The event is full. Please call to be placed on a waiting list: 722-5501.
Opportunity Zones 101: Creating Conditions for Success in Duluth
Opportunity Zones, included in December’s tax reform package (the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act), is the first new community development tax incentive since the Clinton presidency. As of July 2018, Opportunity Zones have been selected by the Governors of all 50 states and have been certified by the US Department of the Treasury. For the next decade, private investors will be eligible for certain tax benefits in return for investing in these low-income communities.
Unlike previous federal tax incentives, the Opportunity Zone program is not a tax credit, nor an up-front tax subsidy. The private market will create, and the U.S. Department of Treasury will certify, Opportunity Funds – which are investment vehicles that will aggregate private investment and deploy that capital in Opportunity Zones as equity investments into eligible businesses and real estate projects.
Opportunity Zones provide an incentive for investors to reinvest unrealized capital gains into opportunity funds in exchange for a temporary tax deferral on portions of the initial investment; as well as excluding capital gains taxes on Opportunity Fund investments held for at least 10 years.
While Opportunity Zones is in its infancy and many questions remain, places around the country are considering the tool’s potential and what additional resources or actions would be most beneficial to help attract and direct new capital to these zones.
Join the Duluth Area Chamber, The Greater Downtown Council and LISC to learn about Opportunity Zone fundamentals and the most recent progress at the federal level from Kevin Boes, President and CEO of the New Markets Support Company – A LISC Affiliate