Roger Wise

Roger is the Chair of the Tax Section of the American Bar Association’s Committee on Investment Management.

Roger is also a member of the Tax Section of the District of Columbia Bar Association, and of the Investment Company Institute Tax Advisory Group, Managed Funds Association Tax Committee.

Registered Funds

• Advised on qualification and operational issues for regulated investment companies (RICs) under subchapter M and section 817(h);
• Advised on tax consequences of swaps, exchange-traded notes, Sharia-compliant investments and other derivative instruments under RIC qualification tests;
• Obtained private letter ruling on treatment of income from VIX futures contracts as qualifying income;
• Advised on tax consequences of in-kind redemptions by ETFs; 
• Analyzed, drafted agreements and tax opinions for fund reorganizations and restructurings, including conversions by partnerships to RIC status (and vice versa); 
• Assisted in design of term preferred stock to replace auction rate preferred stock; 
• Advised on formation of Cayman Islands subsidiary to invest in commodity-linked derivatives, Mauritius subsidiary to invest in Indian securities;
• Advised on tax issues relating to amendments to money market fund rules.

Private Funds, REITs, Structured Finance

• Structured, negotiated and drafted partnership and LLC agreements for domestic and offshore hedge funds, private equity funds and management entities; 
• Advised on qualifying income issues for commodity pools, publicly traded partnerships;
• Advised on tax and treaty implications for non-U.S. investors, including sovereign wealth funds and non-U.S. pension plans, such as FIRPTA, ECI risks arising from U.S. loan origination, U.S. tax classification;
• Advised on UBTI issues for U.S. tax-exempt investors; 
• Structured REIT subsidiaries for private funds with UBTI or ECI sensitive investors; advised public mortgage REITs on qualification issues; 
• Advised on REMIC requirements; structured, issued tax opinions for re-securitizations of interests issued by grantor trusts, REMICs; 
• Advised on CLO structures to comply with U.S., EU risk retention requirements.

FATCA

• Advised on FATCA classification, compliance requirements for non-U.S. entities, U.S. withholding agents.