PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- Jackson Hewitt Tax Service has named Philip H. Sanford as president and CEO as the previous occupant of that job, Harry W. Buckley, stepped aside. Sanford was most recently EVP of strategy and performance measurement and stepped up as the company's outlook brightened a bit in the last month.

Fiserv has hired Mark Ernst, former CEO of H&R Block, as its new chief operating officer. Ernest was chairman and CEO at Block from 1998 through 2007 and was most recently deputy commissioner for operations support at the Internal Revenue service until his resignation late last year. He will report to CEO Jeff Yabuki, who was COO under Ernst at the tax services chain.

The CEOs of the three leading tax preparation chains, H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt Tax Services and Liberty Tax, have written that the Internal Revenue Service's actions on Refund Anticipation Loans will end up costing taxpayers more money. The statement was made in a blog on CNBC and was signed by Alan Bennett, Harry Buckley and John Hewitt, CEOs of the respective companies.

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