Jack Mao, EA

Where do you reside?
San Francisco, California

What got you involved in the tax profession?
Trying to set up elaborate tax strategies for my small business on my own as an overzealous youngster pre-ChatGPT days (and to help with family taxes as an immigrant kid).

What is your day job?
Running my tax firm and building software to assist with my workflows and to deliver a polished experience for my clients.

Where do you see the tax profession going in the future?
As artificial intelligence improves and handles more of tax prep, we can spend less time on low-risk data entry and more time on high-risk, big-picture strategies. Demand for tax professionals will
increase in areas where our judgment and experience are crucial, as we excel at nuances (e.g., conformity), grey areas, and the unknown.

What inspires you?
My clients and their success in their work.

What are you most proud of personally or professionally?
The career, reputation, and expertise I have built for myself in the tax industry from the ground up, and how far I have come in life.

What is your favorite quote or motto?
“Life is a journey, not a destination.”

What do you do for fun?
Taxes! Technically, I’m a software engineer (I also love coding). Second to taxes and coding, I love eating at cool restaurants, lifting weights, going on road trips for the scenery, traveling, and hanging out with friends.

Superpower you wish you had and why?
To slow down time, because I love to enjoy life and my work, and there’s not enough time to enjoy everything life has to offer.

What is one goal you hope to accomplish in your lifetime?
Build systems or influence policy that has the potential for large-scale impact.

Advice to your 20-year-old self?
Focus on fewer things to work on. Juggling too many hats decreases the quality and personal enjoyment of the work.

Favorite travel destination?
New York City and Washington, D.C.

If you could have dinner with one historical figure, who would it be and why?
Steve Jobs. I would like to pick his brain about how he approaches developing speeches that captivate audiences and designing products that mesmerize users, and picture with him what the future of technology could look like.

What’s a skill you’d like to learn?
Building hardware—the natural complement to my software skills, and because I would love to build cool gadgets.

Favorite thing about your job?
Strategizing clever (but legal) tax positions to save money for my clients.

If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?
Iron Man. The cool flying suit is a key factor, but the ability to use innovation to help others and solve complex problems resonates most with me.