Richard P. Sills is a Senior Partner who practices in the areas of trusts and estates, taxation, and tax-exempt organizations.
Mr. Sills' exempt organizations practice includes advising private foundations, community foundations with donor advised funds, publicly-supported charities and charitable remainder trusts, as well as non-charitable exempt organizations such as trade associations and clubs. He has over 30 years' experience in the exempt organizations area, and has successfully obtained tax-exempt status in numerous cases. He counsels tax-exempt organizations on governance issues as well as tax issues, and has obtained private letter rulings from the IRS in the exempt organizations area. He counsels tax-exempt organizations on how to manage their affairs to avoid jeopardizing their exempt status, and to avoid penalty excise taxes. He advises clients on issues relating to the unrelated business income tax, and on complex transactions such as mergers of tax-exempt organizations.
Mr. Sills' practice also includes estate planning and the preparation of wills and trusts, all aspects of estate and trust administration, and the representation of clients in audits and tax controversies.
He served as Attorney-Advisor to Judge Charles R. Simpson of the United States Tax Court from 1969 to 1971, and then worked in the IRS Chief Counsel's Office, as an Attorney-Advisor and an Assistant Branch Chief in the Legislation and Regulations Division, from 1971 to 1974. Since 1974, he has engaged in the private practice of law in Washington, D.C., and he joined Holland & Knight as a partner in 1993.
Mr. Sills' professional articles have appeared in such journals as The Washington Lawyer, Taxation for Accountants, District Lawyer, Journal of Taxation, and Journal of Real Estate Taxation. The topics of his articles include preparing an effective IRS protest and tax issues relating to real estate investors and professional corporations. He has extensive teaching and lecturing experience, including coursework for the District of Columbia Bar Continuing Legal Education Program, the Georgetown University Law Center, the George Washington University National Law Center, and the Albany Law School Estate Planning Institute.
Mr. Sills has taught courses including "Federal Tax Treatment of Charities and Other Nonprofit Organizations", "Taxation of Partnerships and Subchapter S Corporations", "Estate Planning and Subchapter S Corporations", "Practicing Before the U.S. Tax Court", and a course entitled "Taxation for the General Practitioner" for the Continuing Legal Education program operated by the District of Columbia Bar and the George Washington University National Law Center. In addition, he served for several years as editor of Holland & Knight's Business and Tax Newsletter. He has given several recent presentations on current tax developments and exempt-organization-related topics for the Holland & Knight Institute and other educational programs.