IRS Releases Additional Reporting Requirements For Opportunity Zone Investing

A clear picture of the opportunity zone program remains out of reach, but more information trickled out of the Internal Revenue Service at the end of October.

The IRS released a draft version of Form 8996, the filing document for qualified opportunity funds and their investors, containing additional requirements for reporting opportunity zone-related income, Bloomberg Tax reports. 

If the current version is finalized, Form 8996 would require a QOF to disclose how it is structured, as well as all of its assets and their respective census tracts. The census tract, employer identification number and assets will be required for any qualified opportunity zone businesses that are listed among a QOF's assets.

The form also requires at this point that filers list the value of their fund's assets as of certain testing dates within the year, including the assets of any businesses in which the QOF has an ownership stake. If any investor withdraws some or all of his or her stake in a QOF, the fund's filer will also be required to disclose the names, dates and ownership percentages in Form 8996, Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney reports.

As the first meaningful deadline approaches for opportunity zone investing, interested parties have no word on when the Treasury Department will release the full set of regulations. While some have felt secure enough to move forward on investments and developments, certain markets have seemingly lost momentum. 

In the meantime, Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and Tim Scott (R-S.C.), the co-sponsors of the original bill, have introduced a new bill that would make certain reporting requirements law, a more permanent move than anything the IRS can carry out on its own, Bloomberg reports.