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Opportunity Zones: Aligning Public and Private Capital

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Opportunity Zones: Aligning Public and Private Capital

At the end of 2017, a potential $6.1 trillion in unrealized capital gains was available for reinvestment.

Throughout the U.S., unrealized capital gains have significant tax implications with enormous potential. Unrealized capital gains occur when the value of an asset has gone up on paper, but has not yet been sold for a profit. Taxes are triggered once the asset has been sold.

Investors can offset or defer these taxes in a few ways, including one new strategy: investing in opportunity zones.

Today’s infographic from Bedford Funds explains what opportunity zone funds are, their core benefits, and their potential impact across the country.

What is an Opportunity Zone?

Opportunity zones are U.S. Census tracts whose citizens experience economic distress.

Originating in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, they offer the potential to connect long-term capital with low-income communities across the country to drive return and impact.

How are opportunity zones chosen? The initial base is low-income census tracts, which have:

  • Poverty rates of at least 20%; or
  • Median family incomes lower than 80% of the surrounding area

The state’s governor or chief executive then nominates up to 25% of these areas as opportunity zones. Nationwide, a total of 8,700 opportunity zones exist, and 7.9 million of the areas’ residents live in poverty.

Overall, 35 million people live in these opportunity zones. There are a number of disparities between opportunity zones and notional averages across key variables:

Poverty RateMedian Family IncomeEducation*
Opportunity Zones27.1%$47,31618.1%
National Average14.1%$73,96531.5%

*Adult with Bachelor’s degree or higher

It’s evident these cities could benefit from increased investment.

What is an Opportunity Zone Fund?

An opportunity zone fund (OZF) is an investment vehicle that provides tax benefits for private capital to help revitalize economically distressed communities. Both operating businesses and real estate are eligible for investment.

Many investor types may take advantage of opportunity zone funds:

  • Corporations– Also includes partnerships
  • Accredited investors– Defined as high net worth individuals, brokers, and trusts
  • Nonresident foreign investors– Only on capital gains earned in the U.S.
  • Retail investors– Through funds that have lower minimums, though options are more limited

In addition to their wide eligibility, OZFs have a number of potential benefits.

Benefits

Tax breaks on capital gains can be organized into three tiers:

  • Initial Tax Deferral– Once the previously-earned capital gains are channeled into a qualifying OZF, federal tax is deferred until December 31, 2026 or the date the investment is sold— whichever comes sooner
  • Step-Up In Basis10% of the original capital gains will be excluded from federal taxes if an investment is held for five years
  • Capital Gains Tax Exclusion– Federal tax on capital gains earned within the OZF is 100% eliminated if an investment is held for 10 years

All things being equal, OZFs realize after-tax outcomes that are over 40% higher than a standard portfolio investment. For example, the potential after-tax value of a $100 investment after a 10-year holding period would be as follows.

Initial InvestmentNet after-tax value
OZF$100$175.30
Standard portfolio investment$76.20 ($100- 23.8% capital gains tax)$132.36

*Note: assumes long-term federal capital gains tax rate of 23.8%, no state income tax, and annual appreciation of 7% for both the OZF and alternative investment.

While it takes a few years to realize these tax benefits, OZFs have long-term horizons to encourage sustained investment with a lasting impact. The result is the potential for sustainable and equitable wealth creation.

Future Impact

Although real estate investments have captured significant attention, recent regulation has clarified that operating businesses are also eligible OZF investments.

By investing in businesses, OZFs can have a direct impact on economic growth and job creation.

Ultimately, OZFs have the potential to catalyze collective impact through their scalable operating company and real estate investments. Working directly with community leaders, OZFs can help drive long-term rejuvenation from within, versus gentrification from outside forces.

Opportunity zone funds are projected to raise $44 billion in capital designed specifically to invest in this future growth.

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Investor Education

Visualized: A Step-by-Step Guide to Tax-Loss Harvesting

In Canada, tax-loss harvesting allows investors to turn losses into tax savings. This graphic breaks down how it works in four simple steps.

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An illustrative graphic showing part of the steps in tax-loss harvesting, including selling a $50,000 investment with a $10,000 loss.

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The following content is sponsored by Fidelity Investments

A Step-by-Step Guide to Tax-Loss Harvesting

Market ups and downs can be unnerving, but the good news is that tax-loss harvesting allows investors in Canada to capture tax savings when their portfolio drops in value.

While it sounds complicated, a tax-loss harvesting strategy is actually fairly straightforward. An investor can use capital losses to offset capital gains found elsewhere in their portfolio, leading to a lower tax bill. While there are important conditions to keep in mind, investors can use this strategy to enhance portfolio returns over time by reinvesting these tax savings.

This graphic from Fidelity Investments shows how tax-loss harvesting works and why it may improve tax efficiency in an investor’s portfolio.

Breaking It Down

Consider a person who invested $50,000 in a mutual fund held in a non-registered account that has dropped by $10,000 in value. To help minimize losses, they took the following steps in a tax-loss harvesting strategy.

For the sake of this example, taxes are based on the maximum federal rate and the average maximum provincial tax rate.

  1. Sold investment with a $10,000 loss
  2. Invested $40,000 into a different mutual fund
  3. Used the $10,000 capital loss to offset capital gains realized elsewhere in the non-registered portfolio
  4. Achieved up to $2,550 in tax savings

The investor realized as much as $2,550 in tax savings by utilizing a $10,000 loss against a $10,000 capital gain. Without tax-loss harvesting, this $10,000 capital gain would be taxed at a 50% capital gains inclusion rate ($10,000 X 50% = $5,000). This $5,000 in applicable gains is then taxed at a 51% combined federal and provincial tax rate ($5,000 X 51% = $2,550 in taxes owed).

In contrast, by using tax-loss harvesting, the investor would have achieved up to $2,550 in tax savings.

What’s more, you can reinvest your tax savings over each year—which may help boost portfolio returns over time if the new investment increases in value.

Tax-Loss Harvesting Tips

With a tax-loss harvesting strategy, here are some key tips and considerations to keep in mind:

  • Investment Timeline: A capital loss can be used to offset capital gains not only in the current year, but in the three years prior and/or any year indefinitely in the future.
  • New Investment Type: After selling an investment that’s dropped in value, it’s important to buy a different investment to avoid triggering the ‘superficial loss rule’. Investors can aim to choose an investment with similar long-term returns.
  • Plan for Year-End: In order to achieve a capital loss, plan to sell an investment at least two to three days before the year’s final trading day so the investment settles before year-end.

Together, these tips can help investors strategically execute a tax-loss harvesting strategy.

Tax Made Easier

During volatile markets, investors can seize the opportunity to turn losses into tax savings using tax-loss harvesting as a key tool to help generate higher after-tax returns.

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Explore Fidelity’s tax calculator to discover tax-saving opportunities.

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