180 day period – Opportunity Zones – Insights From the Land of OZ

Taxpayers who recognized a capital gain in 2020 may have until March 31, 2021 to invest in a Qualified Opportunity Zone Fund (“QOF”), according to a new notice issued by the IRS last week.

On January 20, 2021, the IRS issued Notice 2021-10, which provided additional relief to taxpayers by postponing certain due dates to March 31, 2021.

Under Section 1400Z-2 of the Code, taxpayers normally have 180 days to invest capital gains in a QOF to be eligible for Opportunity Zone tax treatment.

One of the deadlines postponed by a previous relief notice was a taxpayer’s 180-day deadline for investing capital gain eligible dollars into a QOF. For any 180-day period that ended on or after April 1, 2020 and before July 15, 2020, the deadline was initially extended to July 15, 2020. Thereafter, under IRS Notice 2020-39 further relief for QOFs was granted to allow any 180-day period that ended on or after April 1, 2020 and before December 31, 2020, to be extended to December 31, 2020.

With their latest Notice, given the COVID-19 pandemic, the IRS again extended various deadlines again for QOFs and their investors to March 31, 2021.

In practical terms for an individual taxpayer, for any gain recognized on or after April 1, 2020 and before March 31, 2021, effectively, there is no 180-day period, rather, a March 31, 2021 deadline applies to invest their gain in a QOF. As such, the new IRS notice, gives some investors with 2020 capital gains (i.e., those with gains from April 1, 2020 to October 2, 2020) more time than originally anticipated for investment in OZs. For any gain recognized on or after October 2, 2020, the standard 180-day period will once again apply.

Other relief provided in the new notice applies to Qualified Opportunity Fund compliance deadlines, including extensions for complying with the 90% investment standard, the 30-month substantial improvement period, the 31 month working capital safe harbor, and the 12-month reinvestment period.

Duane Morris has an active Tax Credits and Opportunity Zone Team to help organizations and individuals plan, respond to, and invest in Opportunity Zones and low income areas throughout the USA, including the US Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico using tax credit equity and standard equity. We have closed over 61 OZ deals since their inception and are actively working on over 38 OZ projects for owner/developers, investors and business owners. We would be happy to discussion your proposed project with you. Contact your Duane Morris attorney for more information. Prior Alerts on the topic are available on the team’s webpage.

If you have any questions about this post, please contact Brad A. Molotsky, Art Momjian, Scott Gluck, Lee Potter, Keli Isaacson Whitlock, Anastasios Kastrinakis, or the attorney in the firm with whom you are regularly in contact.

Take care and stay safe.

Good morning/afternoon friends. As we draw close to March 15th, a magic day for partnerships and S corps. for required tax filings, if you have invested in a QOF or a QOZB, I wanted to politely reach out and remind you all of something your accountant is likely to have already covered but, just in case:

1. Individuals – have 180 days from their gain event to put as much or as little capital gains as they want into a QOF. The individual needs to file a Form 8997 for his/her individual OZ investments. This form is available on line at www.irs.gov and is due with your individual return in April.

2. Partners in Partnerships; Shareholders in S Corps. – as you likely know, the final regulations issued in December 2019 allow partners and shareholders to invest capital gains 180 days from when the return for the relevant entity is due. This due date, WITHOUT EXTENSION, is March 15th. 180 days from March 15th takes one to September 11th. Thus, if you are a shareholder in an S corp or a partner in a partnership that had 2019 gain that is distributed to you in your individual capacity, you have until September 11, 2020 (this year) to place your gain into an QOF and still qualify. That is for you in your individual capacity friends.

The entity that is the QOF (the qualified Opportunity Zone Fund) is required to file form 8996 with its tax return to tell the IRS it wants to be treated as a QOF. If the QOF files an extension, this form would be due with the extension. Note, the September date for the individual is NOT extended regarding the timing for their investments into a QOF and the individual is required to make a decisions 180 days from when the return was originally due (i.e., March 15th).

3. QOZBs – as discussed, if relevant to you, QOZBs do NOT need to file any forms with the IRS. That said, they still need to meet the 70% test, the 50% test and 5% tests in order for the QOF that has invested in them to qualify; so their paperwork is very very relevant, they just don’t need to file anything with the IRS. Please note that the QOZB’s information will still be needed for the QOF to file its form 8996 as there are specific questions about the QOZB contained in the QOF’s filing paperwork.

I know, clear as mud! Just note, I did not make up the rules just trying to keep friends and clients from running afoul of them. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out via email. I am traveling with my family (yes, I know, wash my hands) the rest of this week through Monday but will have access to email, just please be patient as out with my family. Best regards.

Over and out from the Land of OZ. -Brad

Tag: 180 day period

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