Just like any new government program, there is a need for additional guidance and regulation to answer questions that taxpayers and experienced professionals have unique to their own purposes and/or their clients’ purposes. As a result, the United States Treasury Department has been diligently reviewing voluminous amounts of requests from such taxpayers and professionals and is now expected to deliver such additional guidance and regulations before the end of this month.
While the Opportunity Zone world eagerly awaits the release of the proposed and interim regulations and sub-regulatory guidance from the Treasury Department, real estate developers and investors of all sizes continue to proceed with their plans of utilizing the Opportunity Zone Program by purchasing property in designated Opportunity Zones through Opportunity Zones Funds or by setting up larger Opportunity Zone Funds to pool together investors with capital gains to invest.
Even though there are many outstanding questions regarding the program that require additional regulations and guidance, there is enough of both in the legislation that created the program and elsewhere in the tax code to allow such developers and investors to safely proceed with proper guidance from legal, tax and accountant professionals. In doing so, such developers and investors are getting a head start with the program before the competition for Opportunity Zone properties and eligible investor capital gains becomes more intense and competitive once the regulations and guidance are announced and digested.
Aside from the major tax deferral benefits that the program provides, there are practical benefits that make this program unique and a valuable tool for the non-institutional real estate developer that should be noted:
- Since an Opportunity Zone Fund can be any investment vehicle organized as a corporation or partnership for the purpose of investing in a Qualified Opportunity Zone Property, the barrier to entry is low and permits developers of all sizes, not just larger institutional developers, REITs, Insurance Companies and funds, to create their own Opportunity Zone Fund for which to provide their investors with such tax deferral benefits.
- By providing an avenue for investors to receive such tax deferral benefits, developers with narrow margins to begin with and that are using all their resources to make one or two projects a reality, can feel less pressure to promise difficult-to-meet high returns by calculating in the tax deferral savings that the investors will receive on their initial capital gain and their future capital gain from the investment into the Opportunity Zone Fund. Thereby, providing the same effective return/benefit to the investor at a lower cost to the project and developer.
Once the regulations have been announced, we will circulate a thoughtful and comprehensive analysis. Until then, stay focused and active on the opportunities this program will offer. Together, we remain on the cutting edge of all aspects of the Opportunity Zones program.
In the meantime, if you have any questions or inquiries about the program, please do not hesitate to contact Adam R. Sanders at 212-551-1275 or at [email protected].