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While the focus in the retail tax preparation business has been on the scarcity of refund anticipation loans, after more banks have been forced from the market by regulators, the discussion obscures the real problem: There are too many tax stores. That is, there are too many now that software makes the job of the D-I-Y preparer easier.

The actual position of the players has changed. In 2010, Jackson Hewitt was able to offer RALs in only 50 percent of its location and H&R Block had loans everywhere. This year, Block has loans nowhere and Jackson Hewitt has them in 90 percent of its locations. Liberty, meanwhile, has been fully funded in both years.

Whatever the case, the growing popularity of tax software, largely Intuit's TurboTax,  means that the pool of available business is not growing, at least for the stores. And the dip in the number of returns file over the last two years because of the impact of the recession has not helped.

The chains are working to adapt. In particular, Jackson Hewitt is offering MyTax Manager, which combines a portal with online document storage and what is essentially an online organizer. I have trouble seeing this as having more than minimal impact since to a great degree portals and organizers are tools that many CPA firms have trouble getting their a decent proportion of their customers to utilize.

No, this is one of those changes in the market that can't be countered, that is unless one of these chains can have a break through product to take business from TurboTax.

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