type public traded as nasdaq tax founded 1997 ; 19 years ago 1997 virginia beach virginia u.s. headquarters virginia beach virginia u.s. key people john hewitt chairman ceo & president coo cmo martha o gorman cfo kathy donovan cio charles e. kirkpatrick products tax preparation tax preparation courses website libertytax.com liberty tax service is a united states based company specializing in the preparation of tax returns for individuals and small businesses it is the third largest tax preparation franchise in the united states . the company began in canada in 1997 when john hewitt co founder of jackson hewitt acquired a canadian tax franchisor u & r tax depot . in 1998 the company became liberty tax service and opened 5 offices in the united states . 1 liberty tax service is the primary subsidiary of liberty tax inc. a nasdaq traded company . liberty tax service appeared on forbes top 20 franchises for the buck in 2012 . 2 liberty tax service is well known for its wavers people in statue of liberty costumes and uncle sam costumes used as a form of guerilla marketing . 3 4 5 6 7 on october 28 2011 a flash mob of costumed lady libertys danced in times square to promote liberty tax service and celebrate the anniversary of the statue of liberty . 8 9 contents 1 products and services 2 ceo & founder 3 awards 4 criticism and legal actions 5 references 6 external links products and services edit assisted tax preparation services consumers may choose to visit from more than 4 000 locations in the united states and canada . online tax filing services consumers may select from one of the companies online websites liberty online free basic and fee based deluxe and premium editions for homeowners and small business owners respectively . the difference from esmarttax.com is the ability for consumers to continue filing the return at a liberty tax office if the person runs into an issue requiring professional assistance esmarttax free basic and fee based deluxe and premium editions for homeowners and small business owners respectively diy tax free portal for simpler tax returns healthcaretaxinfo.com focuses on supporting consumers with affordable care act compliance irs approved course provider conducts training for tax professionals with basic and advanced courseware to maintain professional competency ceo & founder edit a typical location in a strip mall in hillsboro oregon john hewitt began his career at h & r block as a tax preparer in 1969 and was later promoted to regional director of 250 offices . in 1982 he went on to found jackson hewitt tax service which he grew to over 1 300 offices until it was sold for 483 million in 1997 . citation needed awards edit entrepreneur magazine has ranked liberty tax service on its franchise 500 list of best franchise opportunities since 1998 . liberty tax service is the only tax franchise on the forbes magazine s top 20 franchises for the buck . 2012 10 in july 2011 vetrepreneur magazine named liberty tax on its military friendly franchise list . in its summer 2011 issue small business opportunities magazine ranked liberty tax one of the 75 hot franchises to get into now . citation needed in june g.i. jobs named liberty tax service on its list of military friendly franchises . citation needed olive tree publishing inc. the publisher of the black eoe journal the hispanic network magazine and the professional woman s magazine announced that liberty tax service has been recognized in their publications the past three years . liberty tax service is the only tax service that was included on the list of 25 top franchises for hispanics in 2006 2007 2009 2010 and 2011 published by poder formerly hispanic enterprise magazine . citation needed criticism and legal actions edit liberty tax has been the subject of a lot of criticism related to their business practices . many of these have become the subject of legal actions by former franchise owners and some state attorneys general liberty tax makes use of sign wavers people dressed in costume actively advertising for nearby franchises . they have come under criticism for violating zoning regulations 11 disrupting traffic 12 13 liberty tax was sued by the state of california in 2009 for promising its customers speedy tax refunds while failing to disclose that they were actually taking out high interest bank loans on their behalf subject to finance charges and debt collections a state appeals court has ruled in upholding a 1.3 million judgment against the tax preparation firm . 14 15 liberty tax franchises were the subject of a class action suit in south carolina in 2011 . the suit claims that the firm inflated business expenses and produced false information about charitable donations and that the liberty tax service office they hired did not follow through with a guarantee to assist them during the audit process . the suit claims that liberty tax had a plan or a scheme to increase their profits by filing false fraudulent or inappropriate forms . 16 17 liberty tax has been accused of engaging in predatory lending targeted at low income and military families . the alleged abuses relate to what s known as refund anticipation loans ral . an ral is a high interest rate short term loan secured by a taxpayer s expected tax refund and designed to offer customers quicker access to funds rather than waiting for their tax refund from the irs . the new york state division of human rights in 2008 filed a complaint against liberty tax service and others seeking to limit the tax preparers ability to market ral . citation needed according to dhr s court filings military families and ethnic minority families have found themselves in deep debt having to use their tax refund and savings just to keep up with interest payments that can balloon up to 700 % annualized when they get ral . 18 references edit tax service franchise reviews http www.forbes.com sites jjcolao 2012 02 08 top 20 franchises for the buck http www.themorningsun.com articles 2011 02 11 news doc4d546a4f74704261795371.txt http www.avclub.com chicago articles liberty tax services wavers are people too 54410 http www.kansan.com news 2009 apr 16 life liberty tax service waver http www.dailyinterlake.com news local montana article de41daa8 21ea 11e0 b184 001cc4c03286.html http chronicle.augusta.com news crime courts 2012 02 10 north augusta barring tax services wavers http www.paramuspost.com article.php 20111026153220527 http www.businesswire.com news home 20111021005041 en liberty tax delegation celebrate anniversary statue liberty 1 tax firm s wavers not exempt from concern arrest of dancing mascot puts liberty tax wavers in the spotlight case no . cv f 13 0547 ljo sms court rules against liberty tax service attorney general prevails in lawsuit against income tax preparation company five signs you might have a bad tax preparer the ugly truth about the tax preparation chains predatory lenders milking consumers external links edit official website retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title liberty tax service & oldid 727946580 categories tax preparation companies of the united statestax preparation companies of canadacompanies established in 1997companies based in virginia beach virginiafranchisescompanies listed on nasdaqhidden categories all articles with unsourced statementsarticles with unsourced statements from october 2013articles with unsourced statements from february 2015articles with unsourced statements from march 2016 navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a 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