About Liberty Tax Canada
Every year, more and more Canadians turn to Liberty Tax Service for income tax preparation help. With more offices in more locations every year, Liberty Tax Service continues to gain market share in the highly competitive income tax preparation industry. As of 2008, there are over 2,700 Liberty Tax Service offices in North America including 293 Liberty Tax Service offices in Canada.
Liberty Tax Service Founder and CEO John T. Hewitt is the personification of “the CEO is the Company” thinking. A veteran of 39 tax seasons, no one knows more about the income tax preparation business than John Hewitt. For the last seven years, Accounting Today magazine has named John Hewitt as one of the Top 100 most influential people in the tax industry. No CEO of an income tax preparation company is more involved in day-to-day operations, franchise development, strategic planning, and doing whatever it takes to assure that every customer experiences world-class customer service. John Hewitt literally lives by the Mission Statement of Liberty Tax Service…“Set the Standard, Improve Each Day, and Have Some Fun!” To be the #1 company in the income tax preparation industry in the Universe by 2020 is John Hewitt’s goal, a goal shared by thousands of highly motivated franchisees and hundreds of highly energized corporate employees. Liberty Tax Service is the fastest growing international income tax preparation franchise company ever!
Starting as an income tax preparer for H&R Block in 1969 while in college, John Hewitt was promoted early and often up the management ranks to become the youngest Regional Director for H&R Block with responsibility for over 2000 income tax preparers in 250 offices. Collaborating with his father, Daniel, John Hewitt wrote the first software to computerize income tax preparation at a time when income tax preparation was still done by paper and pencil. Unable to interest H&R Block in computerizing retail income tax preparation, John Hewitt made his first entrepreneurial leap by creating his own income tax preparation company, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service, in 1982. From a start as a six-store income tax preparation company acquired in 1982 in Hampton Roads, Virginia, John Hewitt led Jackson Hewitt Tax Service to 1,345 offices across the United States when it sold for $483 million just 14 years later in 1996.
Although a “non compete” clause in the sale of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service kept John Hewitt from operating an income tax preparation business in the United States until the start of the 1998 tax season, Liberty Tax Service started in Canada on September 1, 1997 after John Hewitt purchased U&R Tax Depot, a Canadian income tax return preparation office franchiser. Named “Entrepreneur of the Year” in 2006 by the International Franchise Association, John Hewitt is the only person on the planet to have created two franchise service companies ranked by Entrepreneur magazine in the Top 50 of its “Franchise 500”…Liberty Tax Service and before that, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. In the eleven years since 1997, the number of Liberty Tax Service offices in Canada has more than doubled from 126 to 293 and the number of Liberty Tax Service offices in the United States has grown to over 2,400.
Liberty Tax Service has been capable of such remarkable growth in a short period of time due to the experience of its management team and corporate staff. With over 500 years of experience in the income tax and franchise industries, the Liberty Tax Service management team and corporate staff have unmatched expertise in developing systems, training programs, and marketing strategies to the benefit of Liberty Tax Service franchisees.
Liberty Tax Service has surged to the forefront of the constantly evolving and technologically driven income tax preparation industry, garnering many accolades in its climb. In January 2008, Entrepreneur magazine ranked Liberty Tax Service as #23 on its “Franchise 500” overall list of best franchises, #9 of the fastest growing franchises, and #6 on the list of the Top 20 low-cost franchises. Liberty Tax Service is one of only 35 franchised companies on Entrepreneur magazine’s “Franchise 500” with more than 2,000 locations. And, Liberty Tax Service is the only income tax preparation service included on Hispanic Trends magazine’s 2006 and 2007 elite list of the “25 Top Franchises for Hispanics”.
For these reasons, Liberty Tax Service is quickly establishing a brand name recognized for quality computerized income tax preparation excellence. Liberty Tax Service strives to set the income tax preparation industry’s benchmark for customer service by exceeding customers’ expectations. Each Liberty Tax Service office offers free checking of self-prepared returns, free tax advice, and free review representation. Liberty Tax Service has franchise opportunities available all across North America for people who want an affordable business opportunity to be in business for themselves but not by themselves.