The Working Families Tax Cuts Boosts Opportunity Zone Tax Incentive,
Driving More Capital to Communities Across America
WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) released guidance for eligible communities across America to be designated as qualified opportunity zones (QOZs). Under President Trump’s Working Families Tax Cuts, the permanent renewal of the Opportunity Zone tax incentives, including enhanced incentives for investment in eligible rural communities, will continue to boost private investment to underserved communities across America, building on tens of billions of private sector dollars already invested since these tax incentives were established by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.
“Under President Trump’s leadership, the Working Families Tax Cuts permanently renewed and strengthened Opportunity Zones, giving investors, entrepreneurs, and local leaders the long-term certainty they need to commit capital to communities that have been overlooked for too long,” said Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent. “This guidance is an important next step to continue driving private capital into productive investment, job creation, and opportunity to local communities across America.”
“Permanently extending and expanding Qualified Opportunity Zones offers states an opportunity to attract long-term investment into underserved, rural, and economically distressed areas,” said IRS Chief Executive Officer Frank J. Bisignano. “The IRS works collaboratively with the Treasury Department and the states to ensure a smooth QOZ designation process, which in turn encourages investment in Qualified Opportunity Funds that spur economic development.”
The new guidance released by the Treasury Department and the IRS provides the procedure for the Chief Executive Officers of all 50 States, the District of Columbia, and U.S. territories to nominate eligible population census tracts to be designated as QOZs later this year.
Background
The guidance provides the general procedure for the Governors of the States and U.S. Territories, and the Mayor of the District of Columbia, to nominate eligible census tracts as QOZs. That nomination period opens on July 1, 2026, and following a period of consideration by the Secretary of the Treasury, a new, 10-year-round of QOZs will be designated effective January 1, 2027.
The Treasury Department and the IRS also released a list of 25,332 eligible census tracts for nomination, of which 8,334 are eligible for rural benefits enacted as part of the Working Families Tax Cuts. Additional information on nomination procedures will be sent directly to the Governors and the Mayor.
In the coming weeks, the Treasury Department and the IRS also intend to issue additional guidance implementing the Opportunity Zone incentive, including transition guidance intended to provide clarity to investors and funds, and proposed rules on information reporting.
Guidance and additional information on the methodology employed by the Treasury Department, as well as the list of eligible census tracts for download, is available here.
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