Liberty Tax Service"We are committed to continuing the development of financial products that are demanded by some of our customers," Hewitt said. The company found that stores with the financial products did slightly better than stores that did not offer them. But it gave no details.
Meanwhile, the financial focus revolved largely around impact of the delayed start of the tax season. Like its competitors, Liberty saw revenue drop sharply for the early part of the tax season, but finds that filings are catching up with the year-ago rates. For the most recently ended quarter, the number of returns was down by 27 percent, which was slightly better than the decline reported by H&R Block and by Intuit for its TurboTax results.
Net income dropped to $1.1 million, down from $4.7 million in last year's corresponding period. Revenue for the January quarter dipped to $30.6 million, off 14.3 percent from $35.7 million a year earlier. However, by February 28, filings were down 1.4 percent with revenue up 5.1 percent. The revenue picture was aided by an 8-percent-to-9-percent increase in average Liberty fees.
The situation in the national government resulted in more than late filings. The worries over the impact of the fiscal cliff hit the franchise operators and prospects. "The fiscal cliff was that thing that really kept people from coming into the business or expanding," Hewitt said.
The delay by the Internal Revenue Service in accepting returns also changed the shape of the season. Normally, tax season has a ramp up, but that did not occur this year. "Our offices were full from the first day of filing," Hewitt said. And with the switch over to the modernized efiling system, 35 states did not test their systems before the season and when issues occurred the old system was not available as a backup.
Hewitt also said that mom-and-pop preparers continue to lose ground to the national chains. He noted increases reported by Block and the greater increases registered by Liberty.
