Status as of October 26, 2026: States have submitted their 2027 nominations. Treasury certification is due by November 27, 2026, or by December 28, 2026 if extended, and the IRS expects to publish the designated list before January 1, 2027. Until then, no 2018 zone is confirmed as retained or lost, except where a 2018 tract is not on the 2027 eligible list at all.
The 8,764 census tracts designated in 2018 remain Opportunity Zones through December 31, 2028 (Puerto Rico: December 31, 2027). That date is widely quoted. The date that matters more for a project in development is December 31, 2026. After it, the rules that let new property qualify in a 2018 zone change, and for tracts that are not redesignated they largely stop working.
The rule in one paragraph
Under the 2025 law, property counts as qualified only if it is acquired after the zone's "applicable start date." A 2018 zone that is not redesignated for 2027 has no applicable start date under the new rules. IRS Notice 2026-40 §5.01 therefore provides that tangible property acquired after December 31, 2026 for use in such a tract generally cannot be qualified business property. There are two exceptions:
- A working-capital plan in place by year-end 2026. The property is acquired under a written working-capital safe-harbor plan adopted by December 31, 2026. At least 10% of the planned working capital must have been received, and at least 5% expended, by that date, and the plan must be substantially followed.
- Replacement, not expansion. The property is ordinary-course replacement or modernization property, not an expansion of the business.
Who is affected
A 2018 zone falls into one of four situations with respect to the 2027 map.
| Situation | How to tell | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Redesignated | On the IRS 2027 designated list | Post-2026 property qualifies under the new rules |
| Nominated, awaiting certification | On a state's published nomination list | Likely retained; contingent until certification |
| Eligible, decision unknown | On the Rev. Proc. 2026-14 eligible list; no published nomination | Unknown until the list is published |
| Not eligible for 2027 | Not on the eligible list | Will most likely drop out; off-list nominations were allowed but required tract-level analysis |
Many 2018 zones cannot be redesignated. The 2027 test is narrower: 70% of area median family income, or 20% poverty with income at or below 125% of the median, and no contiguous tracts. Rev. Proc. 2026-14 lists 25,332 eligible tracts nationally. A 2018 zone that met the old 80% test, or that qualified as a contiguous tract, may not appear on it.
Map vintages. The 2018 zones are drawn on 2010 census tracts and the 2027 map on 2020 tracts. Where tract boundaries changed, a site can sit in a 2018 zone whose successor 2020 tract is only partly comparable. Check the exact parcel, not the tract name.
Screen a site against both maps →
Decision tree for sponsors
1. Is the site in a 2018 zone? If not, this article does not apply. See the 2027 designation timeline.
2. Will the property be acquired, or the improvements placed in service, on or before December 31, 2026?
- Yes: The original rules apply to that property. Your exposure is the investors' deferral ending December 31, 2026, and the improvement and working-capital schedules you are already running.
- No: go to step 3.
3. Is the tract redesignated or nominated for 2027?
- Designated: post-2026 acquisitions can qualify under the new rules.
- Nominated: make certification a condition of closing.
- Not nominated, or not eligible: go to step 4.
4. Can a written working-capital plan be adopted, and 10% of planned working capital received and 5% spent, by December 31, 2026?
- Yes: document all three items, with board or manager approval of the plan, funding evidence and expenditure evidence, before year-end. Then follow the plan.
- No: go to step 5.
5. Is the planned property ordinary-course replacement or modernization rather than expansion?
- Yes: confirm the characterization with tax counsel.
- No: assume post-2026 property in this tract will not qualify. Either restructure the project outside the Opportunity Zone framework, or move it to a qualifying tract.
What lenders should do now
- Ask which map, which date and which source. A credit file that says the site "is in an Opportunity Zone" without those three facts is incomplete.
- Condition post-2026 closings on certification for nominated tracts, and on documented working-capital plans for 2018-only tracts.
- Re-run the sources and uses without the investor equity that depends on the benefit. If investors walk when the benefit is lost, the gap is the sponsor's problem before it is yours.
- Watch the draw schedule. A plan adopted in December 2026 that the project then fails to substantially follow does not protect the property.
What feasibility studies should say
A study for a project in a 2018 zone should state:
- the parcel's status in both maps, with the status date and source;
- the expected acquisition and investment dates, and which regime applies;
- whether a working-capital plan exists, with its adoption date and the funded and spent amounts as of December 31, 2026;
- a downside case in which the Opportunity Zone benefit is lost and the dependent equity does not fund.
What an Opportunity Zone feasibility study covers →
What does not change
- Existing investments keep their path. Original-regime investments retain the 10-year exclusion for dispositions through December 31, 2047. Practitioner summaries of Notice 2026-40 indicate the exclusion survives the December 31, 2026 inclusion of deferred gain.
- Expiring zones remain zones for compliance. Secondary sources indicate that expiring 2018 zones are expected to be treated as zones for limited compliance purposes through December 31, 2047, so existing funds can continue to meet their tests (secondary: Shipman & Goodwin). Confirm this with counsel for a specific fund.
- The deferral cannot be rolled. The gain included on December 31, 2026 cannot be reinvested for a second deferral.
If you are reading this after the IRS publishes the 2027 list
Once the list is published, the "nominated" and "undecided" situations above collapse into "redesignated" or "not redesignated." The decision tree still applies, but step 4's deadline will have passed. For post-2026 acquisitions in a tract that was not redesignated, only plans adopted and funded by December 31, 2026, and ordinary-course replacement property, remain.
How we verify this page
- Author
- Robert Mitchell
- Updated
- October 26, 2026
- Next update
- Rewrite the status paragraph and the 'If you are reading this after' box the day the IRS publishes the designated list.
- Sources
- Numbered list below
Sources
Primary:
- IRS Notice 2026-40, §§2.04(2)(c), 4.01 and 5.01 (June 18, 2026).
- Rev. Proc. 2026-14, §§2.02(3) and 5.04 (April 6, 2026).
- IR-2026-45.
- IRC §1400Z-2 as amended by P.L. 119-21 §70421.
- Treas. Reg. §1.1400Z2(d)-1(d)(3)(v).
Secondary, as labeled in the text:
- Practitioner summaries of Notice 2026-40 (EY, Greenberg Traurig, HCVT, Shipman & Goodwin).
General information, not tax or legal advice.