Dean Mead Participates in 2018 Florida Opportunity Zones Conference

The firm is pleased to provide support to the first Florida Opportunity Zones Conference. Steve Looney, Dean Mead tax attorney and chair of the firm’s Tax and Corporate Department, is also presenting at an event seminar, “Understanding Rules & Regulations for Opportunity Funds.” He recently wrote about the topic in the informative article “Qualified Opportunity Zones – Recent IRS Proposed Regulations.”

The conference is at the University of Central Florida campus in Orlando on December 18-19. CDFA, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and the Florida Chamber Foundation are bringing together the most up-to-date, innovative thinking about how to maximize the positive impact of Opportunity Zones at the 2018 conference in Orlando. There are nationally recognized speakers who are experts in Opportunity Zones funding and guidance, as well as Florida civic and business leaders who will be spearheading the effort to draw investment to the state and local communities and developers who have projects already underway.

Created as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Opportunity Zones are a federal economic development tool aiming to improve the outcomes of distressed communities around the country. Opportunity Zones are low-income census tracts that offer tax incentives to groups who invest and hold their capital gains in Zone assets or property. By investing in Opportunity Zones, investors stand to gain a temporary deferral on their capital gains taxes if they hold their investments for at least 5 years, and a permanent exclusion from a tax on capital gains from the Opportunity Zones investments if the investments are held for 10 years.

Learn more about Opportunity Zones at CDFA’s Opportunity Zones Resource Center and the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity’s Opportunity Zones Information Page.