Overseas property news - It’s all go in the us ‘gozone’

It’s all go in the us ‘gozone’

The US ‘Go Zone’ could offer lucrative opportunities for international investors…

Following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005, the US Congress passed the Gulf Opportunity Zone Act, or GO Zone Act. The Act provides special tax incentives to spur rebuilding in the hurricane-damaged areas of Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama along the Gulf of Mexico coastline.

The GO Zone Act offers several tax benefits to properties built and placed into service in the GO Zone region after the hurricanes. The incentives are being offered by the government to help bring back life once again to the affected areas and rebuild the economies of these states.  The Key provisions of the act are:

  • 50% bonus depreciation is available to businesses of all sizes for investments in equipment, non-residential real property or residential rental property.

  • NOL carryback for qualifying losses extended from 2 years to 5 years.

  • Tax-exempt bonds worth about $4.9 billion are available in Mississippi. These tax-exempt, private-activity bonds can be used to finance commercial projects. Participating businesses could save up to 200 basis points in interest costs annually.

  • Increased deduction for qualifying tangible personal property for small businesses.

  • Employee Retention and work opportunity tax credits available to qualifying employers.

  • Portion of demolition and cleanup expenses may be expensed instead of capitalized.

  • New markets tax credits increased for qualifying investments in low-income communities.
  • Increased qualified rehabilitation credits for historic structures.

Dan Johnson, Managing Director of TheMoveChannel.com, commented: “Infrastructure projects can be highly lucrative at the best of times, but with the added incentives on offer from the US government, there is a significant upside potential for anyone fortunate enough to be in a position to invest.

“Normally, the main difficulty is finding a qualifying project for which the contract hasn't already been one by a company with the ear of the local administrators. But with the GoZone, it should be possible for individual investors in buy to let property to benefit from at least some of the incentives.

“Provided you can get mortgage finance on to gear up your investment, the infrastructure improvements, low priced dollar and government incentives could provide a triple whammy to boost investment returns.

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