Opportunity Zone Funds for Tax Year 2019

[njcoons1]

Will Turbo Tax support Opportunity Zone Fund capital gain deferrals for doing 2019 taxes?  Or am I looking to hire an account for the first time in 20 years of using the service?

[Critter]

Well the IRS has finally issued the regs and forms for that  and my professional program has incorporated it for 2018  so  the TT program should have it in the 2019 version ... but we may need to wait and see. 

[njcoons1]

That would be great.  Fingers Crossed, How will turbo tax communicate that they will be implementing the support?

[AndyD]

Could somebody from TurboTax please comment on whether or not they will support investment in Opportunity Zone Funds and IRS Form 8949?

[Critter]

As of now it is not in the program ... but the 2019 program is far from fully operational ... check again in January .. here is the prior discussion on this subject which describes how to use the Downloaded version to complete an override in the forms mode....

 https://ttlc.intuit.com/community/taxes/discussion/how-do-i-elect-qualified-opportunity-zone-deferra...

[davidmgold]

If you do a manual override then you can NOT e-file your return which is begging for an audit by mailing in a paper copy.

If anyone gets any further updates on whether the 2019 software will support Opportunity Zones, please post here.  

Crazy to me that Turbotax can't provide clarity on whether they will or will not have this supported.

[njcoons1]

If they don't, I will be hiring an accountant for the first time in 20 years. 

[davidmgold]

I wish TurboTax would chime in on this and simply tell the community if they are planning to include this capability or not!  I did have to hire an accountant last year because TurboTax lacked this and will have to again if it doesn't support it.  

Manually entry/override is NOT an option!  When you do that you then must file your return in paper as Turbo Tax won't let you e-file and doing that on a long return is almost a guaranteed audit.  

[sandebg10]

This is my question, too.  Turbo Tax, please respond.  I tried to reach someone at TT by phone on this issue with no success...even with a support ID.  Frustrating.

[tiger425]

I dont see any issue here on QOZ investment reporting in Turbotax.   I do my taxes in Turbotax and then a CPA reviews before I submit.

No idea if the step by step interview supports QOZ, but you can certainly make the necessary entries manually on Form 8949.   Note that this does not require "overrides" or anything that would prevent you from filing electronically.   

Here are the instructions from the IRS pub Instructions for Form 8949 (2019)
[Draft as of October 8, 2019] :

Report the deferral of the eligible gain
on its own row of Form 8949 in Part I with
box C checked or Part II with box F
checked (depending on whether the gain
being deferred is short term or long term).
If you made multiple investments in
different QOFs or in the same QOF on
different dates, use a separate row for
each investment. If you invested eligible
gains of the same character (but from
different transactions) on the same date
into the same QOF, you can group those
investments on the same row. In column
(a), enter only the EIN of the QOF into
which you invested. In column (b), enter
the date you invested in the QOF. Leave
columns (c), (d), and (e) blank. Enter code
“Z” in column (f) and the amount of the
deferred gain as a negative number (in
parentheses) in column (g).

[davidmgold]

NO... you can NOT make manual entries for this unless you want to file your return in paper!!!

e-file will not work if you do a manual over ride!

TurboTax... SPEAK UP... are you including this feature or not for 2019!!!

[SteamTrain]

One of the Help Pages in the 2019 desktop software says:

"- Qualified Opportunity Funds deferral of eligible gains via investment into a Qualified Opportunity Fund (QO Fund) is not supported in TurboTax."
___________________

But then, some of these help pages can be behind the times and not updated properly for the next tax year.

....but it certainly isn't in the current software...dn the Code Z for a form 8949 is entirely absent.

But I'll ask

[rjs]

Deferred gain for Qualified Opportunity Funds (Codes Y and Z on Form 8949) is in the list of Unsupported Calculations for 2019 TurboTax. It is not supported and is not going to be supported.

Here is the statement in the Unsupported Calculations document dated January 2, 2020. This is on page 4.

31. Deferred Gains for Qualified Opportunity Funds (Form 8949 for Codes Y and Z): The program does not support the reporting of deferring tax on an eligible gain by investing in a QOF, by using Code “Z” in column (f). The program does not support the reporting of the amount of eligible gain that you previously deferred and now need to recognize by using Code “Y” in column (f).

The PDF document is at the following link.

Unsupported Calculations and Situations in the 2019 TurboTax Individual Federal Tax Software Program

[rjs]

Note that if you invest in a Qualified Opportunity Fund, or use code Y or Z on Form 8949, you must also file Form 8997, which is not included in TurboTax. The IRS has not yet issued Form 8997. Form 8997 must be filed with a tax return that is filed by the filing deadline (including extensions).

[vmann53]

Just curious, Since TT does not currently support Opportunity Zone filing and seems to have no intention of doing so, and since the IRS has not yet provided the proper form 8997, can both of these be submitted at a later date in the form of an amendment done by paper filing?