The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 created a new community development program that provides capital gains tax relief to private investment within “qualified opportunity zones.” Under the Act, Ohio Governor Kasich may nominate up to 329 eligible census tracts for designation as “qualified opportunity zones” in the State of Ohio.
The Ohio Development Services Agency (ODSA) has launched a site (https://www.development.ohio.gov/bs/bs_censustracts.htm) to provide a map of eligible census tracts and to allow submissions by interested stakeholders to have certain eligible tracts considered for inclusion in Governor Kasich’s recommendations to the U.S. Treasury.
When making a submission through the ODSA portal, you must include contact information, the census tract by number and a brief narrative about economic activity, current or committed, in the census tract being submitted. If you submit more than one tract for consideration then you must provide information for each individual tract and prioritize the tracts being submitted. Submissions will be accepted until 4:00 p.m. on Friday, March 2, 2018 so interested parties wishing to apply should not delay.
For more information regarding the new Ohio opportunity zone program, please contact Colleen Haas or Marty Mooney of Frost Brown Todd’s Lending & Finance Practice Group and the Tax Law Practice Group for Tax Law Defined™.