Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | M | Mississippi Business Journal

GO Zone creates advantage, but does it go far enough?

Article Excerpt
The Gulf Opportunity Zone (GOZA) incentives have been touted as a great advantage to Mississippi as it recovers from the largest natural disaster in U.S. history. While some people have found the GOZA incentives are complicated to understand, others say that is what business advisors like CPAs and attorneys are for, to help businesses through a process that although new to them, can have substantial economic benefits.

"It is definitely something people should not be afraid of," said John Scott, CPA, a partner and firm-wide director of tax for HORNE LLP, Jackson. "While the typical tax provisions can be complicated, the implementation of some of the more important provisions is very easy and taxpayer friendly.

"An example would be the bonus depreciation provision. If you acquire assets in the GO Zone before the expiration of the provision, you can write off 50% of the cost in the year of acquisition. Typically for real property you could have a life of 27.5 or 39 years. And with bonus depreciation, you can write off half of it in the first year. It is a great opportunity to save taxes in the year of acquisition. It is not complicated to understand or use although you will need bond counsel and investment bankers for tax exempt bond financing."

Scott said the opportunity is there for investment not only on the Coast but in the whole GO Zone, which is more than half of the counties in the state. Some of the provisions expire at the end of 2007, but there is a later deadline for the coastal counties.

There is no doubt the GOZA provisions are encouraging investment in Mississippi.

"We're seeing a lot of interest not only along the Coast,...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!