Ah…opportunity zones. Not since my private message pursuit of Kristen Bell have I invested so much time and effort into something only to receive nothing in return.
To be honest, the whole opportunity zone thing has been a bit of a phenomenon. Once an overlooked eight pages of sloppily-written text buried deep within the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, over the last two years, the opportunity zone tax break – or at least talking about the opportunity zone tax break – has become big business. Not a week goes by that there isn’t an conference or three on the topic somewhere in the country. Over the summer, I arrived home from work one day to find the inaugural issue of Opportunity Zones Magazine in my mailbox. And to top it all off, in the past year, I’ve been interviewed by two opportunity zone podcasts, which is worthy of note only because it establishes that there are multiple opportunity zone podcasts.
I’ve gotten caught up in the excitement as much as anyone. This is now the sixth time I’ve published an article detailing the tax benefits afforded by Section 1400Z-2, and I’ve taught the topic more times than I can count. But rather than explain from my own perspective why this time has proved fruitless, allow me to share the words of a guy who stood – yes stood – in the back of my four hour workshop on opportunity zones for the AICPA this past November. About two hours into my class, as I explained the critical differences between QOZB, QOZP, and QOZBP, he’d finally heard enough. His hand shot up, and I asked if he had a question. He did.
Forbes
by Tony Nitti