Spotlight on Crypto and Digital Assets Tax Adviser Yu-Ting Wang

Our Spotlight series highlights the careers and lives of tax professionals around the world. This week’s Spotlight is on Yu-Ting Wang, a tax adviser in San Jose, Calif., who specializes in cryptocurrency and digital assets tax consultation.

Her firm, Yu-Ting Wang, P.C., advises closely held businesses, high net worth individuals, and crypto holders. Before starting her own practice in January, she was a partner at Armanino LLP, a regional CPA firm in San Jose, and with a firm that merged with Armanino prior to that.

When she’s not working, Wang enjoys spending time with family and friends, watching her 16-year-old son play goalkeeper on his high school soccer team, reading, and listening to classical music.

What’s your official title and what does it mean? My official title is tax adviser. I help my clients with tax planning and tax compliance. I work with other professionals, such as estate planning attorneys or financial advisers, to support clients along their life journey, whether it’s family wealth transfers or company M&A activities. I’m privileged to be able to help.

Free time: book, audiobook, or podcast? I like to flip a paper book and be able to use a physical bookmark when I’m reading. For some reason, the touch of the paper, the visual of the words, and the illustration of the book gives me a sense of stability, and that’s what I enjoy when I am reading. I love biographies, especially biographies of successful women—I’m currently reading Michelle Obama’s “The Light We Carry.”

Tax is a huge subject. What’s your area of special interest? Crypto. I started to get into digital assets about three years ago and fell in love with it right away. It’s a fascinating experience for me, and I enjoy everything I’m doing—learning new technology, applying tax knowledge, and meeting with prospects and clients in this area. I’m now serving as vice chair of AICPA’s Virtual Currency Tax Force, working with a group of CPAs with the same passion to advocate for taxpayers and provide input for the IRS so we can provide more guidance and transparency in this area.

What’s the last movie or show that you watched and loved (DVD, Netflix, or in the theater)? “Everything Everywhere All at Once.” The way the storyline and the movie are presented amazed me. I’m not sure I’d say I loved it, but it certainly impressed me and made me think a lot. And I think that’s the purpose of the production.

What college did you attend and what did you study? I attended college in Taiwan, and my undergraduate major was Japanese language. Growing up in a family where dad was always busy developing his business, I purposely picked all the non-business majors. Eventually, I circled back to business accounting and tax.

Go-to pick-me-up: Coffee or tea? Definitely coffee! I don’t need a lot of fancy flavors—just a good dark roast with either milk or cream. When I traveled back to Taiwan last December, I found myself in love with making pour-over coffee in the afternoon. Because it’s a slow process, it helped me focus and was a good break from work.

What’s the best tax or financial advice that anyone ever gave you? “Buy low, sell high.” It’s a favorite quote from my partner, with whom I’ve worked for more than 20 years. He says this to all his tax clients when asked about financial advice.

If you weren’t working in the tax profession, what would your dream job be? Barista would be a perfect job for me! I could share my love of coffee with everyone who comes in and needs it for whatever reason.

If you had the opportunity to make one change in the tax world—an extra credit, a disallowed deduction, whatever—what would it be? I’d like to propose that the government send out draft returns to individual taxpayers based on the information it has. That way, it simplifies the filing process and will save tons of individual taxpayer and tax preparer’s time. Our government spends time and effort creating infrastructure to require businesses to report payments made to employees, contractors, and investors—why don’t we use that data to streamline tax filing for individual taxpayers?

Favorite food, snack, or candy during tax season or other busy time? Snickerdoodle cookies.

What tax news or move made the most impact on your practice or clients this past year? K2 and K3 reporting certainly made a big impact for all my crypto fund returns. The amount of work involved because of new forms and information needed required a lot of time from tax professionals.

If you received a big tax refund check right now, what would you do with it? A family vacation to Japan or Europe. Our last family vacation was right before Covid. Japan is always one our favorite vacation spots, so it’s at top of our list.

You can find out more about Wang on LinkedIn.

If you’d like to recommend a tax pro to be featured, send your suggestion to rbaker@bloombergindustry.com with the subject: Spotlight. Please include the following information: tax professional’s name, title, email address, and geographic area (city/state/country).