IRS ‘Very Seriously’ Considering EPA’s Opportunity Zone Comments

The IRS is giving special consideration to the Environmental Protection Agency’s request for clearer language in opportunity zone regulations to spur investment in contaminated properties, or “brownfield sites,” a tax official said.

“We’re looking at that very seriously,” said Julie Hanlon-Bolton, special counsel to the IRS Associate Chief Counsel (Income Tax & Accounting). Hanlon-Bolton spoke Oct. 5 at an American Bar Association tax section meeting in San Francisco. The opportunity zones tax break on capital gains was created in the 2017 tax law.

• The EPA’s comments, dated Dec. 18, 2018, note that, “Brownfield sites often ...