The opportunity zone program was enacted as part of the 2017 Tax Reform with the goal of directing long-term capital investments into underserved rural and urban communities. This program is viewed by many as the most ambitious federal tax incentive program for taxable investors to invest in real estate in decades. With an estimated $6.1 trillion of unrealized capital gains, the program uses a free-market approach to create economic resurgence and job creation in the low income and blighted communities.
Qualified opportunity zones are “economically distressed communities where new investments may be eligible for preferential tax treatment.” To qualify as an opportunity zone, a locality had to be nominated for the designation by its state governor and certified by Treasury. Treasury certified 8,764 census tracks in the 50 states, District of Columbia, and five possessions, including the entire island of Puerto Rico.