Offices at Bethesda, McLean, Vancouver, New York 301-986-2200 301-986-2200

ISLN: 902957204

Practice Areas: Tax Law; Business Planning; Estate Planning; International Taxation; International Tax Planning; Foreign Trusts

Bar Admissions: 1981, Washington and U.S. District Court, Western District of Washington; 1983, California; 1985, Maryland and U.S. Tax Court; 2008, Practitioner of Foreign Law, Law Society of British Columbia

Education: Boston University of Law School, Graduate Tax Program, LL.M. (Taxation), 1981; Santa Clara University, J.D., 1980; Northwestern University, B.A., 1975

Member: Licensed Practitioner of Foreign Law by Law Society Of British Columbia; State Bar of California; Washington State, Maryland State, and American (Member, Sections on: Taxation; Real Property; Probate and Trust Law) Bar Associations.

Teaching: Robert E. Ward, JD, LL.M., is a nationally recognized authority on tax, business and estate planning. Mr. Ward has taught law as an adjunct professor at the George Mason University School of Law, where he conducted classes in Estate and Gift Taxation, Estate Planning, and Business Planning from 1986 until 2015. He has also taught as an adjunct faculty member at the University of Baltimore School of Law: Fiduciary Income Taxation (1988) and at Golden Gate University’s Masters in Taxation Program: Taxation of Corporations and Shareholders (1982). He currently teaches Topics in Taxation: United States Taxation at the University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law.

Publications: 

Who Gets to Know and For What Purposes? The Other Side of the Corporate Transparency Act (February 2023)

The Corporate Transparency Act: The Final Regulations Provide Limited Guidance With No Surprises (December 2022)

Christmas Comes Early: IRS Announces Penalty Relief for Many 2019 and 2020 Returns (September 2022)

Third Circuit Affirms Dual Canadian-U.S. Citizen is Liable for FBAR Penalties in ‘United States v. Collins’ as Recklessness is Willful (August 2022)

May Guidance for Domestic Trusts Be Drawn From the Final §1.958-1(d) Regulations (June 2022)

Income Tax Planning for Foreign and Domestic Trusts Holding Beneficiary-Occupied Real Estate (April 2022)

The Corporate Transparency Act Will Change the Way You Practice

A New Era of Compliance Comes Closer: Regulations Proposed for Implementation of Corporate Transparency Act (January 2021)

The Curtain Is Descending on the Golden Age of U.S. Estate Planning: Use Existing Opportunities Before the Next Act Starts (October 2021)

Tax Primer for Settlors of Foreign Asset Protection Trusts: Part Two (August 2021)

Tax Planning and Compliance for Settlors of Foreign Asset Protection Trusts, Part One (July 2021)

United States v. Boyd: Ninth Circuit Sides With the Taxpayer for Single Late Penalty on FBAR Reporting Multiple Foreign Accounts (May 2021)

We May Not Know Who You Are or Where You Live, But We Intend to Find Out: The Corporate Transparency Act of 2020 (March 2021)

The §385 Debt Equity Regulations:  Who Got a Pass and Who Should Worry (December 2020)

Hard Times in the Land of Plenty: Depressed Asset Values Create Opportunities for Wealth Transfers for U.S. Persons (Part 2) (September 2020)

Hard Times in the Land of Plenty: Depressed Asset Values Create Opportunities for Wealth Tansfers for Non-U.S. Persons (Part 1) (July 2020)

Foreign Incorporations of U.S. Real Estate: No You Can’t; Yes You Can” Tax Management International Journal, 49 TMIJ 1, (January 10, 2020)

Robert E. Ward, J.D., LL.M. is a member of the Bloomberg BNA Tax Management Advisory Board – U.S. International and a consistent contributor the Bloomberg BNA Tax Management International Journal’s Leading Practitioner Commentary

“U.S. Gift, Estate, and Generation-Skipping Tax Planning for Cross-Border Couples” 45 Tax Management International Journal, No. 45 (June 10, 2016)

“Considerations in Relying on a CLN as an Alternative to the OVDP and SFOP,” 45 Bloomberg BNA Tax Management International Journal 148 (March 11, 2016)

“Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program Round Four: IRS Announces Further Changes to Encourage Broader Compliance” 43 Bloomberg BNA Tax Management International Journal 604 (October 10, 2014)

How to Leave the U.S. Tax System Forever” 43 Bloomberg BNA Tax Management International Journal 255 (May 9, 2014)

“FATCA, the U.S.-Canada IGA, and Trusts” 43 Bloomberg BNA Tax Management International Journal 255 (May 9, 2014)

“How to Leave the U.S. Tax System Forever” Maryland Bar Bulletin (April 2014)

Planning Opportunities in the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012” American Law Institute The Practical Tax Lawyer (Spring 2013)

“2012 Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program: Issues and Opportunities” 41 Bloomberg BNA Tax Management International Journal, No. 10 (October 12, 2012)

“Americans in Canada: An Amnesty with Broad Appeal” Canadian Tax Focus, Volume 2, No. 3 (August, 2012)

“Americans in Canada: the End of the Amnesty” 1 Canadian Tax Highlights, No. 3 (November, 2011)

“Advising US Citizens and Long-Term Residents on Expatriating” 9 Trust Quarterly Review, No. 3 (September 2011)

A Recap – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Tax Act of 2009” Taxes – The Tax Magazine (September 2009)

“United States Expatriation Tax Reform,” Beyond Numbers, No. 475 (November, 2008).

“Tax Relief and Healthcare Act of 2006,” 53 The Practical Lawyer No. 3, June 2007.

“An Overview of the Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act of 2005,” The Practical Lawyer, No. 4 (Summer 2006).

“Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004,” 51 The Practical Lawyer, No. 1, Feb. 2005.

“American Jobs Creation Act of 2004,” 51 The Practical Lawyer, No. 2, April 2005.

“Planning Opportunities in the Economic Growth and Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001,” 47 The Practical Lawyer, No. 6 (September, 2001).

“New Tax Law Offers Relief for Individuals – But Only Temporarily,” 67 Practical Tax Strategies, No. 1 (July, 2001).

Common Sense Thoughts on Asset Protection Planning” 5 Journal of Asset Protection Planning No. 5 (May/June 2000)

“What You Should Know About the Taxpayer Relief Act of 1997: Individual, Business, Corporate and Other Provisions,” 12 The Practical Tax Lawyer, No. 1 (Fall 1997).