Sharon S. Lassar, Ph.D., CPA

Florida Atlantic University
2912 College Avenue
Davie, Florida 33314
Tel. 954.236.1067 - Fax 954.236.1298
e-mail: lassar@fau.edu

Sharon Lassar, Ph.D., CPA is an associate professor of accounting at Florida Atlantic University.  She came to FAU twelve years ago, after having spent three years as an assistant professor at the University of Arizona.  She earned her Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, her Master of Taxation at Bentley College in Waltham, Massachusetts and her Bachelor’s in Accounting from West Virginia University.  She gained her professional experience as audit staff and tax senior at Arthur Young’s Boston office.

Dr. Lassar’s tax expertise is recognized on a national level.  She was appointed to the Taxpayer Advocacy Panel in 2001 and completed her three-year term in Fall 2004.  The Taxpayer Advocacy Panel, formerly known as the Citizen Advocacy Panel, was established under the Federal Advisory Committee Act in June 1998 to improve Internal Revenue Service responsiveness to taxpayer needs and to monitor the quality of taxpayer service.  As chair of the Multilingual Issues Committee of the Panel, Dr. Lassar presented recommendations to the Commissioner of the IRS.

In Fall 2004, Dr. Lassar was appointed to the Tax Practice and Professional Responsibilities Committee of the AICPA.  In this capacity she is working on a new interpretation of the Statement on Standards for Tax Services.

Dr. Lassar serves the South Florida community by operating a Volunteer Income Tax Assistance center at FAU.  Dr. Lassar also serves as a director for the Florida Institute of Certified Public Accountants Broward Chapter and for the American Woman’s Society of CPAs South Florida Chapter.  She also serves on two state level committees of the FICPA: Membership and Chapter Operations and The Accounting Show.

Dr. Lassar’s teaching and research focuses on taxation, particularly international tax and flow through entity issues.  She publishes her work in practitioner journals and her article co-authored with Kenneth N. Orbach and Katherine Means titled “Tax and Accounting Aspects of Liquidating a Partner’s Interest” won the Best Article Award in 1999 for Tax Adviser, the magazine of the Tax Section of the American Institute of CPAs.