With its tax season hurt by the inability to get funding for all its refund loan business, Jackson Hewitt saw 2.53 million tax returns prepared at its company-owned and franchised offices during this year's tax season, a drop of 14.4 percent from 2.955 million for the 2009 tax season. And that was actually an improvement from the 17-percent to 19-percent drop the company had predicted, since it had a better performance in the second half of the season than expected. CEO Harry Buckley said Jackson Hewitt's chief off-season priority is resolving the issue of funding for refund anticipation loans. The company had to scramble for a bank to back the program after Santa Barbara Bank & Trust was forced out of the RAL business in December. Jackson Hewitt expanded a prior relationship with Republic Bank, but was able to get funding for only half its loan volume.

The company also is working closely with Wal-Mart, where Jackson Hewitt has exclusive rights to operate retail tax centers, to optimize the opportunity, Buckley continued in a prepared statement. And he said the organization plans to expand the distribution of its first online tax preparation product, which was introduced during the recent tax season.

As the fiscal year ended on April 30, the company cut its staff by 15 percent. Coupled with a reorganization that move is expected to save about $5 million pre-tax during fiscal 2011. The company is recording a roughly $1 million charge for severance costs.

Jackson Hewitt expects fiscal 2010 revenue to be up 1 percent from the 2009 total. That would produce revenue in the range of $211 million to $214 million.