Your MesaZona blogger just could not pass up this article published a couple of days ago on Commercial Observer https://commercialobserver.com about Opportunity Zones where writer Rey Mashayekhi starts off the sub-heading with "A year ago, nobody knew what an opportunity zone was . . . ' HUH?Looking in the rearview mirror from what we know now from all the behind-the-scenes deals and years of planning with city officials here in Mesa, more than a few people probably may have acted on closely-held cahoots on inside information. ‘Opportunity’ Knocks for Real Estate Investors Buoyed by Tax Program
A year ago, nobody knew what an opportunity zone was. Now, it could be the biggest thing to hit real estate development ‘maybe ever.’
The federal Opportunity Zones program is expected to attract billions of dollars of investment into "economically distressed" areas across the U.S.
Illustration: Russ Tudor/for Commercial Observer
"Tucked into the federal tax reform bill that passed late last year, the “Opportunity Zones” program wasn’t designed specifically with real estate in mind. Rather, the provision—which provides significant tax relief to investors who pour money into designated, “economically distressed” areas across the country—is meant to spur investment across a wide variety of business sectors and industries.
And yet, due to the very nature of the program, it is real estate interests that appear most poised to benefit from its potentially lucrative tax incentives
This news might confound all those "Buy-and-Hold" and "Wait-and-See" throngs of investors who piled-in prematurely into Opportunity Zones . . . and at the same time help to inform and explain for the general public what plans investors make for the restoration of neglected downtown commercial space acquisitions here in The Old Donut-Hole for the ten properties on Main Street.
The Fixtures Fix:
Correcting the Drafting Error Involving the Expensing of Qualified Improvement Property
by Erica York May 30, 2018
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Introduction
Removing barriers to business investment in the United States was one of the central goals of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), enacted last December. One of the key provisions in the bill, known as “100 percent bonus depreciation,” allows businesses to immediately deduct the cost of short-lived investments—limiting the penalty that the federal tax code placed on businesses that make capital investments in the United States.
However, the law excludes some categories of business investment from 100 percent bonus depreciation.
For instance, many interior improvements to buildings are not eligible for the provision, and will be required to be written off over time periods as long as 39 years. This exclusion is widely believed to have been due to a legislative oversight: Congress seems to have intended building improvements to be eligible for 100 percent bonus depreciation, but left them out due to a last-minute drafting error. As a result, the new tax law actually worsens the tax treatment of this type of investment, which previously qualified for bonus depreciation, by reducing the ability of businesses to deduct their full building improvement costs.
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