The company recognized $14.4 million in such fees, collected by Republic Bank & Trust, during the most recently ended period, up from just over $12 million a year ago. Republic said that increase stemmed from a "rise in self-prepared, on-line product volume in combination with growth in retail store-front traffic as the result of new contracts between the Company and third-party tax preparation companies."

One of the contracts was probably a two-year agreement with Jackson Hewitt Tax Services. The two parties reached the agreement after arbitration over Jackson Hewitt's termination of a prior contract in 2012. The tax services chain took that action after Republic, the last company providing refund anticipation loans, was forced out of that market by federal bank regulators.