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Deducting 2015 Auto Expenses and 2016 mileage rate

Hi all!

Time to log your odometer reading for 2015. Your tax records will be incomplete without an accurate number for the miles you drive annually. Your tax preparer will love you if you fill out the attached form:

http://teamjenncorp.com/resources/tax_forms/auto_expense_worksheet.pdf

For 2016, please note that the mileage reimbursement rate is now $.54 cents/mile. It’s gone DOWN from last year.

As always, we’re here if you have questions,

Jenn and Team

A foodie joins TJC

Brian is from Pasadena, and that makes him one of those rare native Californians. He’s an athlete who spent 13 years in competitive swimming, and he graduated from San Jose State with a Bachelor’s in Accounting. He also finished half a culinary degree (no one will be surprised if he opens a restaurant someday). Add to that that he has dabbled enough in real estate to be licensed, and we’ve got a well rounded dude over here. After an internship with Intuit, Brian wanted exposure to a larger variety of accounting issues, and less software assisted processes. If it’s variety he wants…he’ll sure get it at TJC.

Brian, like many of our team, doesn’t fit the standard accounting-guy stereotype. He has a sense of adventure and says he’s spontaneous enough to be your guy when you want to jump in the car and go to Vegas. He once traveled to Paris and, through an unfortunate turn of events, found himself walking the streets of the city late at night with no money, and no place to stay. Being the resourceful guy that he is though, Brian was able to spend the rest of his trip in style (be sure to ask about the two Snickers). Sounds like he can make a buck go a long way.

TJC just got a little taller

Kolin Brown was born right here in Hollywood, which is unusual for TJC; this is a company, and a city, filled with transplants from all over the USA and the world. We may have to nickname him Tiny because he’s 6’6” tall and we want him to moonlight as a bouncer at our parties. He played football in high school (tight end, defensive end, offensive tackle), but turned down scholarship offers from Division One schools. He bailed football in college and, instead, fiddled around with computer engineering for a year and a half. Eventually, he settled on Management with a heavy dose of Accounting, and finished his Bachelor’s at Cal State Northridge. Big boy. Big brains.

When he’s not working out what to get for his first tattoo or trying out new food (please no more chitterlin’s), Kolin loves to travel. He’d like to hop over to France to see his mother’s birthplace on his next trip. Kolin’s all-time favorite trip so far was to Jamaica (and not just because of the killer beaches).

Before coming to TJC, Kolin honed his accounting skills at Hormel foods. If you ask nicely, he can tell you the secrets of sausage, hot dogs, and bacon (blechhhh). Although working with sausage was super fun, Kolin jumped at the chance to roll up his sleeves and get right into the nitty-gritty accounting and career development offered by TJC.

I loved everything about Uber until last week when...

The California Labor Commissioner ruled that all Uber drivers are employees. A short-term Uber driver, a gal who worked for them for only eight weeks, won a case and got reimbursed thousands for her “employee” expenses. We can expect the other drivers who would like to be employees more than they’d like to be independent to get in line and put their hands out. Our Uber fares will get steeper and Uber will be less slick and shiny.

What???!!! This is getting ridiculous folks. Will anyone ever get a 1099 again without getting both the payer and the payee in hot water?

Uber drivers use their own equipment – a CAR, not just a pencil. They work their own hours and they decide which fares they’ll take. They get a key tool, admittedly, the phone that Uber provides to them to hook them up with clients. That’s just not enough in my opinion. Uber drivers — those polite, prompt, and affordable people — are a sign of the new economy and a great example of what technology and apps are doing to instantly gratify consumers while rewarding hard working drivers. I am an economist and an accountant and I’m a fan of new fangled businesses and start-ups! Uber is innovation and it’s innovation that has been beautifully implemented. Someone is messing with me now.

Most of you know how tedious it is for us to put everyone on payroll these days. As a result of this ruling, our argument for a service provider’s independence has gotten even thinner. The team here at TJC is often the reluctant messenger for this AWFUL labor classification procedure. We try not to force a person into an employee relationship with us who really would rather be an independent contractor. But we also have to protect our employer clients, who are universally small and nimble shops who can’t afford to fight the CA Labor Board. This ruling is killing innovation and small businesses that want to be independent operators and it’s burdening other small businesses with tons of paperwork.

We have been training all our clients and their staff to avoid the use of the F-word: “Freelancer”. That doesn’t mean we are not going to try to help our clients contain costs on vendors that should be able to be independent! And we'll always help those small start-ups get the paperwork that they need in order to BE independent businesses.

Do you know an Uber driver??? Send them to us. We’ll get them a business license and a business checking account…we’ll file a DBA for them and we’ll insure their “business property”. We’ll show ‘em.

Client Highlight: Gnomon Inc.

Check out this ABC shout-out to longtime TJC client Gnomon Inc.!

TJC has always been a sucker for creative types, and Alex Alvarez, Founder and President of the Gnomon School, Gnomon Workshop, and Gnomon Studios has been helping foster creative development for years. For over seventeen years, Alex has been educating up and coming digital artists around the world. Have you watched a movie in the past few years, or played a video game? Chances are you’ve seen the results of Gnomon fostered talent.

TJC LA grows a little, with Ariane Hennings

Queue the “Silent Movement”

Hailing from Buffalo New York, the feisty Ariane joins TJC in pursuit of a new and bigger challenge (uh, careful what you wish for Little Missy…) She globe trotted a bit and spent a lot of time in Spain, but she always dreamed of living in California. Ariane decided to make the jump to TJC after graduating with both a Bachelor and a Masters degree in Accounting.

Ariane isn’t only an up and coming badass accountant - she may just be the fittest person that TJC has on staff today. For the past 7 years she has been teaching, among other things, hip hop dance, yoga and kickboxing (aka ass-kicking). She’s already whipping the TJC LA office into shape. Slackers and snackers beware. If we’re just going to the gym for a steam and a shower, we'll sneak by her door because she is asking us to report back on what we really did there. This girl really does live by the TJC work-hard + play-hard mantra!

She may have a tough exterior, but deep down, Ariane is a hopeless romantic. When she was younger she snuck out of town to visit her boyfriend under guise of a “school trip”, and heck, one of the reasons she moved to California was to be closer to a boyfriend. (He’s history.) There’s a softy under all that hard core!

Cliff Trammell Joins TJC San Jose

Cliff’s bio would be titled “I Can’t Believe I Made It This Far…And Nobody Else Can Either”

Cliff “Big Red Dog” Trammell has lived in the NoCal-SoBay for most of his life. He started getting into T-R-O-U-B-L-E early. One memorable Sunday morning, young Cliff answered the phone by yelling a word, which we’re too proper too mention, at the top of his lungs. Sadly for young Cliff, it was a call from his Daddy at church, on speakerphone.

After the tribulations of youth, Cliff put himself through college with a mixture of serving and bar-tending (the most hyper, emotionally charged atmosphere he’s ever encountered until TJC). Somehow he avoided getting too soggy, and emerged from San Jose State with a Corporate Finance Management dual degree.

On the leisure front, Cliff goes through hobbies like the world might end tomorrow (it won’t, but his body might). He likes all kinds of music (rap AND country but not at the same time). He’s done everything from singing in the choir to playing full contact amateur football and rock-climbing. Now Cliff is a bit more sensible: these days he does a little weight lifting at the gym. That’s good news for us, because he’s ready to do some heavy lifting for TJC!

Highlight: UP! Your Service

TJC works with inspiring people everyday. Take a look at Ron Kaufman, founder of UP! Your Service.

http://www.upyourservice.com

“Your service reputation will bring customers to you, or keep customers away from you” – Ron Kaufman.

In his day-job, Ron is an Entrepreneur, Author, and Motivational Speaker. He is famous for helping worldwide companies and brands build corporate cultures that focus on superior customer service. Lately Ron has been expanding his horizons (in a literal sense). For months now, Ron has been moonlighting as an Astronaut. The launch date isn’t until 2016 (or later), but he’s already neck deep in XCOR Aerospace, Inc training sessions.

Never be afraid to dream big!

XCOR® builds safer, more reliable and reusable rocket-powered vehicles, propulsion systems, advanced non-flammable composites and rocket piston pumps.

Moses “Sharky” Herrera joins TJC LA

Moses, fondly referred to as Sharky (had a Mohawk in high school) was born right here in SoCal. He grew up kicking ass in soccer and getting bad advice from his brother. (P.S. His brother recommended him for the job at TJC.)

Moses enjoys imagining scenarios in which he is the Laker General Manager. In fact, one of his prized possessions is a piece of artwork (?) that he handcrafted to commemorate the year Kobe Bryant scored 81 points in one game. We hope he’ll bring it in to the HQ to grace our walls.

Moses also likes traveling and trying new foods; he once tried pig’s blood, but we’re going to ignore that and move on. Moses has a calm and easygoing manner about him and believes strongly in interconnectivity; he can’t even come up with pet peeves when asked. He loves going to the gym and working out while jamming to Kelly Clarkson and Taylor Swift (we’re not judging).

Before Team Jenn, Moses attended UCSD, and worked at a trucking company as the sole accountant (sounds icky). We won’t go into details, but one day he called in sick, interviewed at Team Jenn, and resigned. That’s a 3 pointer for Team Jenn.

Welcome back to the Pit, Mad Max!

Max grew up in Southern California, where volleyball is a manly sport, and everyone has a surfboard in their garage. A towhead, he spent more time in the ocean than on dry land. It was only through the intervention of his stepmother, that Max was awakened to a joy completely separate from sunburns, saltwater, and padded, inflatable spheres: he discovered a passion for reading that continues to this day.

By the time college rolled around, Max had a change of heart, and hightailed it to Colorado to get a true taste of all four seasons. Between snowboarding, and hiking, he studied Business Management for practicality, with minors in Creative Writing and Psychology for enjoyment.

After four snowy Colorado winters Max graduated from DU, and fled to Florida to spend a couple years with his best buddy Travis. He tried his hand as a recruiter at a staffing agency. Nothing else conducive to becoming a respectable member of society happened on the East Coast: proof that Max and Travis should not live in the same city.

After returning to Los Angeles, it took Max 5 years at a huge travel agency to wake up, smell the numbers, and realize that Team Jenn Corp was just the company to provide him with the challenge he had been searching for. He hasn’t looked back yet!

Van Has Arrived!

Van Lam is fresh out of San Francisco State University with a degree in Finance. Welcome to the real world Van! She is starting out her new professional life as a Staff Accountant with the Team Jenn San Jose office.

Van loves hiking on the weekends, going Hot Yoga and Pilates for a little “me time”!

She was born in Vietnam but raised in the Bay area. Her family used to be known as “the strict Viet family”, but they’re cool now. So keg at Van’s house! Her family consists of her parents, little brother, not-so- little sister, and Boy, their grumpy ol’ dog.

Our new HR Hero - Dena Onekea!

Meet Dena! She's our new Team Jenn HR Specialist.

Originally from Ventura County, Dena moved out to LA to finish school at Cal State Northridge a few years ago.

She became interested in HR when interning for Countrywide Home Loans as an HR Recruiting Assistant. A couple years later when working at a non-profit helping out with their recruiting and HR Compliance she decided this is definitely the career path for her!

Dena spends her free time hanging out with family friends, pumping iron, watching reruns of Back to the Future, dominating the Wii, reading and staying up to date on House of Cards. She also likes to paint and design clothes! Dena and her husband like to travel but don't get to do it often enough. Hawaii is their favorite spot!

She is also a pet parent to two kitties, Boba and Lilo.

Lalaynia Is California Cool

Lalaynia is originally a Southern California native - born in Los Angeles and raised in El Dorado Hills.

She attended college at Folsom Lake College (accredited through Cosumnes River College) and earned her Associates of Arts degree. Her goal in the near future is to complete a Bachelor's degree in either Business Administration/Accounting or in the Healthcare industry.

Lalaynia likes to hit the gym, dance, watch her children's sporting events, take in the arts, go to church, watch movies, BBQ, spend time with family and friends and last but not least stop and smell the roses from time to time! Literally!

Currently an HR Generalist, Lalaynia is learning the 'tricks of the trade' in Human Resources. She throughly enjoys working with numbers, numbers, numbers and working with clients and their numbers too! Most of her past employment has been in accounting, AR/AP or billing. Her left brain thrives on it!

Between her and fiancé, Jay, they have 5 beautiful children in their dynamic "blended" family. Marisa (26 years old), Alex (just turned 20 years old), Kaori (11 years old), Skyler (9 years old), and Savannah (8 years old). Needless to say they are very family oriented and love all their babies!

Say Howdy to Sheilla Daye!

Sheilla Daye is our newest and coolest Staff Accountant. Sheilla graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in Accounting from the University of Maryland. She intends to start working on her MBA this year and also wants to get her CPA license. How ambitious!

Sheilla can call any corner of the world home - she's from Everywhereville, Planet Earth. She has lived or worked or vacationed on all the continents (except for Antarctica). To make it simple, she calls Belgium home. She watches the World Cup but also has a thing for the Spurs. Mostly because of fellow Belgian, Tony Parker.

Say Hi to Nina!

Nina is one of our new Staff Accountants at Team Jenn. She is part Persian part Russian and a little Italian! She has lived in Iran, Italy and now sunny California. Her whole family lives in Italy.

Nina came to the U.S. Five years ago and went to U.C Berkeley for a year studying English and Literature. She then went to Stanford for a year majoring in Computer Programming but realized she's no Mark Zuckerberg. Instead, she found the wonderful world of accounting at San Jose State University.

Nina grew up playing roller blade (both speed and figure) and has the medals to prove it! She loves football and is a Raiders/Cowboys' fan. Also she loves Hockey! Go Sharks! And horseback riding is definitely her thang. Happily married, Nina doesn't have any human kids but her fur child's name is Halloween. He's a British Bombay cat with style. Next on her pet list? A Siberian Husky!

Something that Nina and Jenn have in common - they both love motorcycles. Not a day goes by that Nina doesn't ride her motorcycle, it doesn't matter if it's raining or snowing! She has a Harley Davidson Street 2015 and has another Harley Davidson Iron 883 in her sights.

Her biggest goal in life is to start an all girl's motorcycle club!

She'll Never Go Back to Snow Again! Say Hi to Laura.

Laura was born and raised in Michigan and has lived in California for the past 15 years. She LOVES LA and all it's glory. She attended Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, MI but did not graduate because she decided to peruse a career in hairdressing instead. She ran with that passion for 22 years - that's a lot of haircuts! She was hired at Team Jenn as Jenn's/Office Assistant and hasn't been fired yet! She thrives in busy environments and enjoys wearing many hats.

Laura is married to Brian and has 2 sons: Kerr is 22 and just graduated from Yale (played football for them), and Ian who is 21 and a junior at UCLA (who also played football for them on scholarship). She now has a really nice collection of foam fingers after 10 years of football games! She has 2 Golden Retrievers (Vail and Aspen) whom she adores, she loves to cook, read books, go to the beach, and shop.

Bringing on Britta!

Britta Satterlund is our new HRPR Administrative Assistant. Besides specializing in just being awesome, Britta was formally a personal shopper and stylist - so she knows how to make her clients look good.

Britta grew up in Loomis, a very small town about 20 minutes outside of Sacramento - which in 2014 now boasts four stoplights! Needless to say, she's a small town girl now living and working in the big city.

She went to UCLA and has a degree in Comparative Literature (French AND English thank you very much) as well as a MA in Cultural and Creative Industries Studies from King's College in London.

Britta has a beautiful chestnut Thoroughbred horse named Oliver and a scruffy terrier mix named Bjorn. They are both rescues that Britta now calls her pet children.

And of course she can ride that horse (she's been at it since she was 6!) Watch her winning a blue ribbon in the Novice Jumping Class at a horse show for UCLA!

A few special things to know about Britta - she's trying to learn Swedish, loves sandwiches more than pizza, can't whistle and she's written a rom com spy caper novel - think Bridget Jones meets James Bond.

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