On Thursday, November 14, 2019, FAAR hosted a meeting on Qualified Opportunity Zones (QOZ) at the Germanna Community College Center for Advanced Technology. So what are Opportunity Zones and why should Realtors® care about them? Great question! Opportunity Zones were created as part of the 2017 Tax Cut and Jobs Act with the aim of funneling significant financial resources into low income and distressed communities.
Opportunity Zones aim to tap into trillions of dollars of passive wealth in the form of unrealized capital gains.
This new tax incentive program allows people to invest their capital gains in projects and programs in the Opportunity Zone without limits along with deferring paying the tax on that initial investment until 2026 along with the possibility of reducing that initial tax liability AND completely eliminating the tax liability on any capital gains realized from that investment. It can be a complicated program but very attractive to investors and those looking to fund real estate and business ventures. Want to learn more? Click here (requires Adobe Flash Player) to see the boundaries of the zones in our region and then look through the presentations by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) and Opportunity Virginia.
A special thanks to speakers Kristen Dahlman and Adam Northup and FAAR moderator, Carl Braun. More in-depth analysis of this meeting and Opportunity Zones will appear in the next edition of the FAARSide.