LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints

5,730 thoughts on “LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints”

• Franchizee,

  So happy we finally agree on something. Good luck and get well soon.

  Thanks

• I will send you an invite when my shock therapy is completed!

• Back to important information- Looking at my old computers and there is no spyware that shows up, however as I was digging around there is an area called remote access to computer. The computers from Zones are built in for remote access by LTS at anytime. You cannot turn them off, it is built into the manufacturing of the machine. So they could at anytime access an old computer as long as it is on line. So it begs to say, how many people used the old equipment, machines and routers when they left LTS? The computers are ruined and need to be destroyed. They are not safe and it would make sense over the years, I turned off every computer and come in the next day and several of them are on. Of course during the off season, I turned off the power strip to each computer and it was amazing how none of them could be turned on.

• Unhappy Liberty Tax Franchisees: The purpose of John Barilla and the rest of his cronies is to bait us into defending against their insults instead of staying focused on why we are here and that is to advise potential franchisees of the pitfalls of purchasing a Liberty Tax Franchise. I have read all of their post and when you challenge them to provide facts, as simple as their city or state, they are unwilling to do so and usually respond with just more insults. Ignore them and just stick to the facts. Now that Liberty is a public company there is more transparence which works in our favor. We have consistently stated the company is unethical and the fact that the “SEC” made them restate their financials because they overstated their income adds validity to what we were saying about the quality of this organization and their integrity.

  I started reviewing the 2nd qtr. financials today and in the cash flow statement Liberty has reduced it’s operating loans to franchisees by 3 million dollars. In my view this was necessary because Liberty can no longer afford to prop up these franchisees. The result will be a decline in the number of stores that survive this 2014 tax season.

  In the conference call today and supported in the financials Liberty’s franchise sales are significantly down from prior years. Liberty blames the fact that the SEC would not let them sell franchises during the restatement period. Liberty might want people to believe that the SEC was the only reason but I know this site is the bigger reason!

  Stay focused and contact your local SBA and make sure they are aware of this site.
  The more tools we have the better our chances of succeeding.

• ^^^Bill:

  Excellent post. Thank you for giving us an update on financials. Liberty blames everyone but themselves. Very narcissistic attitudes. I *thought* franchises were out there to ensure that their franchisees were successful. Not in this case AT ALL. They are definitely in the business of buying and selling and re-selling territories. Big difference from using the tools to make the franchisees successful.

  Let them continue to place blame on everyone and everything. Hope they crash & burn.

  I had many, many happy clients in the 5 years I was with this terrorist organization. Because of ME & my business partner………NOT Liberty. They almost never answered phone calls to help, but certainly had their hands out at every possible moment. I was working hard to line THEIR pockets with money.

  It’s about time that this man is closely scrutinized. Amazing how many years he flew under the radar. I attribute that to today’s technology and sites like this (THANK YOU ADMIN!!!). Hopefully the tide will slowly turn and HE will face jail time and be held accountable for making the lives of so many franchisees miserable.

• @Bill: Operating loans could be down because (1) they have fewer new franchisees, (2) zees like Franchizee are waiting to see if re-signing is a possibility, (3) last year’s tough season increased the office churn, or (4) older zees either don’t need the loan or are wising up to the fact that paying 12% APR to Liberty Corporate isn’t that smart in a near zero interest rate environment. Plus, maybe Liberty location mix is shifting to Company locations and resulting in fewer loans.

  Or, last but not least, maybe loans will just explode as the tax season approaches!

• I getting the info it will be hard to apply for loans, plus a majority of loans made earlier in the year took into consideration taking care the first part of the tax season 2014. The problem will be in Feb when payroll and rent is due with no significant amount of money is rolling in for the zees. I suspect the loans will start being applied for later this month and in Jan to cover the rest of the season.

• Second article today mentioning HR Block losing to Liberty Tax.

  Looks like Reuters agrees…..

  P.S. Can’t wait to see Franchizee/SanFranDan/Bill/Mike (all same person) respond to this.

  Dec 10 (Reuters) – U.S. tax preparer H&R Block Inc reported a bigger-than-expected loss for the second quarter due to a fall in international tax preparation fees.

  The company has been realigning to focus on its core taxpreparing business after several years of losing customers todo-it-yourself tax filing services like Intuit Inc’s TurboTax and Liberty Tax Service.

  H&R Block has been trying to sell its banking assets sinceJuly to avoid a sharp rise in costs associated with theintroduction of stricter banking rules by the U.S. FederalReserve.

  The company failed to close the sale of its banking unit toRepublic Bancorp Inc in October as it could not getthe necessary regulatory approvals.

  H&R Block’s revenue declined 2 percent to $134.3 million inthe quarter ended Oct. 31, while its international taxpreparation fees fell 19 percent to $41.6 million.

  The company’s net loss from continuing operations widened to$103 million, or 38 cents per share, from $101.2 million, or 37cents per share, a year earlier.

  Excluding items, it lost 42 cents per share. Analysts onaverage had expected a loss of 37 cents per share, according toThomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

  The second quarter is seasonally a weak one for taxpreparers. They earn most of their profits in the third andfourth quarters when most people file their taxes.

  Kansas City, Missouri-based H&R Block’s shares were down 1percent in extended trading after closing at $28.80 on the NewYork Stock Exchange on Tuesday.

• ^^Which Stooge are you? Curly, Larry or Moe? Or maybe you are the 7th dwarf……dopey.

  Best line of the whole article…….losing to “do it yourself tax filing services like Liberty Tax”………..boy are they right, Liberty IS a do it yourself preparation service. NO ONE should own a Liberty Tax office without proper Tax experience and training. Again, as long as you have a wallet and are breathing, LTS will sell to you.

  You can’t wait for our response? The article says NOTHING about what really matters. Signing on to be a franchisee. Training. Buying THEIR products. Setting up a store. Gaining customers. Marketing. Preparing proper tax returns. Corporate support. Questions answered. THIS IS WHERE LIBERTY SUCKS. You cannot cross a T or dot an I without getting a “notice to cure”. It is a Nazi-like regime. They do an amazing amount of glitz to make you part with your money. All smoke. It has been perfected over years & years.

  I for one honestly could care less what articles say. I am on this forum to warn others before plunking down their hard earned money on a franchise that takes your money and does almost nothing to support you as a franchisee. Boy, do I have stories. Whomever is looking into a franchise at this late date, please take a step back & re-evaluate your choices. Once you sign on with these goons, it will become a VERY rocky road.

• The real reason for little to no growth with Liberty, Block, Jackson, and Intuit, is the “Free” tax service locations that are growing like wild fire. If you don’t believe it, merely visit them this coming tax season. THEY ARE PACKED!! As long as these free places flourish there will be stagnate growth, there maybe some transitioning from clients back and forth from the aforementioned and some like those at liberty and block will praise themselves for gaining market share from each other but the real growth is in the free places and sadly once someone gets hooked on “free” they aren’t going back to block, liberty or any other paid preparer! Why doesn’t Reuters et al comment on these things? Because they don’t know the industry at an office/client level.

• Yup, once liberty goes up 50% in returns this year they will be tied with Jackson Hewitt.
  Then another 950% next year and they will be where H&R block is now.
  The writing is on the wall. In 20 years liberty has managed to get to 2/3 the returns that JH does. Not bad. (That 2% market share vs 3% for JH came from hewitt s mouth) yup that article is dead on. I bet they looked at last years numbers even and noticed liberty up 15,000 returns plus the new online filing. And since the article is referencing mainly the do it yourself segment ie turbo tax and called liberty a do it yourself….how much money does the franchisee make on the do it yourself again?
  But what they didn’t really talk about was block as a company (and this is an investment article) increased their online market share significantly.
  In the store displays I would see turbo tax, block, and liberty software all on display together. Ooooooops I mean block and turbo tax. I couldn’t find the liberty product.

  This is an investment article. It’s talking about blocks retail store fronts competing with the do it yourself software and online filing. They didn’t talk much about HRB footprint in that segment just the competitors.

  And if its based off of the release of the financials without comparing them to liberty’s and turbo taxes for the same quarter it’s kind of slanted one way.
  How are liberty’s numbers this quarter?
  How much cash on hand? Did they have a loss? How wide was it? Did they miss analysts expectations?
  Those are some things I’d like to know from a financial article comparing several companies but only giving the numbers of one

• Greg,

  1st the news article concerning H&R Block was talking about free tax software and they were referencing Liberty Tax E-Smart tax software not the brick and mortar offices.

  Next you mention about an increase of 15,000 returns. Liberty claiming to have 4600 offices this past year, then that is only a 3.26 increase returns per office. I would not have wanted to be a new franchisee. Maybe this is way so many of new franchisees did less than 100 returns, and existing offices return counts were actually down.

  A majority of the Liberty’s return increase was not in the brick and mortar stores but using Liberty’s E-Smart Online software for free.

  If H&R Block cannot compete against the free return software and they control 19% of the paid market share. How are Liberty owners going to compete against the free software.

• Nc hillbilly,
  That’s what I was talking about. Retail tax prep vs online/free/do it yourself.
  How can a liberty tax franchise compete?
  Not sure if this is accurate but I thought I read e smart had 35000 returns.
  It would be silly for the author to even consider that competition to block with several million returns processed by their various do it yourself products.

  These options do impact all of the franchisees of liberty, JH, and block

• Someone posted that Hewitt’s dinosaur ways are catching up to him. Brilliant.

  Great posts by Greg and NC Hillbilly……LOVE the numbers analysis! :)

  Hope this is the beginning of the end. Prospective franchisees: Take notice and then back away. Save your money. Spend it elsewhere.

• One thing about “free” is the potential audit of an individual. I have long term client’s who originally did free or did themselves and once audited multiple time, don’t choose to go back. How many free are audited? According to Accounting Today several years ago, 50% of errors come from the “free” market from the IRS. (I don’t have the link)

  So for the short term “free” is going to win until either someone looses their shirt with the IRS or the “free” people have to turn people away. It’s all good baby until your audited or you receive a letter from the IRS wanting money.

  It will be just a matter of time, if “we” as tax preparers can withstand the storm of “free” winning out. But there are some people that won’t stay long with the “free” market.

• I read the earning report and the 106 franchises sold. When asked John stated that the 106 were broken down between 53 new territories and 53 existing territories. This compared to past years of 300 sales. He said they expect franchise sales to be down 50%, He likes to blame it on the restatement but I believe this site is have an impact. Also of the 500 Wal-Mart locations only 200 will be new this year.

  The idea of going public was to make a big score but the IPO failed and now Liberty is forced to meet SEC standards and that is providing a lot of transparency
  which is a good think not only for stock investors but also for potential franchisees.

  If you are a new franchise and have not found a location or received your E-FIN I strongly urge you not to upon for the 2014 tax season. Even with the delay there will be no way you will have sufficient time to properly prepare to open. If the AD or the corp. try to force you contact an attorney and you should be able to break the contract.

• I agree with Franchizee that once do-it-yourselfers get an IRS letter and come in crying for help, they will never again try it themselves. The flip side is those taxpayers who do themselves an injustice–don’t claim a child because s/he turned 18, didn’t itemize when it was to their advantage, didn’t take credits or loss carryovers to which they were entitled. These people will never get a letter from the IRS informing them they overpaid! Then something happens like they get an inheritance or a 1099-C that they don’t think they can handle so seek professional help. You end up amending prior year returns and they get back scads of money. Again, you’ve gained a client for life. I’ve also found that many people just don’t want to waste their limited time fiddling with tax software and code changes and are happy to pay an expert to do it for them. Well, they’re happy until the price becomes too high and then they go the software route.

  Obviously, the more complex the return the more likely people are to pay for professional help. The Liberty model has got to shift to training preparers better so they can serve this market. Without refund loans, the low-income clients are the ones gravitating toward free sites and software. When they’re gone, where will Liberty clients come from?

• Spot on SaraEA – The problem with LTS and H and R Block’s models is about 50% of their business comes from low income and EIC crowd. (Not all low income qualify for EIC). All it will take is a swipe from Congress and a President’s signature and both LTS and H and R Block would be out of business or the current business model would collapse.

  I would suspect the people who leave LTS and don’t do as well (meaning write huge number of EIC people etc or known as losers by John Barilla and his ilk) don’t pander to the EIC people. They are more professional group and try to cater to real taxpayers.

  Sara is right, you have to be very careful on the price you charge people because they will leave for free or software. It is a very fine line, so as a tax business keeping cost low is a must due to the short money season is provides. It looks like we are going to loose almost three weeks where there is very little money coming our way compared to 2 or 3 years ago.

• @Bill – I would like to know from John John, how many franchises were closed in that same time period. I am sure more are going to shut down if they can (lease is almost done, their 5 year contract is almost due etc.) I suspect there are going to more shut downs prior to Jan 2 or Jan 8th.

  The seasoned offices have been really suffering the last two tax seasons. ICA will be available, but it was such a circus to implement and how many signatures a client had to sign or when the signing website was down. You don’t know how much your loan will be etc. Some people could not get their cards to operate and zees were refunding the tax prep fees to many clients last year. With those type of clients where you have to “buy” their business through Cash in a Flash and Send a Friends, those people expect perfection and will stamp their little feet to get what they want. You are beholden to them not the other way around,

  Also the due diligence that is going to be required for EIC on people’s “own” children is going to be a nightmare. I did that for my people last year, so I can just recopy for the following year. Most were understanding, but they may not want to see me this year!

• Actually about 35% eitc low income for block vs about 75% for liberty.
  The reason for this is block was around for 30 years or so prior to big eitc returns and had a successful business doing middle income returns and have retained many of those clients families and those clients in their retirement. There has been some erosion and some shift to embrace the low income clientele but not at the complete expense of the solid pay out of pocket market.
  Without big eitc both JH and liberty would cease to exist. They only reason they are here today is because of the creation of those tax credits.
  Those credits along with ral’s generated millions of returns for people that previously were not required to file returns but suddenly got money by filing because of the new credits. Check the number of filed returns filed prior to big eitc vs after big eitc. Overlay that with the creation of Jackson Hewitt then liberty.
  The credits made returns that were viable for a business to compete for we’re prior to them the number of returns were lock up with existing businesses and a new national chain would have had a crazy uphill battle to gain a toehold.
  Without them block would return to its solid roots. The stock would go down and offices would close but the company would survive.

  Remove 20-30 million returns from the market and who is better positioned to withstand that? The company with $2 million cash on hand or the company $500 million cash?

• Franchizee says:

  December 13, 2013 at 11:01 am

  “I would suspect the people who leave LTS and don’t do as well (meaning write huge number of EIC people etc or known as losers by John Barilla and his ilk) don’t pander to the EIC people. They are more professional group and try to cater to real taxpayers.”

  You must watch too much Fox News. The “real taxpayers”???? Guess what, the average household income in the US is only $50k, most people get a large refund on their taxes based on credits. I suppose you only think the top 10% are “real americans” too?

  Why did you join Liberty Tax in the first place? On the first conference call John Hewitt said our target is families making below $50k a year. He said the ones that make more think they need a CPA so that is not our market. I am a CPA and I understood going in that the only way to make would be to targer lower income people. If you were out there targerting high income earners with Liberty Tax’s brand you are the moron.

• Saw another liberty closed today. Poor franchisee. Did 400 to 700 returns lease was reasonable surprised Corp didn’t assume the lease they must be broke.

• mike:

  which Liberty location closed? Do others know of recent (2013) closures they can name?

• Yes, Mike would love to hear who would close down a store doing 700 stores with a reasonable lease, so I can pick it up for free, maybe even give the landlord some money for something doing $175k in revenues assuming they average net fee is $250k…. Let me guess, you made it up.

• Admin,

  Recent conference calls says Liberty will add only half as many stores then the pace of the last few years. Since it has been adding 300 or more stores, should assume they will add another 100 to 150 this year. Not bad after “toughest tax season ever” for the industry according to Accounting Today magazine.

• ^^Again, who gives a shit, Mr. Barilla Hewitt. Really, who cares?

  That man and that company are being investigated for lots & lots of illegal and improper fraudulence against innocent people, as they should be. Racketeering not only in SC, but all over the country. He will find out soon enough that his money cannot buy him everything and he will go to jail and be held accountable. When that happens, happy dance.

  ADMIN: Maybe you can tell us if any national news service is doing a story on his rise & fall from grace. THAT’s what I care about, not how many offices are being propped open by fake money and fake procedures.

  I could care less about how many offices open or close. If you run a company PROPERLY, HONESTLY and with INTEGRITY, then opening up offices would be a blessing. But since NOTHING associated with Liberty Tax Service has ANY honesty or integrity, then who cares?

  They take good, honest hard working people and rake them over the coals. To me that practice stinks to high hell. Again, I have no knowledge of how other franchises are run, but after spending the longest and most stressful 5 years of my life, I would not go back there even if someone paid me $5 million dollars.

  They are crooks, scam artists and the like. Who really cares how many offices they open or close? They are ripping people off left and right to do so and they stink. I CANNOT wait for him to finally get caught and to go to jail.

• San Fran,

  I don’t like to see anyone close their offices, this person is a friend. However they are going to open up a new office maybe even with the same clients. Barilla will one day be on this board asking for advice when it is his turn. Needless to say, did you see the MILLIONAIRES? Now they are promoting the Liberty Millionaire club that was freaking hillarious- I think there was 4 maybe?

  IF SOMEONE IS CONSIDERING BUYING A LIBERTY FRANCHISE, YOU BETTER THINK TWICE, YOUR CHANCES OF WINNING THE LOTTERY ARE BETTER THEN BECOMING RICH WITH LIBERTY TAX!!!! ONLY 4 AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!! MAYBE THERE WAS 5? HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH. BARILLA TELL US WHICH ONE ARE YOU?????? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

• ^^Sorry about your friend, Mike. I will tell you this, as I’m sure you already know & pass this info. on to them:

  THEY WILL BE 100000000% BETTER OFF WITHOUT LIBERTY TAX. IT MAY BE DIFFICULT AT FIRST, BUT IN THE LONG RUN, THEY WILL BE IN A MUCH BETTER PLACE.

  I wish them luck and know their decision was hard, but they are doing a very wise thing by closing and not giving one more red cent to those bastards. They will be much more profitable on their own without the Nazi regime breathing down their necks. Good luck to them, really.

• John Barilla, you are a CPA and you target lower-income people? WHY??? I understand that EITC returns can be very difficult to complete and that recipients do need professional help. Heck, the rules regarding “qualifying child” and filing status have gotten so convoluted that it’s hard for many people to attempt their own return. But with your training shouldn’t you be catering to small businesses and trusts and people who have complex tax situations? You will make a lot more money, have year-round work, and find your job more challenging.

• Hey nc hillbilly,
  Did you know Arthur Weiss?
  A liberty franchisee in western nc?
  It’s one of y favorite liberty stories. There would be a fifth in the millionaires club as he was a liberty millionaire……on now he is in prison for the next 15 years.
  How he got his millions is the funny part.
  Check it out with a little googling. It’s a great story.

• Does the millionaire club include Hewitt and the top gang of the LTS? I bet there is Bablu, Dan C. and a couple of others who suck off the lower zees to pay their way during the “planting” season.

• SaraEA:

  I thought the very same thing but then figured it’s one of the three stooges, so nothing is normal.

• Two stores in VA are in trouble. One store elsewhere is getting shut down, criminal investigation. These are recent incidents. Keep posing guys.

• John Barilla,

  How in the world are you charging and average net fee of $250 on families that are making $50,000 or less a year? That is ridiculous. CPA’s in my area charge less than that for more complex returns than your $50,000 families. Are you intentionally ripping them off? I doubt you’re making that much money.

  Can someone post the form prices Liberty is suggesting this year? When I was with Liberty, we were taught to have our invoice leave off the price of each form, just a list of forms and a price at the bottom of the invoice. Real shady.

  Liberty millionaires? Thats an oxymoron. Liberty bankruptcies, 100x more common.

  Stay away from this organization.

• ^^Don’t be Fooled: EXCELLENT POST!!!

  Up Hill Battle: I’ve got some food for thought for you and all other posters. What if Liberty Tax was behind the criminal investigation that shut down that office???
  Hmmmmmmmm, maybe that really does happen! Maybe I know something about that! Maybe that happens very frequently! Just imagine and broaden your minds into thinking in those terms. Hmmmmmmm. Gee, wonder how many other stores have been shut down for “criminal activity” around the country??? What led up to that? Hmmmmmmm.

  Maybe Trisha can elaborate on this some more!

  This Franchise sucks royally. I agree: Saved your money and stay away

  The dinosaur ways of ripping off customers is finally catching up with the head moron. In today’s world of computer blogs (THANK YOU SOOOOO MUCH, ADMIN!!!) the real truth comes out. Not some fake marketing exploit to woo you into thinking what a fabulous organization this is. It stinks!

• Oops. Didn’t mean to throw you all into a tailspin. I just wanted you all to THINK about the real possibilities of Liberty themselves being behind many of the messes that franchisees find themselves in. Am I right Jerry Arrington??! Go get him, yeah!

• Well – IRS opening day is Jan 31st so far. According to Hewitt we will be in the hub testing, however the funding will not come any sooner than it normally would. The hub testing unless it is changed starts Jan 24th. The IRS reserves the rights to restrict certain forms after testing starts. You know how well that goes over with the first peak clientele.

  Also looks like the 5th Monday of January turns into a bust- So what is the first date of money from IRS going to be with January 31st as the start date? Any guesses. Feb 10 or 15th?

• I’m sure you will see some funding as early as Feb 3rd-5th. Some returns that fly right through the system usually fund in 3-5 days. I wouldn’t make a big stink about the delayed start. It is practically the same as last year. In fact, I am actually thinking this years start shoudl be a bit smoother in reality.

  Yes, this will present a cash flow strain, but again no different than last year.

  Here’s to a great season for Liberty!!!!!

• Well, let me see, not only are franchisees paying rent 12 months a year, they are now paying January with no opportunity to get any revenue. I see another huge fallout this year as there has been through the last several. Again, franchisees are paying huge $$ for commercial space, while your non-franchise competitors are paying office rent that is probably a 2/3 less, doing it on their own, and making twice to three times as much in the end. Aren’t you glad you paid John Hewitt all that money. I am sure he spent it well.

• For those of you who want to find out how this business works, go to America’s Tax Office and spend $500 rather than $40K. Can pretty well guarantee, either one will be the same, only you will lose a lot less with less invested. Good Luck.

• Liberty has been a losing proposition from the start. On top of franchise fees, royalty fees, Advertising fees you are stuck with overhead all through the year. this is no revelation to any of you. I am still amazed that Liberty still stresses the number of tax returns as opposed to the money you make. I would wager that the income number is very disappointing, to say the least. With a declining tax prep market and the IRS tightening their handle on the preparers, it is no wonder that Liberty is a has been concept and should just be taken out of our misery. Come on, $400 for a simple W2 return?

• @Guest – Thanks John Hewitt only you would say that it will be a great year with early funding. Did you not read the email correctly?????? Not sure of the first funding date! DUH!

• Don’t be Fooled says:
  December 16, 2013 at 10:17 pm
  John Barilla,
  How in the world are you charging and average net fee of $250 on families that are making $50,000 or less a year? That is ridiculous. CPA’s in my area charge less than that for more complex returns than your $50,000 families. Are you intentionally ripping them off? I doubt you’re making that much money.

  Fooled,

  Two days away from this website and more idiotic postings… On one had you say i am ripping people off and on the other hand you doubt I am making much money. If I am not making any money obviously i should charge more, but you are recommending i charge less?

  Actually, I am making good enough money and my pricing is in line with HR Block, Jackson Hewitt and other Liberty Tax offices. According to the Nation Association of Tax Preparers the average fee is about $250 for a tax return. Good CPAs don’t even want any returns under $500. The CPAs your are referring to must be your friends and just as successful as you at making money. They should stick at counting other people’s money.

  Are you suggesting I charge based on people’s income so charge $50 to prepare an Earned Income Return? Seriously, you have proven why you are a failure.

• Well, there are certainly a vast number of opinions out there.

  Liberty is not an investment. It is a bad investment and it is not a liquid investment.

  It is certainly as far away from a real franchise as can be expected. There is no similarity between McDonalds and Liberty. Offices are not in sync. No two are the same or do things the same way. Once you buy one you are destined to be disappointed.

  Training is below average.

  Franchisee support and area developer support is non-existent.

  The reselling of franchises is rampant.Buyer beware.Franchises can borrow from the company at the LOW rate of 12% AND if they fall a little short at the end of the tax season and have any balance due that money is loaned at another LOW rate of 18%.

  Just take the numbers apart. Your sales are 200k. Approximately 40k goes to Liberty for royalties and advertising. Now we are at 160K net. Rent 24k, payroll, 30k, utilities 6k, payroll taxes 3k, supplies 10k, computer equipment and updates 8k, marketing 12k etc…Just follow the system and you will go broke. If you are going to be it is truly up to thee! So why do you need Liberty?( and very few single offices earn 200k)

  Free return program is a farce. Where are the numbers that support 33% come back as paying customers? Free advertising for Liberty. You get the hassle and they get the exposure.

  CEO, Chair, and founder with over 40 years of experience, who claims to be the smartest person he knows, needs to retire. The pool of people he knows must be miniscule. Gotta hand it to him though, he has made some money. I am sure he is not at the Yale CEO symposium today at the Waldorf Astoria.

• Thanks Zee for your breakdown. Too bad most don’t even get to $100,000 depending on how many zees are in a 50 mile radius. The first zees usually screw up some many returns and over charge and not fix problems, that others following end up with nothing but jack wagons for clients or as LTS calls them customers. If they are customers, you must “pay” them to stay.

  What kind of business model is that???

• John Barilla…let me rephrase what i wrote. $250 average net fee? You don’t collect that, you are LYING! You claim you’re a CPA, then claim “good CPA’s” don’t want returns under $500. Which is it? I know, you’re lying again, or you are a terribly stupid CPA, or both–ha! ha No “good CPA” would give Liberty 20% right off the top, some numbers expert you are. It took me exactly one fee intercept to realize what a huge mistake Liberty is. BTW, Liberty is no HR Block, either.

  Good CPA’s have staff doing all kinds of returns and build loyal customers through fair and honest service. You on the other hand are stuck on the corner in your clown suit giving away free donuts to your neighbors, 7 days a week. Or bribing your low end clientelle with a $50 dollar bill. Keep drinking the Kool-Aid, there must be something in it, it’s affecting your brain.

  Good luck this season, I hope you can manage to keep your internet turned on so you can keep on spouting how great Liberty is and how much money you’re making. You’re funny, keep posting nonsense, we are all amused. Tell your other Liberty successes to post their stories on here…oh wait, there are none.

• Excellent post. I still can’t determine which millionaire he is. Curious, why is Danny not one of the fab 4? Oh I forgot there’s no money in it for I screwitts son?

• Guys seriously, I have went over this before. 300-400 paid returns is breakeven.
  I have ANF of slightly over $200 (which actually is low compared to the majority)

  Lets just use $200 for simplicity sake: $200 x 350 = 87,500

  Minus:
  Roy/Adv………….16,625
  Rent……………….24,000
  all utilities/etc…..12,000
  payroll…………….20,000
  misc supplies……5,000

  Total expenses: $77,625

  Profit $10,000

  I’m sure all you goons will find something wrong to say about this, but I have always been as truthful as possible on here to try and actually help someone figure this business out. Honestly, I could probably break even aroudn 250 returns if I just had to.

  Some answers to the rebuttals I’m already sure you will have:
  NO, I do not follow the Liberty system to a tee. If I was only doing 300 returns or so I would DEFINITELY cut payroll in the slow season and open only 10-7 closed sun. I would definitely NOT have more than one $8-$9/hr employee in the office at any given time. I would def NOT use any wavers doing the slow season and would prob use wavers at min wage for 4 hrs per day during busy season which in total lasts about a month.

  I assume if you only are doign this few returns you don’t have much of a marketing plan if any and if you do its obv not working so stop that until you can figure things out. I use my adv alotment every year ot buy coupons/marketign items so no exp there.

  I could go on but you get the point, If you are in a decent location (which $2,000 mo) should get you in a decent spot in most parts of the country, their is NO reason you cannot do 300 returns at a min even your first year.

  Do I consider this worthwhile? Absolutly not and my lowest office does returns in the mid 500s. Once you get 500+ you can make a little bit of money with this. My best office does 800+ and nets around 60k profit every year. I have 5 offices total and before taxes net around $175,000 profit every year. I have improved every single year and expanded in several of those years. My youngest office is only a couple of years old and did 700+ last year, I’m sure it will do between 800-900 this year along with marginal growth in most of my other offices I suppose.

  Any uh NO NO NO I don’t do the 100 free returns per office. I usually end up avg about 50 frees and if you count nonpaids bump that up to around 65-70 frees. I listen to Liberty and incorporate the ideas I like or I think will work in my area and leave the other ideas for the losers. Contrary to what the bozos on here say, Liberty does NOT want to shut you down or is out to get you. In my short tenure with Liberty I have received about 25 notice to cures. I take them with a grain of salt and jump thru the hoop to get them to leave me alone.

  good luck guys, I can’t wait for tax season!!!

• Ed,

  I agree with you 100% on everything. This is not an easy business. If you can get you net revenues above $80k you will make some money. It will not happen in year one. By year 2 you may be close. By year 3 you should see a small profit by year five the $75k per office is realistic. You will have to spend your own money on marketing, but the most of the marketing they recommend works. I don’t do 200 free returns for a new office i don’t do 100 for an existing office. I don’t open at 7am during peak. I don’t stay open until 9pm during non-peak. I do believe in CIF and SAF, I do believe in sticky flyers all over my territory and I do believe you should have wavers all day everyday if possible. It will all pay off and has for me.

• Ed,
  since we are doing simple math here lets look at real results vs potential
  we know that the last tax season liberty served “almost” 2.3 million clients.
  there were 4520 offices.
  that is 508 per office if every office was equal.
  yours isnt equal
  you have one that does 800 and your lowest is 550.
  if you only have 2 office you took 350 out of the pool.
  you are doing pretty well, thats a good thing.
  others are doing well and some are claiming 1000 and 2000 return offices.
  those are returns off the average.
  what this means is that liberty as a company doesnt do enough returns to support the franchise success for the majority of franchisees
  maybe half and of that half a lot of them are hitting that 10k profit figure, not the huge numbers of the “get rich with liberty” cheerleaders.
  now, take that 10k and divide it into the initial franchise fee and how many years until youve really made a 10k profit?
  its a numbers business and the numbers are there. 2.3 million divided by the number of offices doesnt work out to the big profit potential.
  The “no tax experience necassary” is another issue.
  what quality of tax preparer can you get for 8$ an hour if the franchisee has no experience?
  while this franchise works for some i believe that to not be the rosy, make tons of money rah rah J. Hewitt talks for more than half of the franchise owners.
  i think this is borne out by fact that a recent financials release cited lower income from franchise sales as more franchise sales were from existing owner to new owner.
  why are they leaving? why are they selling? a simple bit of googleing will show that there are lots and lots of franchisees looking to exit the liberty system.
  why? and when those sales ads state the gross revenues….they are not the picture perfect business that Hewitt would like prospects to believe. many of the ads proclaim “profitable” in the headline as if that is some kind of miracle.