar to the home mortgage interest deduction that creates tax preferences, which then drive individual and market behavior.
The incentives offer capital gains tax relief to investors for new investment in designated OZs and are anticipated to spur $100 billion in private capital investment. Qualified OZs retain this designation for 10 years. Investors can defer tax on any prior gains until no later than Dec. 31, 2026, so long as the gain is reinvested in a Qualified Opportunity Fund, an investment vehicle organized to make investments in Qualified OZs. In addition, if the investor holds the investment in the Opportunity Fund for at least 10 years, the investor would be eligible for an increase in its basis equal to the fair market value of the investment on the date that it is sold.
Communities can make the most of this program by matching private-sector investment with public-sector goals to accelerate and amplify economic development in their low-income neighborhoods. The federal OZ statute is not prescriptive in terms of the types of qualified investments, which provides the flexibility to create local and state strategies that will allow these investments to assist in achieving local and statewide policy objectives.
The White House Opportunity and Revitalization Council is engaging all levels of government to identify best practices and assist leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs in using the OZ incentive to revitalize low-income communities. In April 2019, the White House hosted over 170 municipal and county officials for an OZ Conference. The event consisted of briefings and discussion on regulatory and implementation developments, sharing best practices, and highlighting successes. A full video recap of the White House Opportunity Zone Conference is available online.
Additional Resources for Cities