On Wednesday, April 17, the United States Department of the Treasury released proposed regulations related to investment in Qualified Opportunity Zones and Qualified Opportunity Funds. The issuance of these highly anticipated regulations and related guidance will provide critical information to investors, Qualified Opportunity Funds, and project sponsors/operators involved in real estate, venture capital, operating business, and project finance in Qualified Opportunity Zones. Of particular importance in this release is guidance relating to the qualification criteria for operating businesses and venture capital. The release also provides further clarity in the qualification criteria for real estate development projects. Greenberg Traurig has broad experience working with clients in fund formation and investor utilization, along with sponsor, developer, and operator project qualification under this new tax incentive program.

Click here for the full GT Alert, which includes a link to and highlights of the proposed regulations.

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Photo of James O. Lang James O. Lang

James O. Lang focuses his tax and corporate project finance practice on tax incentive programs, Qualified Opportunity Zone and Qualified Opportunity Fund financing, tax credits, and related state and federal incentive programs.  Jim is closing over $8 billion of Qualified Opportunity Funds and…

James O. Lang focuses his tax and corporate project finance practice on tax incentive programs, Qualified Opportunity Zone and Qualified Opportunity Fund financing, tax credits, and related state and federal incentive programs.  Jim is closing over $8 billion of Qualified Opportunity Funds and ancillary Qualified Opportunity Zone deployment of funds and has closed or is structuring several billion dollars in tax credit incentivized transactions.  Jim represents funds, investors, lenders, community development entities, and for-profit and not-for-profit project sponsors in complex transactions where capital stacks require enhancement through incentive financing, including Qualified Opportunity Zone incentives, state and federal new markets tax credits, affordable housing and low-income housing tax credits, historic rehabilitation tax credits, and renewable energy tax credits. He works with funds, investors, lenders, project sponsors, and qualifying businesses to structure these tax incentive programs along with ancillary governmental and non-governmental financing programs, including inbound immigration and Visa investment programs, grants, and taxable and tax-exempt bonds. Jim works with clients on developing creative structures designed to increase benefits and ameliorate risks.

Photo of Sanford C. Presant Sanford C. Presant

Sanford C. Presant, Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Real Estate Fund Practice, focuses his practice on providing fund and joint venture best practice business and tax structuring advice to sponsors of the leading real estate private equity funds, qualified opportunity zone (QOZ) funds,

Sanford C. Presant, Co-Chair of the firm’s Global Real Estate Fund Practice, focuses his practice on providing fund and joint venture best practice business and tax structuring advice to sponsors of the leading real estate private equity funds, qualified opportunity zone (QOZ) funds, REITs, and their local partners and investors in the U.S. and internationally.

Sandy has more than 30 years of experience as a tax and business lawyer for major funds and real estate companies. He has structured and negotiated the tax and business aspects for leading industry QOZ funds, over 100 real estate funds (including their internal general partner structuring and executive compensation) in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia, and more than 500 joint ventures (partnerships and LLCs), including QOZ subsidiary JVs (QOZBs), as both a corporate and tax attorney. Sandy was the National Co Chair – Real Estate Fund Services at Ernst & Young from 2000 – 2005 and was Chair of DLA Piper’s Real Estate Fund Practice. Sandy is a prior Chair,  American Bar Association Partnership Tax Committee, and is a member of the NAREIT Government Relations Committee and the Tax Policy Advisory Committee (TPAC) of the Real Estate Roundtable.

Sandy served as National Chairman of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Partnership Taxation, is a member of the ABA Task Force on Debt Restructurings and Bankruptcy, and chaired the ABA Task Forces on Publicly Traded Partnerships and Partnership Tax Allocation Rulings. He is on the Tax Policy Steering Committee of the State Bar of California, on the advisory board for California CEB’s Advanced Tax Planning for Real Estate Transactions, on the Board of Advisors of the Loyola Law School Tax LL.M. Program, and is a member of the Advisory Board for CCH’s Journal of Passthrough Entities. He has been a regular guest commentator on the PBS program The Nightly Business Report and was a presenter at the 1993 California Economic Summit. For 15 years, Sandy was an adjunct professor at New York University’s Real Estate Institute. He speaks annually at a number of the principal tax conferences throughout the country.

Sandy was a program director of the 2003 NAREIT Law and Accounting Conference. He currently is a Co-Chair (and founder) of PLI’s Annual Real Estate Tax Forum in New York. He is the co-author of the two-volume treatise Tax Aspects of Real Estate Investments. In 2007, he was named a California Super Lawyer, as the result of a joint research project by Law & Politics and Los Angeles magazines. He is listed in The Best Lawyers in America.

Sandy has substantial experience in structuring funds and joint ventures to minimize UBTI, including the use of blocker structures reducing the withholding and tax for cross border investors and tax-exempts, public and private REITs, hotel net lease structures that minimize leakage, and fractions rule compliant structures.