Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin LLP

Archive for the ‘DK&C News’ Category

Mitsue Kuramoto joined Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin last month as a Tax Manager. She specialized in corporate and international tax at KPMG and Plante & Moran while living in Illinois. She earned both her Bachelor of Science and Masters in Tax from the University of Florida. Go Gators!

Mitsue moved to San Francisco from Chicago to be closer to her family who live in Japan. Although she misses the flat terrain of the windy city and Dunkin Donut coffee, she loves being close to nature and the variety of food choices available in San Francisco. Her favorite restaurant discovery so far? E’ Tutto Qua in North Beach. While not in the office, Mitsue can be found paying tennis, hiking, and traveling. The past few weekends she has been exploring her new home. She has already familiarized herself with the Sunset, Financial District and North Beach. Next up, she’ll be checking out the Mission district. She is very excited to be living on the west coast. Welcome to California Mitsue!

The newest member of the Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin team, Ina Lamaka, joined the firm right in time for tax season. She graduated from San Francisco State with a Bachelor of Science in accounting and finance this past fall. “Accounting is in my genes” she says with a smile. Her mother is an accountant in Belarus.

Ina is the epitome of someone who lives life to its fullest. In her free time she loves to ballroom dance, play tennis and go for hikes. She is also an avid traveler. Her next big adventure is a trip to Thailand! She is a self declared “animal person.” She and her husband own two iguanas, salt water fish and a dog named Laike. Her life motto is “I believe that a joke and a positive attitude can prolong your life.”

Perhaps it not a stretch to see where Cynthia Bonavia learned her love of numbers.

“My Mom and Dad each have eight brothers and sisters,” she says with a laugh. “So, we have huge family parties at Christmas and Easter with all the cousins, my sister and her three kids and my younger brother.”

That’s a lot of family members to count during the holidays.

On a professional level, Cynthia has been working with numbers since 2002 when she started her accounting career after graduating from the University of San Francisco in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting and Finance.

She became interested in the tax side of accounting during her college days. “Tax just made more sense to me in college. When I first started out, I stuck with it, because it felt like I was doing more. Auditing is just verifying things, whereas in tax you bring more to the table with planning and consulting.”

Cynthia was one of the original members of DK&C, which was a thrill for her. “It was exciting to start something new with a group of great people that I got along with really well,” she says. “We were able to start our own firm with our own new ideas and a fresh start.”

Cynthia during a trip to Greece.

Outside of the office, Cynthia enjoys to travel. So far, she’s been around Europe — Italy, Ireland, Scotland and Malta, where she still has family — and Australia. “I like to plan the places where we are going to stay, but I don’t plan the sight-seeing so much,” she says, “it’s more like whatever we feel like doing that day or what we hear about from people we talk to.”

She took that spontaneous philosophy with her on a trip to Hawaii shortly after the October tax season ended. “I went with a friend and we spent Halloween on Oahu,” she says. “It was a great time to get away and see what the holiday was like over there. The whole trip was great fun.”

Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin celebrated the end of the April tax season by taking over Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay for a firm outdoor party.

“Mark Devereaux did the grilling while some of us played volleyball and the rest of us played tag football,” says DK&C Supervisor Sarah Ta. “After lunch, some of us went for a hike up to Mt. Livermore.”

The bi-annual events serve as a way to relax after the firm’s busiest seasons and build unity. “It’s nice to be out with our co-workers and get to know each other outside of the office, especially our newer staff members,” Sarah says. “Plus, we always have fun when we’re together.”

To see photos from our outing, please visit the album on Facebook by clicking here.

The 12-member Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction created by the Budget Control Act of 2011 has discussed possibly reducing or completely eliminating the current $5,000,000 exemption levels for the different transfer taxes (Estate, GST and Gift).

There have been some comments suggesting that the Gift Tax Exclusion may be reduced from $5M to $1M as of January 1, 2012, rather than letting it expire on December 31, 2012, as originally planned.

The actual content of the Super Committee meetings are not actually known, but some professionals even suggest that the reduction might be effective as early as November 23, 2011.

We have no way at all of knowing what law changes will actually pass, but, given this possibility, anyone planning to make gifts using the increased exemption amount may want to consider making gifts prior to the end of this year instead of in 2012.

If you have any other questions, please contact us at (415) 692-3900.

To ensure compliance with requirements imposed by the IRS, we inform you that any tax advice contained in this communication (including attachments) was not intended or written to be used, and cannot be used, for the purpose of (i) avoiding penalties under the Internal Revenue Code or (ii) promoting, marketing or recommending to another party any transaction or matter addressed herein.

Melody Suehiro joins Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin after earning a Masters in Accounting degree from San Jose State University.

Melody comes into accounting as her second career. “I was a marriage and family therapist for a few years,” she explains. “I enjoyed it and working with people, but I’m a results oriented person and I wanted a career where I could work with clients and see my efforts being fruitful.”

With a laugh, Melody explains that she doesn’t have off time. “I’m a mother of a 20-month-old little girl, so when I leave the office I’m off to my second job. She’s pretty fearless and it’s a lot of fun going to parks, roaming around, climbing and going down the slide.”

The voice you hear when calling in to Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin belongs to Cristina Guzman, who joined the firm earlier this year.

Cristina comes to DK&C after previously working as an administrative assistant at a geotechnical engineering firm, banks and credit unions.

The closeness of the firm and warmness of the partners attracted her to the job. “I could tell it was a close unit and that everybody got along,” she says. “It felt warm, like a family atmosphere. When I was interviewed by the partners they seemed genuine and it was easy to see that they treated the staff well.”

Cristina is a lifelong resident of San Francisco. She is married and has two boys (five and seven). When they’re not at work or school, the Guzman family can be found outside, playing baseball or going to the park. “Family is number one to me.”

Kayan Tse came to Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin just in time for the most exciting months of the year – tax season.

Kayan comes to DK&C after working in the non-profit sector at the Asian Women’s Shelter in San Francisco. While her client interactions were limited, the experience made a big impact on her. “It was amazing to see the changes in the women’s lives. The experiences made me want to contribute more.”

Before taking the job at the Asian Women’s Shelter, Kayan worked at Deloitte LLP where she was introduced to the accounting industry. With a Japanese and Asian Studies degree from Cal, and a minor in economics, Kayan was attracted to accounting for one simple reason: “I know it’s nerdy, but I like numbers,” she says with a laugh.

Outside of the office, Kayan enjoys traveling to foreign lands with a group of friends. In fact, they’re already planning a trip to Peru after the October busy season. “I go with a group of friends and we explore,” she says. “It’s all spontaneous. I love meeting new people randomly and learning about their culture.”

Much like the rest of the Bay Area, the team at Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin were caught up in the excitement of last year’s World Series. When the Giants ultimately won, it sent the entire firm into frenzy.

It helped that the firm opened its doors on November 1st, the same day the Giants won the championship.

“That night a bunch of us from the firm went to Greens on Polk Street to watch the game,” remembers Kaitlin Colburn, a lifelong Giants fan. “When it ended we were out in the street, cheering and popping champagne bottles. There was a lot of celebrating.”

Two days later most of the firm – in their orange and black – got front row seats at the beginning of the parade route, which just happened to be right outside their office. (To see pictures of the firm’s parade celebration, please visit the DK&C Facebook page by clicking here.)

Kaitlin’s love of the Giants goes back to her youth, when she’d go to Candlestick Park with her dad. “It was a way to bond with my Dad,” she says. “It was really special to get to go to the game. I like the whole atmosphere. I love when people are spirited and everyone comes together.”

Last season, Kaitlin enjoyed learning the players’ stories. “The men on the team were endearing,” she says. “Tim Lincecum is very intriguing to me. I met Cody Ross at a photo op. I love him. He was so happy and so grateful to be where they were. He has a really great smile. He gave me the biggest hug and he was really down to earth.”

As far as this season so far, Kaitlin sees big things for the team. “I think they were really excited that they won last year and overconfident, perhaps. Sports Illustrated said in their baseball preview issue that the Giants and the Red Sox are going to the World Series. I think they’ll go far, if they keep concentrating and not making the little mistakes they’ve been making.”

We are proud to announce that effective today, November 1, Devereaux, Kuhner & Chin LLP is officially open for business.

In case you need it, our new contact information is below:
Three Embarcadero Center
Suite 1160
San Francisco, CA 94111

Our new main phone number is:
(415) 692-3900

We look forward to seeing you soon!