Liberty Tax, is a chain of franchise and company-owned locations that provide tax preparation services. It is known for its wavers, people in Statue of Liberty costumes and Uncle Sam costumes, used as a form of

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. It is the third largest institutional tax preparation service provider in the United States and second largest in Canada.

History

The company began in Canada in 1997 when John Hewitt, co-founder of

Jackson Hewitt Jackson Hewitt Tax Service Inc. is the second largest tax-preparation service in the United States; responsible for preparing over 2 million federal, state, and local income-tax returns each year. The headquarters is located in Jersey Cit ...

, acquired a Canadian tax franchisor, U&R Tax Depot. In 1998, the company became Liberty Tax Service and opened five offices in the United States. In 2012, it was named as a "Top 20 Franchise for the Buck" by Forbes, having grown to over 3,500 franchise locations. In 2009, Liberty Tax was ordered to pay $1.3 million for engaging in unfair business practices related to its refund anticipation loans.Court rules against Liberty Tax Service
/ref> It later settled with the Department of Justice over allegations that its franchisee locations inflated some customer tax returns between 2013 and 2018. Founder Hewitt was terminated as CEO in September 2017 after Liberty Tax reported poor financial performance and was forced to close down dozens of its offices due to allegations of tax fraud. Hewitt formed a competing business in 2019 and was sued by Liberty for stealing business from them by using inside information. In 2019, Liberty Tax became a subsidiary of the

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. In 2021 it was purchased by and became a subsidiary of NextPoint Financial. The same year it was combined with LoanMe, a personal and small business loan company based in California. As of 2021, it is the third largest institutional tax preparation service provider in the United States and second largest in Canada.

References

External links

* {{official website, https://www.libertytax.com/
NextPoint Financial
Tax preparation companies of the United States Tax preparation companies of Canada Financial services companies established in 1997 American companies established in 1997 Companies based in Virginia Beach, Virginia Franchises