Liberty Tax prepared about 1.15 million federal income tax returns through July 15, its parent, the Franchise Group reported this week. That was down 11.5 percent from 1.3 million for the 2019 seasonThe Franchise Group issued the numbers as part of a preliminary report for second quarter ended July 31. It has scheduled a results conference call on August 6.
The number of Liberty Tax locations also fell. The parent said there were 2,501 locations in operation this year, down 11.3 percent from 2,821 from the last year’s tax season. The Franchise Group said same store prepared returns were off 3 percent from last year.
Revenue for the quarter is estimated to be $505 million and $515 million. The Franchise Group, original known as Liberty Tax, has acquired several other businesses that are much larger than Liberty. Liberty had revenue of 132.5 million for the year ended April 30, 2019 at a time when the Franchise Group’s subsidiaries had about $2.5 billion in revenue.
