Opportunity Zone investment brings potential for nationwide impact
by Callan Smith | Rose Law Group Reporter
The panel at Pinal Partnership’s September breakfast regarding Opportunity Zones. From left to right: Joshua Hayes, Scott Tonn, Michael Lafferty, Jordan Rose, Shawn Neidorf, Dan Gauthier.
Opportunity zones, how they work and how to invest was the topic of discussion at Pinal Partnership’s monthly breakfast panel, moderated by Jordan Rose, Rose Law Group president and founder.
The zones are a federal community development program enacted as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, passed in December of 2017, with the primary purpose of incentivizing long-term investment in zones set aside by each state. Arizona has 168 Opportunity Zones, designated by Governor Ducey and certified in April.
Investors can participate by rolling unrealized capital gains into an opportunity fund, which can make a variety of investments in the designated zones with three primary incentives. If the gains are held by the fund for five years, the eventual tax on those gains is reduced by ten percent; if held for another two years, the eventual tax is reduced by an additional five percent. At ten years, the gain earned while the investment was in the opportunity fund – the difference between the original investment and its value ten years later—is untaxed.
