Colin Green

About Colin Green

Tax planning and corporate structure sit at the heart of what Colin Green does as a partner in Gowling WLG's Ottawa office. A lot of that work means reorganizing companies for the people who own them, alongside regular tax planning for both corporations and individuals. Colin's clients include registered charities and not-for-profits as well as for-profit businesses, and the job is the same for each of them: getting them where they want to go as an organization, whether tax is the reason for the move or not.

Colin earned a political science degree from Queen's University before heading west for law school at the University of British Columbia, and was called to the Ontario bar in 2008. CPA Canada's In Depth Tax Certification followed in 2016. In January 2017, Gowling WLG Canada announced Colin as one of 19 professionals joining its partnership, with a practice spanning tax and corporate commercial work.

Colin also designs and puts in place corporate structures, both domestic and cross-border, and advises on money moving into and out of the country as well as deals such as mergers, acquisitions, financings and restructurings. In 2016, Colin handled tax and corporate commercial matters on the Gowling WLG team giving Canadian transactional support to Sidley Austin, counsel to Kerr, when Xiwang Food completed its purchase of Iovate Health Sciences International. Closer to home, Colin and Michael Polowin provided additional services on a 2022 Superior Court application, led by the firm, through which the Ottawa affordable housing provider Centretown Citizens Ottawa Corporation secured municipal tax exemptions and a tax refund for a number of its properties.

For clients, the aim is practical: helping them make decisions, keep assets safe and save money. Complicated tax questions get boiled down into plain explanations, which gives clients what they need to choose a course and act on it with confidence. Financial and insurance institutions regularly ask Colin to speak, on subjects like the capital gains exemption for business owners, the U.S. Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act and changes to U.S. estate tax. Outside work, Colin is an avid hiker, and discovered ultimate frisbee as an undergraduate at Queen's after falling short of the height wanted for the varsity volleyball team, going on to compete for Canada at the national level.