Liberty Tax Service appears to be happy with the results of its trial consumer tax loan program during this year's tax season. However, John Hewitt, CEO of the nation's third largest retail chain, said he would not reveal plans for the 2013 season until later because of competitive issues.
With the disappearance of bank-funded refund anticipation loans looming at the end of this past season, Block expanded a test of a consumer loan program tonseven states. Consumer loans were provided in Ohio and Texas in 2011 and the program, called Instant Cash Advance, was extended to Louisiana, Washington, Michigan, Arizona and Missouri during the 2012 season.
"We are ahead of the competition in consumer finance programs," John Hewitt, CEO of Liberty's parent, JTH Holdings, said during a recent earnings webcast. The webcast was held because JTH's stock is now publicly traded. While the company postponed a planned public offering, it decided that the number of shareholders that JTH has meant it needed to comply with SEC rules.
TaxWorks, marketed by RedGear Technologies, had also said it would provided a consumer program, the Tax Season Cash Advance, through the Schear Lending Group and Atlas Financial Services.
Bob Scott has provided information to the tax and accounting community since 1991, first as technology editor of Accounting Today, and from 1997 through 2009 as editor of its sister publication, Accounting Technology. He is known throughout the industry for his depth of knowledge and for his high journalistic standards. Scott has made frequent appearances as a speaker, moderator and panelist and events serving tax and accounting professionals. He has a strong background in computer journalism as an editor with two former trade publications, Computer+Software News and MIS Week and spent several years with weekly and daily newspapers in Morris County New Jersey prior to that. A graduate of Indiana University with a degree in journalism, Bob is a native of Madison, Ind
