why teni exists.

in 1999, 1-800accountant started filing tax returns for small business owners. the accountants who built the company noticed something: the tools in the market were rigid. they were built for either accountants doing the work, or w-2 employees filling out their taxes once a year. nobody had built for the person who actually generates the income — the creator, contractor, or small business owner working from their phone, managing money in real time.

over 25 years, 1-800accountant filed more than 100,000 tax returns. they employed credentialed cpas, built relationships with clients who called back every year, and watched the income landscape shift. by 2020, the 1099 economy was booming. but the tools hadn't changed. creators were still scanning receipts on their computers, guessing at deductions, and waiting until march to understand their tax liability.

so we asked: what if we built tax software native to how creators actually work? not retrofitted from w-2 software. not designed for accountants to use on behalf of clients. but built for the person earning the income — on their phone, in real time, with ai that actually understands 1099 code and knows which deductions matter.

teni is 1-800accountant's bet that the next decade of 1099 tax software needs to live where creators live: integrated into their workflow, available when they need it, and backed by real tax expertise. not a replacement for a cpa. a tool that makes small business tax management something a creator can do themselves, or do better with their cpa.