“One of the greatest challenges in my profession is to encourage clients to disclose their worldwide income and come up with tax-saving strategies within the government allowed parameters,” stated Yanna Chai, tax account and owner of Chai and Associates, located in Placentia California.

“I am a tax professional. I prepare tax returns and help my clients with tax-saving strategies.  I take pride in my expertise with international tax planning and estate tax planning for high net-worth individuals and families,” said Chai, a graduate of Kean University in New Jersey, with a master of science in accountancy.

Before becoming an  accountant, Yanna had nine years of tax compliance and consulting experience. “I have been a CPA for about 12 years. Then, I wanted to have my own business and felt I was ready after eight years at CPA firms,” she explained.

“I like working with numbers and love the fact that accounting is the language for business, so I decided to get my master’s degree in accountancy.  After graduation, I passed the CPA exams and worked in a CPA firm for a year before I could get licensed myself as a CPA,” stated Chai.

 The US Internal Revenue Service has stated that the government lost an average of $458 billion per year in the years of 2008 through 2010 because of tax fraud. “Tax collectors at the I.R.S. think that they will recover about $52 billion of that lost revenue , resulting in a gap of $406 billion annually,”according to thefiscaltimes.com.

“The government imposes tax on all types of income and on worldwide income for businesses and individuals,”  explained Yanna. “ Taxes are sources of revenue for governments at all levels.”

The largest tax fraud case was filed against Walter Anderson, a former  telecommunications executive, according to investopedia.com. He was accused of disclosing his true earnings through the use of aliases. In 2006, Anderson finally pleaded guilty and admitted hiding about $365 million worth of income.

Yanna also has advice for young people that wish to become accountants, “A good tax professional needs to be a good person first, ethical, law-abiding, diligent, etc.”

“Being a good person at heart is not enough to make an expert,” Yanna added. “A tax expert needs to be able to decode the tax laws (like a lawyer) and be quick and sensitive with numbers (like a mathematician), so that she knows how to apply the tax laws in the best interests of his clients.”

According to Yanna, being an effective accountant also requires having good people skills.“Of course, a tax professional needs to be a good listener to their clients and be empathetic, otherwise the clients will not hire him no matter how knowledgeable he is.

“Believe it or not, a good tax professional also needs to be selective about clients.  To build a sustainable business, a tax professional needs to be focus on serving clients who share the same values,” she stated.