Comparing Opportunity Zones and 1031 Exchanges

The Opportunity Zones incentive is a new community investment tool established by Congress in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 to encourage long-term investments in low-income urban and rural areas nationwide. Opportunity Zones provide a tax incentive for investors to re-invest their unrealized capital gains into dedicated Opportunity Funds. A 1031 exchange allows the owner of investment real estate to defer paying capital gains taxes when property is sold by purchasing new investment real estate. The below chart highlights some of the differences between the two tax deferral strategies.

Download OZ and 1031 Exchange Comparison PDF here