Opportunity Zone Investing After the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

This session examines the Opportunity Zone program as remade by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Section 1400Z now establishes a recurring national program, pairing five-year deferral and basis increases with tax-free appreciation that can extend through year 30, and OZ benefits can stack with LIHTC, NMTC, historic credits, and other project incentives. The session works through what capital can enter the program—gross capital gain, Section 1231 gain, and Section 1250 depreciation recapture—and the 180-day window, including pass-through elections that can extend it. It then turns to compliance: QOZB asset qualification, the five revenue-nexus tests, the 31-month working-capital safe harbor, and Form 8996’s detailed annual reporting. The session closes with 100% bonus depreciation under OBBBA and the architecture of a personal QOF platform.

This session puts Opportunity Zone investment side by side with the Section 1031 like-kind exchange. It compares triggering gains, what is acquired, timing rules, geography, proceeds handling, tax outcomes, basis, treatment at death, and asset universes, then applies the comparison through taxpayer examples—non-real-estate gains, stabilized income property, liquidity retention after a real-estate sale, and value creation. Attendees work through a five-question advisor framework matching the client’s gain, target portfolio, control, liquidity, and legacy plan to the right vehicle, along with capital-recycling guardrails, QOZB working-capital notes, and loss-harvesting strategies that can make a §1031 rollover moot. The session ends with the OZ 1.0 transition: Notice 2026-40’s limits on new OZ 1.0 capital, the mandatory 2026 inclusion, and the Reihsen & Associates comment-letter safeguards.