The Qualified Opportunity Zone (QOZ) program is a powerful tax incentive program enacted in 2017 as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act to provide investors with tax benefits to spur economic development in more than 8,000 Qualified Opportunity Zones spread over all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. possessions. Our team is at the forefront of advising clients on how to maximize the benefits of this incentive program.
Under the QOZ program, investors can defer and exclude certain gains by investing in a Qualified Opportunity Fund, which invests directly or indirectly in eligible businesses or properties located in a QOZ. The congressional Joint Committee on Taxation estimated that investors in Qualified Opportunity Funds will receive an average of $1.55 billion in tax benefits per year over the program’s first eight years, for an aggregate tax stimulus of $12.4 billion.
Ballard Spahr's cross-disciplinary QOZ team guides clients in planning and executing investments in businesses and properties located in QOZs and the organization of the Qualified Opportunity Funds through which this will occur. We provide strategic legal analysis of how the complex rules and regulations apply to specific investments and investor objectives.
The firm's QOZ team understands complex transactions from all angles.
We assist clients in navigating the tax, securities, fund formation, and other considerations of developing property, establishing a business, and investing in QOZs.
