Introduction

This publication is for business owners who want to find out whether they qualify for certain tax incentives. These incentives are intended to help empowerment zones, enterprise communities, renewal communities, and other distressed communities. A distressed community is any area whose poverty rate or other conditions cause any of these tax incentives to apply. The requirements for each tax incentive are different. The following paragraphs will help guide you in using this publication.

To find out whether your area has been designated as an empowerment zone or enterprise community, read Designated Zones and Communities under Empowerment Zones and Enterprise Communities. (There is no discussion of designated renewal communities in this publication because, at the time the publication was printed, no renewal communities had been designated.)

If you know that your area has been designated as an empowerment zone or enterprise community, skip the section on designated zones and communities and begin by reading the first few paragraphs of each of the following sections of the publication. Then, read the details of the sections that apply to you.

If you know that your area has not been designated as a zone or community, you should still read the first few paragraphs of each section. Some of these incentives are available in distressed communities that have not been designated as either empowerment zones or enterprise communities. Read the details of the sections that apply to you.

Comments and suggestions. We welcome your comments about this publication and your suggestions for future editions.

You can e-mail us while visiting our web site at
www.irs.gov/help/email2.html.

You can write to us at the following address:

Internal Revenue Service
Technical Publications Branch
W:CAR:MP:FP:P
1111 Constitution Ave. NW
Washington, DC 20224

We respond to many letters by telephone. Therefore, it would be helpful if you would include your daytime phone number, including the area code, in your correspondence.