Treasury Department Requests Information on Opportunity Zone Data Collection

Concurrent with publication of new proposed regulations on Opportunity Zones, the Treasury Department published a Request for Information (RFI) to seek public input on the development of information collection and tracking related to Opportunity Zone investments. In the RFI, Treasury notes the purpose of information collection and tracking is to measure the effectiveness of the Opportunity Zone policy in achieving its stated goals and to ensure that the investment remains an attractive option for investors.

The RFI suggests potential revisions to IRS Form 8996, used to certify that a corporation or partnership is a qualified Opportunity Fund and to report annually whether the fund met the investment standard during its tax year. It specifically requests comments on the following issues:

1. What data would be useful for tracking the effectiveness of providing tax incentives for Opportunity Zone investment to bring economic development and job creation to distressed communities?
2. In addition to Form 8996 revisions, what other information could be collected on a tax form that would be helpful in measuring the effectiveness of the Opportunity Zone incentive?
3. What data would be useful for measuring how much would have been invested in qualified zones in the absence of the Opportunity Zone incentives?
4. What data would be useful for ensuring that the Opportunity Zone investment remains an attractive option for investors?
5. What are the costs and benefits of various methods of information collection? Who should perform this data collection?
6. What considerations should government officials take into account when considering data to analyze the effectiveness of Opportunity Zone incentives to promote economic development to distressed areas? Over what time period should this analysis occur?
7. How do you view the role of the federal government, and tribal, state, and local governments in the ongoing maintenance and administration of Opportunity Zones?

NCSHA will respond to this RFI during the 30-day comment period. Please send your comments to Jim Tassos by May 3.