David Lifson Receives Top Tax Award

David A. Lifson, past Society president and chair of its Tax Reform Committee, has received the 2009 Arthur J. Dixon Memorial Award from the Tax Division of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (AICPA), the accounting profession's highest award in the area of taxation. The annual award memorializes Arthur J. Dixon, a CPA with an outstanding record of service to the tax profession and to the AICPA Tax Division.

A nationally recognized tax expert, Lifson has dedicated his career to tax planning, management and business advisory services for small and medium-sized businesses and for high net-worth individuals. He currently sits on the Advisory Council to the Internal Revenue Service.

As chair of the NYSSCPA Tax Reform Committee, he has developed the Simplified, Exact, Transparent (SET) tax to address many problems intrinsic to our current tax structure. A Society member since 1975, Lifson has served as president-elect and vice president and as a member of the Society's board of directors and executive committee. He has chaired its Finance and Real Estate committees and has served as a member of its Tax Division Oversight, Taxation of Financial Instruments and Transactions, Taxation of Individuals, Real Estate and Firm Coordinators committees and as a member of its Professional Standards, Alternative Tax System and CPA2 Biz task forces.

Lifson was co-managing partner of Hays & Company LLP for nearly 30 years until the firm joined Crowe Horwath LLP earlier this year.

Lifson has been a dedicated volunteer leader for the AICPA for almost 20 years. He is a former chairman of the AICPA Tax Executive Committee, a former member of its board of directors and is currently serving his third term as a member of the AICPA Council. He served as chairman of the AICPA’s Individual Tax Committee, as well as four tax task forces that dealt with such issues as tax shelters and independent contractors and on the Editorial Advisory Board of The Tax Adviser.