Opportunity Funds web site
SEATTLE (PRWEB) April 25, 2018
Today, the first website dedicated to Opportunity Funds was launched at http://www.Opportunity-Funds.com. Opportunity Funds, which were authorized as part of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that passed into law in December 2017, provide tax benefits to investors in exchange for investment in economically disadvantaged communities. An Opportunity Fund Rollover transaction allows any investor an 8-year tax deferral, a 15% tax reduction on certain gain, and an exclusion of other gain from tax entirely.
Opportunity-Funds.com is the product of Erik Marks and Simeon Cathey, the same team that created the charity gift card concept run by TisBest Philanthropy at http://www.TisBest.org and the in-context support platform run by Content Panda at http://www.ContentPanda.com.
“This Opportunity Fund thing is a sleeping giant,” Marks says. “For years I have watched investors crave 1031 Exchanges with irrational exuberance. Now, the Opportunity Fund Rollover will offer better tax benefits than 1031 Exchanges, deferral of capital gains tax on all kinds of assets, the opportunity for cash-out today, and transactional ease.”
“The most exciting aspect of these Opportunity Fund Rollovers is that they will work for the sale of ordinary securities. I can sell my Apple stock, pocket the money I originally invested, and roll the gain into an Opportunity Fund tax-free. If I leave that Opportunity Fund investment alone for 10 years, then I can cash out the entirety of the Opportunity Fund investment—my original money and all the gain on it—tax-free.”
Marks emphasizes that although he foresees tremendous interest in Opportunity Funds in the long run, at the moment they are “100% Wild West. The law passed by Congress was bare-bones and requires substantial fleshing out through IRS regulations before the first dollars can flow into an Opportunity Fund.” Marks forecasts that the first Opportunity Funds will appear on the financial landscape in late Summer 2018, and that ordinary investors will first have access to the Opportunity Fund Rollover transactions in late 2018 or early 2019.
“Looking to the future,” Marks says, “I see a world where anyone can sell stocks on an online platform like Fidelity or E-trade—and then, while remaining on that platform, roll the gain entirely tax-free into an Opportunity Fund.” He goes on to explain that, “unlike the 1031 Exchange, which requires the assistance of licensed professionals for participation, the Opportunity Fund Rollover can be accessible to the ordinary taxpayer on an ordinary security trading platform. This says to me that the Opportunity Fund Rollover will be a widely used transaction that directs billions of dollars a year to economically disadvantaged regions of our country.”
“We launched this website,” Marks says, “to achieve two goals. First, we wanted to give the public a place to begin to understand the new Opportunity Fund rules. Until today, the only information available was from law firms and accounting firms, and generally incomprehensible to anyone not trained as a lawyer or CPA. Second, we wanted to create a hub of information, where anyone could follow along as the IRS and financial industry figure out what the Opportunity Fund space is going to look like and begin to make it available for use.”
Simeon Cathey, Director of Technology for the new website, says, “Erik shared this nugget of information about Opportunity Funds out of the new tax law with me, and I quickly shared his enthusiasm. Everyone wants to save on taxes when possible. And everyone wants to see financial investment in the economically challenged areas of our country. This new law brings these elements together, and the result is powerful. I pay taxes so I know a little bit about the rules, but I am not a lawyer or CPA. I designed our website to explain Opportunity Funds to a layperson like me.”
“Even more,” Cathey says, “I designed the website to allow the public to track new information about Opportunity Funds as it becomes available. People can come to the website and register for the information about certain issues, and we’ll send them updates as new information comes out.”
“Heck,” Cathey adds, “if our website is a hit and we sell it to a large corporation, I hope to roll my gain into an Opportunity Fund tax-free. I win a little bit and the economically disadvantaged community that my money gets invested into wins huge. How cool is that?”
About Erik Marks
Erik Marks is a multi-faceted businessman. He is a licensed real estate attorney, a licensed real estate broker, a real estate investor and an entrepreneur who founded CDL Recycle (construction waste recycling) and TisBest Philanthropy (Charity Gift Cards at http://www.TisBest.org). Erik lives in Seattle, WA.
About Simeon Cathey:
Simeon Cathey is a technology visionary, entrepreneur and Microsoft expert with more than 15 years of experience building information and document management applications for businesses. Simeon is a co-founder of TisBest Philanthropy (Charity Gift Cards at http://www.TisBest.org) and founder and CEO of Content Panda (Contextual Support at http://www.ContentPanda.com). Simeon lives in Maui, HI.
Source: Opportunity-Funds.com
Media Contact:
Erik Marks
Erik(at)egmrealestate(dot)com
206-612-8653