Forrest David Milder is one of our lead tax partners when it comes to tax credits and other tax-advantaged investments. He has a national practice that emphasizes the development of renewables, affordable housing, historic and new markets tax credit projects as well as resolving disputes with the IRS.
My practice emphasizes structuring and bringing to closure many kinds of tax-advantaged projects, both for investors and those who need their investment. I have advised on an exceptionally wide range of ventures, with sizes from hundreds of thousands of dollars to hundreds of millions. I am especially known for “outside-the-box” solutions. For example, I developed a technique that facilitated more than one hundred million dollars of renewable facilities qualifying for government grants, even though the projects were nominally owned by the government and bond-financed. I enabled another client to obtain a more than $50 million state credit as the first user of a new program by working with the applicable agency even before it had published any rules.
I have resolved four different multi-million dollar disputes with the IRS with the taxpayer having zero liability, and several others with only minimal adjustments. On one occasion I worked with clients and others to get the applicable Tax Code provision changed, thereby ending the audit.
I have worked with countless developers and investors to close hundreds of transactions involving the low-income housing tax credit, including everything from standard ventures to “80-20” deals and “lease pass-throughs” that also involve the historic tax credit. I have written tax opinions enabling a client with an innovative renewable technology to close more than $150 million of tax credit investments.
I work hard to stay at the forefront of the industries in which I am involved. For example, I am very active in the Solar Energy Industry Association’s Tax Committee, and I authored part of its recent proposal to the IRS on the solar tax credit regulations. I’ve also written more than 60 published articles about renewable energy, including solar, geothermal, biomass, water-based, and wind. In addition, I am a former chair of both the American Bar Association’s 7,000-member Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development and the 3,000-member MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. I’m the vice-chair of the historic tax credit coalition, and I was a major participant in helping to shape the IRS’s safe harbor on that credit. I’ve authored what is generally considered the best known treatise on housing and historic tax credits.
From my vantage point, I note two things of particular importance. First, it is invaluable to be connected to both those who literally write the law and also my colleagues across the country who help interpret it. In this way, I can anticipate what is coming, how others will handle it and be sure that our clients have a role in how the rules are written and applied. Second, flexibility is the key to survival. “That’s how we’ve always done it in the past” is a thing of the past. Today’s opportunities belong to those who are fastest at matching their business to the ever-changing economic and legal landscape.
Forrest is the author or co-author of many articles on tax advantaged investments and related matters, as well as the BNA treatise, “Rehabilitation Tax Credit and Low Income Housing Tax Credit.” He has appeared many times on the front page of The Wall Street Journal (in its weekly “Tax Report” column), as well as in The Boston Globe, Banker & Tradesman, The Boston Business Journal, Mass High Tech, and Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly with comments on recent and proposed tax legislation. He writes a monthly column on renewable energy, entitled “The Current,” for the Novogradac Journal of Tax Credits.
Tax Notes | December 28, 2020
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder co-authored this letter to the IRS, republished by Tax Notes, related to income averaging regulations for low-income housing tax credits.
CoStar News | December 23, 2020
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder and Washington, D.C. Affordable Housing & Real Estate partner Richard Price comment on the low-income housing tax credit rate being fixed at 4% in Congress’ recently passed spending bill, and what that could mean in practical terms.
Bloomberg Tax | June 05, 2020
This article quotes Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder on new Treasury guidance related to opportunity zone investors, noting what he’s been seeing in the space as well as issues that remain unaddressed.
Bloomberg Tax | January 06, 2020
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder wrote this contributed article analyzing the recently finalized IRS regulations governing opportunity zones.
Affordable Housing Finance | December 26, 2019
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder wrote this contributed article analyzing the final IRS regulations governing opportunity zones, the tax-advantaged investment opportunity created by Congress in 2017.
Bloomberg Tax | May 15, 2019
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder wrote this contributed article explaining the math behind determining the fair market value of a qualified opportunity fund partnership interest after 10 years.
Affordable Housing Finance | April 21, 2019
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder discusses opportunity zones and housing in this video from the AHF Live Forum.
Bloomberg Tax | April 21, 2019
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder is quoted in this article, discussing possible confusion stemming from the murky definition of “independent contractor” in proposed IRS rules governing opportunity zones.
Affordable Housing Finance | February 07, 2019
New York City Affordable Housing and Real Estate counsel Kathie Soroka and Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder contributed this article outlining five ways in which low-income housing tax credit transactions can benefit from opportunity zone funds.
Bloomberg Tax | November 28, 2018
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder wrote this contributed article outlining key details that investors and developers need to know as they utilize the opportunity zone provisions created by the 2017 tax law.
International Energy Law Review | October 31, 2018
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder authored this column about a recent Federal Court of Appeals ruling to overturn the Alta Wind decision, and its possible implications for the energy industry and projects involving government grants or tax credits.
Affordable Housing Finance | October 23, 2018
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder is quoted extensively in this article outlining the impact of new IRS guidelines governing the use of the Opportunity Zone program for affordable housing developers.
Bloomberg Law | October 18, 2018
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder wrote this contributed article detailing the development incentives available as part of the Opportunity Zones provisions in the 2017 tax law.
Power Finance and Risk | August 15, 2018
Boston Community Development Finance partner Forrest Milder is quoted in this story for his analysis of a recent U.S. Appeals Court decision that could negatively impact the reliability of valuations used in renewable project deals.
Boston University, LL.M.
Harvard Law School, J.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.B., Phi Beta Kappa
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, S.M.
Massachusetts
U.S. District Court, District of Massachusetts
U.S. Court of Appeals, First Circuit
U.S. Supreme Court
U.S. Tax Court
U.S. Court of Federal Claims
Forrest was selected, through a peer-review survey, for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2021 in the field of Tax Law. Forrest has been listed in Best Lawyers since 2013.
Forrest has been selected by his peers for inclusion in The Best Lawyers in America© 2017 for Tax Law in Boston, MA. He has been listed in Best Lawyers since 2013.
Forrest has been listed several times in “Marquis’s Who’s Who in American Law” and in Boston Magazine’s “Massachusetts Super Lawyers” and “New England Super Lawyers.”
Forrest is a member of the American and Boston bar associations and is the former chair of the MIT Enterprise Forum of Cambridge. He was the 2009–2010 chair of the American Bar Association’s 7000-member Forum on Affordable Housing and Community Development Law and he runs the Forum’s “listserv” via which nearly 1,000 participants discuss issues relevant to affordable housing and community development.