Robert Lyons, CPA
Director

Robert (Rob) Lyons, CPA, is a Managing Tax Director in the Nonprofit and Government Services Group at Marks Paneth & Shron LLP. Mr. Lyons brings to this role the skills he has developed during more than 30 years of providing tax and consulting services to his clients in the nonprofit, higher education, and public sector industries. His experience includes handling substantial exempt organization tax issues. Mr. Lyons has testified in front of the House and Ways Committee in Washington, DC establishing the current treatment of affinity royalty arrangements. He has also been involved in special projects related to unrelated business income for exempt organizations, including but not limited to state filing issues, including settlements, foreign filing requirements for off-shore activities and use of exempt bond proceeds. Mr. Lyons has advised clients on the use of for profit subsidiaries as well as disregarded entities.

He has led numerous training seminars for the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants AICPA). In 2010, Mr. Lyons received the AICPA Outstanding Discussion Leader Award. This award recognizes the discussion leaders who achieve the highest overall instructor knowledge and presentation scores in leading AICPA seminars.

Mr. Lyons was an adjunct professor in the Kogod School of Business Graduate Department at American University in Washington, DC. He has also authored six books and forty articles to date concerning exempt organization issues.

Prior to joining Marks Paneth & Shron, Mr. Lyons was the Tax Managing Director with a Big Four accounting firm, where he focused on tax and compliance issues for many of their largest clients, including public charities, private foundations, colleges and universities, social services and membership organizations, and cultural institutions.

In addition to his professional activities, he is a dedicated volunteer who regularly donates his time to charitable organizations. He has worked extensively with Catholic Charities in various capacities as well as working with the Archdiocese of Washington, DC and the Archdiocese of New York. He has served on numerous nonprofit Boards of Trustees in a variety of capacities, including the National Council for Adoption.

Mr. Lyons holds a BSBA in Accounting from the University of Florida and a Masters of Science in Taxation from American University. He is licensed to practice in New York State, Florida, Virginia and the District of Columbia. He is based in New York City at Marks Paneth & Shron’s midtown headquarters.

University of Florida
Bachelor of Science in Business Administration
Major: Accounting

American University
Masters of Science in Taxation
Major: Accounting

American Institute of Certified Public Accountants
New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants
Florida Instituite of CPAs

Catholic Charities
Archdiocese of Washington, DC
Archdiocese of New York