In this video you'll learn how to take advantage of opportunity zones in the coming months.
What is an Opportunity Zone?
An Opportunity Zone, or “Ozone” as some people like to call them, are low-income census tracks that are lagging behind other more prosperous U.S. communities. The governors of each state were allowed to designate 25% of those low-income tracts as potential Opportunity Zones to help promote investment in those areas. They were also allowed to designate 5% of adjoining tracks that meet less stringent poverty level requirements.
For low-income Ozones, the poverty rate must be at least 20 percent with a median family income that’s no more than 80 percent of the area median. For neighboring tracts, the median family income is limited to 125 percent of the low-income census tract next door.
Once they were identified by local governments, they were submitted for approval to the U.S. Department of the Treasury. As of now, there are around 8,700 “Qualified” Opportunity Zones within the U.S. and its territories.
As a territory, Washington, D.C. nominated Puerto Rico, and the entire island is now an Opportunity Zone. Puerto Rico was already insolvent when Hurricane Maria struck last year and devastated the island.
Watch this video to learn more.