Getting To Know You Tuesday: Lily Tran
Lily Tran has spent more than 15 years helping taxpayers, entrepreneurs, and small business owners make sense of taxes—and figure out what to do when things don’t go quite as planned. She’s the founder and CEO of TaxUSign®, a hybrid tax firm, and the Taxpayer CARE Center, a brick-and-mortar practice in downtown Kent, Washington. That means clients can work with Lily and her team in person or virtually, whether they need help planning ahead, staying compliant, or solving a tax problem that’s already landed on their doorstep.
Lily is an Enrolled Agent, Certified Tax Coach, Certified Tax Planner, and NTPI Fellow, with experience representing taxpayers before the IRS in audits, collections, and appeals. She’s also a big believer in tax education—especially busting some of the tax myths that refuse to go away—and helping people feel a little more confident about their finances.
Over the years, Lily has taken on leadership roles with professional tax organizations, spoken to groups around the country, and been featured in Bloomberg Tax & Accounting and SUCCESS Magazine. She’s also an editor, writer, and tax course creator.
When she’s not talking taxes, Lily is a devoted mom and caregiver, balancing family life with running her practice. And when she gets a little time in the kitchen, she’s always up for trying a new recipe.
So, let’s get to know Lily.
In Her Own Words
1. Where are you right now? Kent, Washington (the place I grew up).
2. What’s your official title, and what do you actually do? CEO. I make taxes the least of people’s worries and set them up for success so they have more time for the things they care about, wherever they are in life. That’s my firm’s mission and vision.
3. Where did you go to school, and what did you study? I graduated from the University of Washington with a Bachelor’s degree in Social Work and Administration and Policy Practice. I also earned a Certificate in Accounting and an Associate of Arts from Highline College. I started my Master’s degree at UW twice but decided to keep working at a CPA office instead. I later became an Enrolled Agent, Certified Tax Coach, and Certified Tax Planner.
4. How did you end up in tax? During the stock market crash, I landed a job at a CPA firm, where my boss at the time encouraged me to pursue my license and become an Enrolled Agent.
5. What was your first real job? I typically don’t answer this one, since it doubles as a security question. But my first job was as a cashier, and I absolutely loved it.
6. What’s one thing people might be surprised to learn about you? I’ve been waking up between 5:00–6:30 a.m. to take care of my mom as her caregiver, managing her medication, making sure she’s fed, and spending the day with her, then working in between her schedule plus evenings, nights, and weekends around my kids’ schedule.
7. If you weren’t working in tax, what would you be doing? The answer changes as I get older. Right now, I think I’d enjoy being a stay-at-home mom and finding new recipes to cook.
8. What’s the best piece of tax, money, or career advice you’ve ever received? Make sure you’re climbing on the right mountain because you don’t want to climb to the top to realize you’ve climbed the wrong one. (Something like that).
9. What tax issue do you think is getting too much attention right now? Trump Accounts.
10. What tax issue isn’t getting enough attention? Inherited IRA 10-year rule
11. What’s the biggest tax myth you’d like to bust? That you can deduct all vehicle-related expenses paid from a business card when the vehicle is in your personal name.
12. What’s a tax question you wish people would ask you more often? The tax implications of retirement accounts.
13. What’s one tax rule you would change if you could? Bring back Form 2106 for unreimbursed employee expenses. I’ve been digging into accountable plans for an upcoming presentation and came across Simpson v. Commissioner; in that case, the taxpayer was at least still able to use the 2% miscellaneous itemized deduction and didn’t lose out on all employee deductions.
14. What’s one non-tech thing in your office that you couldn’t do without? My devotional book.
15. Which tech tool, platform, or software do you rely on most in your practice? Claude and Google Workspace.
16. What’s the best use of AI in tax or tax practice? So far, Claude. I like being able to use prompts to help me understand the tax laws better
17. What are you watching right now (streaming or otherwise)? Reacher – Season 4. New episodes are released every Wednesday on Prime Video.
18. Coffee or tea? If I could drink coffee, it’d be a caramel macchiato, but otherwise, unsweetened green tea.
19. Pancakes or waffles? Waffles, all the way. How about a croffle?
20. If you received an unexpected tax refund tomorrow, what would you do with it? In my last interview, I said I’d invest in real estate. But today, I’d rather take my kids out for the day and enjoy some fun activities together.
You can find out more about Lily on the firm’s website and on LinkedIn. She’s also active on social media:
- Instagram: @taxusign
- Threads: @taxusign
- Facebook: facebook.com/taxusign
About Getting to Know You
If you’d like to recommend a tax pro to be featured, send your suggestions to gtky (at) taxgirl (dot) com with the subject: Getting to Know You Tuesday. Self-nominations are totally okay, and encouraged! If you’ve submitted a nomination before, feel free to send it again. I’ll consider all submissions, even those that were selected, so long as they were more than three years ago.
