LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints

5,730 thoughts on “LIBERTY TAX SERVICE Franchise Complaints”

• I have heard through a friend of mine that was a franchisee of Liberty that they are being investigated by the IRS regarding advising poor people to maximize their earned income credit by reporting fake businesses such as babysitting on their tax returns. Is there any truth to this statement? If it is true, why has it not hit the press? Has any other franchisee been contacted by the IRS regarding this item? Please share it with us if so. Thank You.

• @ Texastee,

  Put it this way, it is in their words on guarantee that we will get you the maximum refund possible. That has been in the South Carolina class action of clients against Liberty and the franchisee. That was one of the highlighted phrases of the case.
  Yes, offices are getting audited, clients are getting audited, zees are not getting paid as a result of eyes on them. Yes there were changes made with Republic Bank’s agreement with Liberty because of certain subjects some which pertain to this matter. Yes Liberty has done internal audits looking for all offices which may have those type of “maximized returns of suspect” and those zees are all terminated even if they had adequate client info packets, notes and books, receipts etc from the schedule C clients.
  They amended their S-1 for several reasons. Some statements in it shows risk factors and they say franchisees non-compliance of IRS or bank product regulations are a risk beyond their control. But just who exactly trained zees to uphold and hunt for the sch C clients and maximize sch A deductions? Hmmm. Most zees had no tax background on their own you know. You learn alot from conference calls, recorded that you play back to yourself over and over to focus by the day. That zee friend of yours just may remember the “don’t sell your kids campaign even if you don’t have a w-2”?? Ask that zee that question and the answers will be clear.

  Libtax is not even an approved software by the IRS…correct me if I am wrong, but they are not on the list. Drake is not an approved BAT tested software for 1065s, correct me if I am wrong. So who is the transmitter company and who owns it? Anyone knows? I am sure the IRS is investigating them for much deeper issues. Positive of it, but Liberty was quick to announce that Intantax went down for exactly what you are speaking of. Talk about calling the kettle black.

  Also, in preparation for this year’s strategies, Mark B. got a nice nice bonus percentage of his salary. Poor Mr. Rufe Vanderpool had the lowest bonus as he was evaluated not only on overall metrics but personal performance. John Hewitt got a decent raise himself hitting target for revenue and net. But read how they report they claim they get their revenue….just saying as in John’s words “dig deep” and you will see you have dangerous questions you may not want anyone but your lawyer to know. Also read every suit they have been involved in, what they were doing business as and every aquisition and loan they have taken…just saying if you really want to start becoming informed.

  -Trisha, Trisha Trisha….she is something else ain’t she?

• By the way, you can anonymously get Liberty audited by the IRS by filling out a simple form with the IRS if you suspect they should be looked at for ANY matters.
  Just look up the form on irs.gov

  -Trisha

• H&R Block, Liberty Will Battle Separate Tax Loan Suits

  By Greg Ryan
  Law360, New York (April 16, 2012, 7:36 PM ET) — A federal judicial panel refused Monday to force H&R Block Inc. and Liberty Tax Services, which are both accused of aggressively marketing high-interest loans to minorities and poor people, to serve as co-defendants in a single multidistrict litigation in Illinois.

  Instead, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation created two separate multidistrict litigations in Illinois federal court over the practice, one for H&R Block and one for Liberty. The actions will both be heard by U.S. District Judge Joan B. Gottschall.

  _Trisha

• https://www.dropbox.com/s/9ps7cwnk3ouh792/RobKoonsTVscam.mp4

• Trisha,

  Wow that guy looks like a real scammer, didn’t even call the client back-typical Liberty tax !!

• @ mike,

  What about the fact that almost every form the Liberty Tax software has no way to overide without properly filling out another worksheet with valid entries to get there and get numbers to take into the forms, YET, when it comes to price, anyone can easily overide form charges and charge that guy that whopping extra misc fee?

  Like Koon’s said, “it should not have happened” and with Liberty’s proper tech support and software experts, it would not have happened SO CORPORATE wanted it to happen or else they would have blocked overides on invoice form charges as they do some other invoice blocks that are not on the detailed invoice sheet. There were drop boxes to be used in situations that were set accross the board such as discounts, but even those were allowed type any discount you wanted.

  Stores are taught to inflate the price of the return without even realizing it is wrong. (CIF is a loan) and below shows why and for some reason, LIBERTY TAX believes it can charge a premium over and based on that loan without being a banking institution.

  Example: If you listen to conference calls and emails from AD’s and znet, instructions are given on how to handle the gimmick called CASH IN A FLASH and the bookeeping of it such as how to charge it on the invoice using overides. ‘WHEN you give out $50 cash in a flash (that is cash from your store given out there with a possibility of not getting it back if the IRS does not fund their bank product loan or transfer due to clients who owe money to IRS, have child support, have leins from the bank itself on RALS which get paid first, and you know…all that low income targeted type of issues to expect in first peak since we have no way of knowing with debt indicators from the IRS no longer being told to the tax company new rule.) so THEN to offset the losses of the “non-pays’, you charge their invoice however you want to name it such as CIF or Misc and UP the charge $60!! (by overideing invoices) not $50 extra but a $10 minimal extra hidden charge for us to guesstimate it will make up all the $50 dollar bills the store franchisee worries they will not get back if an abundance of returns end up not paying you a dime.
  Just an extra way for franchisees to deal with the headaches of so many nonpays putting them into fear of not utilizing the marketing gimmick as a whole with ALL the other stores. What type of safety net is this? It was not safe at all. They even entice franchisees who do not have the cash flow to participate in this risky gimmick at a nominal fee, all the money Corporate projects you should give out according to your projected returns for the week. What data do they use to guess that to steer you of how much you will need? Point is they should not be projecting anything to make you believe your stores will be successful day by day as an extra steering tactic and against the agreements that we shall not rely on anyone telling us we should be successful.

  I never expected to become a bank with cash flow when I signed up. Because I AM SURE you MUST BE A BANK in order to charge a client a percentage or interest rate or any type of fee on a loan or a gimmick to appear as a loan. How can they
  tell franchisees to become a loan officer to your clients and give them $50 but charged their invoice $60 to make up for any losses? LIBERTY IS NOT A BANK and Liberty expects, encourages and trains employees and all franchisees to participate in this as though it is as solid to bring you clients in as their wavers are!

  Maybe next time they give out $50 CASH IN A FLASH to refund anticipation loans, they will tell the franchisees, charge them $350 over the $50 to reinburse yourselves because you may be waiting 2 weeks to get funded tax returns from the IRS from the time the client files. Who regulates what you can charge for a loan? NOT a tax corporation, preparer, area developer, or franchisee.

  But this is how it happened. They did not even tell anyone when they agreed to participate that they would later be suggesting to charge an extra fee. I sure did not expect that email from Robyn Hurich days after thousands went out my doors in the manner of you get $50, we charge you back $50 then suddenly advised to change it to a higher invoice charge. Some were suggested to charge more depending how low income your client were and the rate of non-pays year over year. Not the coaching and development I exected at all.

  -Trisha

• STEVE DOLETSKY IS A LIBERTY PAWN, BY THE WAY HE WAS AN EX CRACK HEAD, THOSE WERE HIS WORDS

• Who is Steve Doletsky and where did this out-of-the-blue comment come from? And why drag his name into this? I would think if he were to see this comment he might have a case for defamation of character? His words or not, it’s not right to drag his name into a public forum against his will.

• Steve Doletzky (correct spelling) appears to be a Liberty Tax franchisee in St. Petersburg, FL who ticked off an employee or a few. I ran across this complaint on the Internet:

  “I had worked for Liberty as an office manager for eight years prior to Steve buying th office I worked in. He kept me on as the office manager. WOW, what a nightmare. He reguired his managers to work 80 plus hours a week ( I still have an email from him telling us that we had to do that) and he was VERY demanding. It is Steve’s way or the highway basically. He does not promote John Hewitt’s philosphies at all. Iloved Liberty until I worked for Steve.

  “…Bonus time came and went and I did not see even a penny even though I had earned $2900.00!!! I have since talked to others who have worked for Steve and none of them were paid what they should have been paid according to Liberty policy. But I guess as a franchisee he can do what he wants to do.

  “I feel Steve used me……….he had me work 80plus hours a week and pay me for 40 as I was salaried and then did not pay me the bonus that he said he would pay me. BEWARE – do not work for Steve Doletsky. There are some very nice franchisees in Liberty but he surely is not one of them.”

  There are a couple of followup comments, including one that the same commenter claimed Steve Doletzy would pay her (?) if she retracted her complaint and left positive comments, and then a later one where she retracted her complaint and said Steve Doletzky is the greatest guy in the world and that she’s happy working for another franchisee.

  Sound like she lights a candle each morning at the foot of her John Hewitt shrine.

• @Guest:

  I found the site you referenced above. Yes, those complaints are there, but what you fail to mention is that there are just as many positive comments from people who thoroughly enjoy working with Steve and see him as a stand up guy.

  Just so you know, I don’t know Steve Doletsky from Adam…I just don’t like people being criticized publicly when it may be unwarranted or when both sides are not clearly heard.

• Steve Doletsky is a scumbag. I’ve worked with him before. Just one of many in a long line of employees / creditors that are owed money. He is a self admitted former drug addict / convict now in charge of building a tax franchise in a major city. So much for background checks. Liberty will sell to anyone……there was another AD convicted of investment fraud who went on to sell Liberty franchises before landing back in jail.

  Quite frankly, this man fits right in to Hewitt / Liberty from what I hear. Could care less about customers, employees, etc. Just overcharge the poor as much as possible. They don’t know any better and hope they come back next year. While you are at it, try as hard as you can to screw your employees and pay as little as possible.

  Actually, if you think about it you franchisees have nothing to complain about. You have us employees work like a dog for nothing and then complain because Liberty squeezes all they can get out of you.

• That’s the problem with complaining after the fact. You have to be careful about throwing stones while living in a glass house. I would suggest to admin that this site is being used for personal vendettas now instead of providing useful information.

  If you read the posts there are mentions of not paying employees but the landlord is paid.

  People working in your store don’t understand shifting blame.

  Admin, please get the site back on track. Unhappy and whining are 2 different things.

• @guest 8

  Complaining before or after the fact of wronged actions is not a problem. People are speaking out on their experiences not only with indiviuals entrusted in bearing no harm, but people affiliated and hired by Liberty Tax Service paid to do such harmful deeds. These are factual statements as well as characterization discovered showing what type of people Liberty Tax has hired to trust your job and your investments with.

  The statement you made was of no contribution and you can either choose to focus on a complaint about Liberty Tax Service. At least do so with some respect for what others including employees have been through. Do you not feel these people who have been unpaid have families and crisis in their households that Liberty Tax Service has caused them from breaking good faith. How do you think an employee feels when their children whine for lunch money for school but they cannot provide as they were not paid, or same with a franchisee who was taken from after being led on to work and complete a season without any payoff? I think I can tolerate hearing the heartbreaking stories along with the facts.

  Your suggestions to the admin sounds like you are steering and bullying, which means you just may be from Corporate and wish to guide us away from letting the truths be known. This has worked well for many franchisees not coming forward as a Liberty Tax strategy. Here, you cannot stop anyone from speaking out anonymously or as their true names. You sign in as a guest, with no guts to disclose who you are in relation to Liberty Tax Service, then imply that the admin of this site does not manage this forum well enough? In my opinion that was an unfair attack on the people injured and the admin of this site for your own goals. Please do correct me if that did not sound like intimidation? What is your goal to visiting this site? Have you been harmed in any way to make a complaint about Liberty Tax Service as a franchisee or one who worked for a franchisee or Corporate?

  You are correct that people working in stores do not understand shifting blame, that is what attorneys are for and they are welcome to visit this site as well. Don’t count on the fact that threatening or suggesting the admin of this site will redirect people’s right to speak out, or whine if that is what you wish to call it. Many workers have read this site and can build their own opinion of who to blame, but it all comes to the messr John Hewitt at the end of the day to handle his company reputation. People who know information will tell it. It is up to each individual to decide what to do with the information people share.

  -Trisha

• @Jim,

  I am sorry you worked for a bad franchisee. There are many franchisees that were truly good to their employees and did not cut corners and give low pay. I can speak for myself that every tax preparer in my stores were happy with their pay being above Corporate suggestions and I found a way to fit it in the budget for them as they worked hard for their earnings. This action did not hurt my chances of profitability, other factors of the business model did. LIBERTY TAX suggests low payroll, including having auditions for hours of free waving at store front and firing people before becoming bonus eligible for reduced operating costs. Corporate tells franchisees to make cuts right after first peak and those who were cut won’t get a bonus or little bonus as possble depending on their employment contract and by giving advanced training to the ones not cut, you can save expense by not bringing the first peak preparers back. Some franchisees did not follow that advice and speaking for myself, I made sure tax preparers did not charge an extra $10 to people who were paid cash in a flash as advised by Robyn Hurych and the conference calls they listened to as soon as I was aware of their announcements.

  I have to disagree that franchisees have no reason to complain. They did not just squeeze everything from them. Some fully financed franchisees were told they cannot pay themselves and their payday would come when they resell their stores or profit. As you can investigate, the majority of franchisees do not actually profit, only promised one day they will be paid from equity upon resell. Once they decide to refuse all buyers, they are stuck as you can research a few cases and find those. As one ex-franchisee told me, she made money working as a tax preparer and made no money working as a franchisee as her husband had to drain his income to sink into the business before. One current franchisee also reports they must live off her husbands retirement income and one claims that they have had to refinance their homes to put back into operations to get employees paid as Corporate suddenly cut off their financing.

  I understand your point of view and complaint, but must add that there are many victims aside from employees, AD’s, investors, customers and even paid Corporate employees. It is up to the public and those harmed to do business with or take action deemed necessary once they are fully informed and can balance the negative publicity with the few perhaps inflated success stories.

  Thank you for giving us your personal experience with working with Steve which is an informative contribution on this site. It should be encouraged to speak out about people profitting from harming others through the name of Liberty Tax Service. Just know that there is a difference between people on Corporate’s payroll who may also be franchisees and people who are merely unpaid franchisees.

  -Trisha

• Trisha – you forget one important fact. YOU decided to buy into the biz. Don’t blame others for not succeeding. Nobody forced you to buy a Liberty franchise.

• Trisha – I have to agree with Guest10. Too many business owners (in lots of industries) point the finger at others when they fail. You said you had debt to Liberty. I don’t know your situation, but a bank (which Liberty was when they loaned you money) has various triggers/opportunities to call their debt. In this case they did. When your liabilities exceed your assets, you don’t deserve to get paid out on your equity (or negative equity).

  The most important/overlooked metric in any business is free cash flow. You obviously didn’t have any.

• @guess 10,

  I forget nothing. I do blame Liberty Tax Service’s unlawful actions interfering with my success as many others do.

  Don’t be so judgemental if you do not know why the blame is placed on Liberty Tax Service. When they unlawfully steal YOUR stores and breach trust with YOU, then you just may feel differently on another day. When you know all of the facts and seek an attorney, you may discover a different opinion as you do today.

  You may be a successful franchisee and disagree with anything anyone has to complain about. If so please share your story and your ranking and profit margin. This is a complaints board. I shall complain.

  -Trisha

• “Move it and Improve It” – what happened – you used to be such a Liberty backer…..

• The key to any business is cash flow. The major problem is fully- financed.
  You will never get over the debt requirement unless your area has almost no competition from H&R Block, Jackson-Hewitt, or Mom and Pop operations.

  But if you are in a fully-financed operation, you still need to get some outside advice if you don’t know how to estimate cash flow. If you don’t pay yourself, at least make sure you include enough money to pay your bills or know how you will pay your bills.

  Don’t expect to make a profit in the first 2 to 3 years. If it’s not working out, you will be better off if you get out ASAP.

  Don’t forget to check your credit report. You may be surprised to find no mention of your business activities.

• @guest,

  Thank you for your comment. You are right you don’t know the full situation.

  An added fact: How many assets or cash flow does it require to get LIBERTY TAX to give you initial financing to start with and sell you a franchise and give you loans to operate and expand? Answer = ZERO.

  The validity of their notice given to me is legally disputed. You have a certain date this year to pay to pay certain debts and that time has not come.

  There are things I cannot disclose here about my personal legal remedy.

  I do agree that some blame others, in many businesses, for not succeeding when it is their own fault, however, I am not one of those stories or cases.

  I intend to be respectful of each and every subscriber on this site. If I offend anyone, please let me know as it is not my intention.

  -Trisha

• Because the above fact that it takes no assets or cash flow to buy a Liberty Tax Service may seem appealing, I must state that I DO NOT agree that it is a good investment or a good deal and advise every individual to carefully do their research and decide for themselves.

  -Trisha

• Guest10,

  To amswer your question- what happened..since I was such a backer before.

  Yes I was once a top gun franchisee and loyal to Liberty Tax Service from day one. I refused to believe anything negative I heard from other franchisees as well. I did not know what I know now.

  I was banned from the Liberty Tax discussion board permanently throughout the entire past season because of a comment about the signature pads they took as negative. I emailed Rufe Vanderpool to explain and ask feedback of why they banned me by following the advice of the Area Developer to get unbanned, but it went ignored. I never intended to sound negative on their discussion board and if you read any of my posts, they were never negative. We had little support on the installation and function of signature pads and there was much talk about it, but all I asked was do we have to use them and that was taken as negative. Then I realized I missed a conference call that said yes they are mandatory which answered my own question. A week or two later, they disabled them all as there was too many tech complaints and issues surrounding the signature pads slowing down offices being able to process returns during the crucial first peak of business.

  I stopped “drinking the koolaid” not for that reason. I carried on with a good season and a positive disposition, despite being deprived of the participation in the Liberty support discussion board.

  -Trisha

• And? Sorry, but your story falls short of explaining what happened to turn you off of Liberty for good.

• LIBERTY TAX IS A HORRIBLE INVESTMENT! Anyone considering it, call all offices in your city to find out the truth!!

• @ guest 9

  There are many reasons and I choose not to disclose the nature and cause of my case against Liberty Tax Service and others. You will have to wait for that to be public record and enjoy the reading the decision in time.

  By the way, do you have a complaint about Liberty Tax Service to contribute today?

  -Trisha

• @Trisha:
  I’m just trying to soak in the comments and hear all sides. My spouse is a Liberty franchisee who is “all in” with the JTH program, but I’ve been against it from the start. It never seemed like a good investment to me, but she is still holding on and ‘drinking the koolaid’ as you say — she’s even trying to expand (the horror!). I’m trying to support her, but it is difficult when my viewpoints fall on a completely different side. She enjoys it, but I also see the stress it puts on her when things don’t go as Corporate has promised. I want so badly to say “I told you so”, but obviously that is not the goal — I’d prefer her to have success if at all possible.

  I don’t trust the Liberty concept, but I also don’t want her to fail and bring her family down at the same time. So no, I don’t have personal complaints because I’m not in the tax game — just trying to be cautious and look out for my family’s well being by viewing this from all sides.

• @mike:
  I’m a little confused. Which offices are you suggesting we call to verify that Liberty Tax is a bad investment? Liberty franchise stores? Why would they tell you that? Competitors like H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt? Of COURSE they’re going to tell you Liberty is bad — they want your business instead. Please clarify.

• @guest 9

  Other Liberty Tax Stores will tell you once they gain your trust because they have to protect their reputation and relationship with Corporate so they are not “next”.

  Anyone who gets in Liberty Tax’s way is a liability so it is best to keep your head low which is why many on this site do not disclose their name if they are searching for a way out.

  I feel bad for your family. I feel bad that your wife really does not know what to look at to know why it is a bad investment. Corporate will run their crooked math and accounting reports on everyone and make you think it will all work out and encourage you to expand so that they can easily pop up and say, pay all dues or be gone so they can resell the territories. There are many who were all in and this has happened and is currently happening to at an aggressive pace.

  I completely understand why you don’t want to say I told you so. But, I think it is very good that you are doing some research to put your plea before her and help her and your family with your next move.

  She cannot trust many to talk to about this. TRUST ME when I tell you, the first time she shows Liberty any doubt, the plan to terminate will begin if not already in the cards.

  Unfortunately, she sounds to be stuck in it right now as a sitting duck. Make sure you have other income and rely on the JTH program for operational money only if they are so confident in her expansion and progress. At least that will keep your kids fed. This is a sensitive situation when someone cannot tell you how to get out and when on a public forum. You do need to be aggressive and get an accountant, broker, lawyer or other franchisees who have won their cases in your network to know what to do. As you said, she gets disappointed when things don’t go as Corporate says they will….they never will. They are selling air as someone once told me and she is working for nothing in return. Does she expect to profit with expansion? Did they promise her even though she is in debt, that an expansion is a good idea? Sounds so familiar to so many stories and the worse advice she can be given. Again, be aggressive and talk to your wife about researching how many of the top guns are now gone and why, some will talk, some have settlement and gag orders. Look how many zees were down 1%-15% this year in net, and other years always shown increase. Look at the IPO and amended IPO and agreements. Research the s-1 filing, research every law case vs. Liberty Tax, Inc JTH Holdings etc… and then things will start to fall in place of your suspicions. If you have no franchisees willing to talk to you, you have to put some serious time in it and get the right answers.

  Your wife may contact me via fb or emailing a request to admin for my contact info and in return he will email if I would like to grant it, but I will be sharing some important information in the next few weeks on this site. My advice is remain as a guest in this case.

  No I am not an attorney, but take my advice or leave it, it is completely up to you who to believe.

  @mike,

  Tell it like it is, thank you!

• @Trisha:

  You make a lot of good points to ponder, and I think it’s safe to say we’re all thankful for the time you are taking to do the research and keep us well informed.

  You asked the question, “does she expect to profit with expansion?” Yes, she’s always thought that. She’s fallen into the Corporate sales trap that bigger is better, and that by expanding she’ll be a ‘multi-millionaire’ someday. She is surviving at a modest profit level, but right now it’s just enough to make payments on her store notes. However, she had to get additional help from Corporate to pay her AD note this year — a BRIGHT red flag and something I was totally against. But hey, she wants to do this her way and I can’t talk her out of it. All I seem capable of envisioning is a house of cards, and it is maddening that these red flags continue to be raised and she’s not seeing them.

• Re; Guest9

  If Trisha’s story is not a big RED flag for your wife, it needs to be. She doesn’t own her franchises, John Hewitt does. And with no notice, he can take it all away. I saw your postings a few months ago, and not sure you are for real, but if you are, suggest she talk to Trisha. I can’t stress enough that John Hewitt is going to use everyone and anyone he can to further his quest, and I stress the word USE. If your wife has a bad year, she will be history. I have been there, and so have way too many people.

• I was a former Franchisee. I too got taken for 3 years of working for Liberty Tax Service. Those who chose to go with a Liberty Tax need to know a few things. First of all this is not the first for me to post on this site. For the sake of Liberty Tax monitoring this site I will leave a few deatils out.
  Here is the skinny. If you are not doing about 500 returns by your third year and you are behind on your royalty payments you WILL get a notice to cure. What ever you do, do not sign a termination agreemnet. I took one to the lawyer and they told me not to sign it. You will get a notice to cure around the week after you finish the tax season. You will get another notice to cure. LIberty Tax Service has schemed to take away anyone who will give them money for a down payment for a lease to a territory. Remember it is only a lease. There are a few ways that Liberty Tax makes money.
  1. down payments on franchise territories
  2. franchisee financing for 18% compounded interest. meaning you will never be able to pay them back before they terminate your franchise in three years. So, if you are in this situation here is what you do.
  You file bankruptcy so they will not be able to take your house, your car and anything else of value. They will leave you with nothing. They have done it over and over to people who want to owna business. They do not give the support when you are operating your franchise.
  Take heed with this franchise. One of the biggest ways they make money is to take yours. They are not in the business of Taxes they are in the business of turning over franchise territories. They sucker retired and hard working people out of their life savings, their retirements, and the equity from houses. Beware of John Hewitt and his schemes. Do an internet search of John Hewitt and see what it brings. Dig deep when he used to be part owners of Jackson Hewitt. He was forced out because of his unethical business practices.
  Stay far away!!!

• Imagine you were VERY successful for Mr. Hewitt! Then Mr. Hewitt decided he could take all that hard work you did making your franchise successful and split it up to make more Liberty Tax Franchises? In fact, he would threaten you with the LOSS of your franchise if you didn’t comply.

  An educated franchisee would sue Mr. Hewitt for threatening his business and trying to control HIS franchise.

  A guy who had never operated his own business or been a politician would try and do whatever he could to keep his doors open and pay his bills. Working for nothing and trying to keep his name and dignity in tact.

  Franchising, as a whole, is much like politics, it uses Americans for their own personal financial gain.

  Getting the Organization (IFA) to create a disciplinary system for those who are corrupt and are taking advantage of people instead of letting franchisees work hard and be successful should be everyone on here’s fight.

  The IFA should hold its members accountable for their actions against people who work hard to create a better life for themselves.

• Thanks Trish. I wish I had known about this site before signing my life savings away. I purchased a franchise outright and put a down payment on another and operated 1 store for 2 years with absolutely no profit being made. I experienced everything you are warning everyone about. It is a cesspool for cash with no bottom to it. I had previously ran 3 succesfully businesses for my employers and my own business for 12 years prior to investing with Liberty. Once you sign on the line they forget who you are. Their AD’s are jokes and their support system is non existing. Their business plan is stupid and geared toward the low income tax payer.
  My biggest mistake was trying to buy the second franchise before running the first until it atleast became profitable. I did not open for my 3rd year and shut everything down and took the loss and yes I did sign the notice to cure,unfortunately, as I did not want to claim bankruptcy and they forgave all dept to Liberty. It is impossible to sell a franchise even if it is showing a small profit as Liberty wilkl find a way to block it. I’m not as complainer, I made a mistake in not researching my decision to buy before spending that much money and I am paying the penalty for it. I just want everryone to know that Trish is speaking the truth and she knows what she is talking about. Good luck with your law suit. I wish you the best, Everyone else please do your research and be careful.
  Guest 9 please have your wife read this and whatever you do don’t let her buy another franchise until she has made money from the first.

• Believe me, I’ve tried on more than one occasion to steer my wife toward reading this site so she can brace for the inevitable and see the Liberty Tax program for what it really is – a complete and utter scam. But because she is still so brainwashed by John Hewitt, she’ll hear none of it and has forcefully told me she never wants me to bring up the site again. So unfortunately, I know that “I told you so” moment is coming. I’ve already told her that if this business ruins us financially, I’ll never forgive her.

  The one positive is that her first store is good moneymaker, regularly preparing 1100+ returns per year. It’s because of that that she purchased a 2nd store. However, she also got greedy and became an AD, and I think that’s what’s going to be her downfall. Like so many have commented, she’s banking on the fact that she can sell her 1st store if needed and roll in the profits she’ll make from the sale. It’s very disheartening to hear that Corporate will likely block that sale if she ever tried to make it happen.

• Guest 9,

  Are you going to the convention? If so, maybe you can ask your wife to talk to other franchisees and see how many of them are truly profitable. Likely there will be very few. Maybe that will open her eyes. You need to get her out of the “inner circle” and see the reality.

• She is going to convention but I will not be going with her…couldn’t swing the days off to attend (I’ve never been). I think she does talk to a lot of zees at those things, but being the optimistic go-getter that she is, she tends to gravitate toward ambitious AD types who are already successful, so I doubt she’ll come away from convention with any kind of pessimism. She’s not done so after previous conventions, anyway.

• guest 9,

  She is under a really bad situation. As I just caught up on your posts, I realize that what she thought was great, hitting that 1100 returns is where she became a famed franchisee as most stores do not hit 1000 returns, even in 5 years.

  That is where you need to realize, she bought the AD with signing her store to it that she thinks she can sell as a down payment. Putting up your stores is how they trap you with the no money down scenario, just equity in a store…sure why not, it is just air. She will work as an AD and zee for free for many years as possible now, likely 3-5yrs. If she does not grow her DMA at a supernatural pace, she will lose it all.

  Her stores are her collateral for the success of making her payments for the AD side of it, and since she had to borrow for that from Corporate, she will have to borrow for operating loans on her stores along the way as well and then the notes get tougher, but they will keep financing paper as long as she is drinking the koolaid and doing everything in compliance the way they teach her as if it will be a beautiful garden awaiting her at departure.

  If the franchisees brought in to her dma don’t do well, she is even more hopeless and don’t think for a minute that she can put her cape on and straighten out an underperforming franchisee to get her numbers in line…some just know nothing coming in and are hard to teach regardless how many years you support them as an area developer and Corporate strings them along as well which lays them back a little on worries for a while (not making that easy for your wife).

  I do not consider myself a developed coach or leader, just a good hearted person who will contribute when I can and I have studied for years and taken classes. Leadership is not what will make her DMA successful, there is just too many factors to overcome. Like they say, there is no guarantees and no protection for her when it “does not goes as planned”. She did not buy a DMA, she signed up for duty and is working for free and now her stores are at inevitable risk of being taken back when she falls too far behind on payments or hits that magic number Corporate metrics await for.

  Do they want the DMA to fail, no, but they have a sucker to blackmail into labor and dedication to get what they want with ZERO COST TO LIBERTY, ZERO COST, absolutely knowing she won’t make it in that region…and then she has to live under the fear that they will take not only her DMA but her stores? That will keep her even MORE devoted making it hard to reach her as her friend or husband. So what next, refinancing your home? Outside financing? Pulling in a suggested partner/investor that Hewitt advises?

  It will all come down, but in Liberty Tax’s hopes, in slow motion, while she is just their tenant and mule. She will miss the time she could have spent on a good business and regret the time she has taken from her family because of her demanding workload. They let her speak on conference calls as a prized guest if I am correct as they did me. They will call you ahead and tell you what they will ask and tell you what they want you to say as their focus points and it all sounds great and to her knowledge accurate for the most part. All part of building up a false picture for her as being a valued asset. She is a valued asset to them of course. What is in it for her. What is the end result and is she understanding that everything that she decides everyday, she is somewhat in the dark of where the end result will truly take her?

  If she is who I am thinking of, I felt pity when I heard her on the call because she was an excellent speaker, confident, excited and the perfect target. There is more to it, but this much alone should make her realize, the math just does not add up and the people she is to trust are all under their own duties as well to motivate and deliver.

  Talk to the fallen Area Developers, not just the franchisee victims. She did not fail, Liberty Tax failed her!! Don’t ever think differently. I was not married, but had I been maybe my husband could have shook some sense into me. I was an easy sale, kids, no assets. They call people like your wife a one-legger. She’s in it to win it and you are an obstacle they are confident she can defeat you….but they also know that financially, you are brought into it by association and will be an extra drive for her to keep working hard at it so she does not only fail herself and them, but also you.

  But I am sorry, if I know the area you are in…it is not good at all. You guys better have some cash put back for the storm to come. Am I on track with giving you more valuable information? Let me know as I can only disclose so much as well as the members above mention.

• Just curious, with so many franchisee/AD victims out there who’ve been taken for a ride in virtually the same manner every time by John Hewitt and his lackeys in Corporate, why have there not been more lawsuits filed? Is it because Liberty and their legal team never lose a case in Virginia? (i.e., a no-win situation). Or simply a matter of no money left to fight after losing everything? I know pretty much nothing about the legal system so I was just wondering.

• @mike,

  you know she cannot be seen talking to those who are not in the “inner circle”. It’s a koolaid stand. That is all. It is not meant to take serious numbers to the table and get metric courses. It’s a celebration for all the positive people. It is for all the YES people to watch over and mentor and motivate the new and confused. They know the negative ones will stay home, except a very very few that have shown up so admirably to tell it to the masses when Corporate was looking away to get more ice.
  -Trisha

• guest9,

  The case does not always have to be held in Virginia, for that you will have to look at change of venue cases to figure out is all I can say. And if you read the contract, it states the Virginia Franchisor Act rules will not apply for those living outside Virginia and I believe even no jury trial, but that is why you need lawyers, not a lawyer, lawyers. You need to look at your State Act as well as how exactly a lawyer needs to bring cause and who needs to be the plantiff and defendent in certain circumstances. It is very complicated to figure out. Read every case, every case and appeal. It will become clear how to get venue where it should be and why and what to bring action upon at the right time under the right case. You cannot just go in blind and get a way out. Yes, they bankrupt you as most cases are expensive. The most expensive and time consuming case to attract to a lawyer is intellectual property rights and trade secrets. If you are the defendent, the cost of those cases are huge and notice how many times Corp goes after people for that knowing they do not stand a chance in paying a lawyer on those cases. Finding a lawyer on a contingency basis is hard. Retainers to destroyed franchisees are nearly impossible, and they have that banked.
  However, Corporate set aside a large amount of money this year budgeting for legal expenses so they know we are out there and coming. Be careful what lawyers you speak to.

  -Trisha

• Wow, Trisha. I don’t know if my wife is who you are thinking of (and for obvious reasons I don’t want to disclose that here), but you’ve described her situation EXACTLY. She is indeed in a DMA that I believe has virtually no growth potential, so I can’t see her ever meeting up with Corporate’s expectations to add more franchisees or being able to meet her DMA note every year without additional help. She realized that this past year, and actually talked about walking away from the AD position (which of course excited me). Sure enough, John found a way to keep her in, by finding her an investor that he chose and thus putting her deeper in debt. But not without first trying to convince her to borrow more money against her high performance store — something I put my foot down on and said unequivocally, “No! Not unless you want a divorce.” So she and John came up with the investor option. You’re also right that she’s spoken on a few conference calls as well.

  What I want to know is this. When she bought the DMA, she told me that the big note was unsecured and thus there was no way they could come after our house in the event she can’t handle the payments — she could just walk away. I’m guessing it’s not that easy, right?

• Thank you Richie B. and Roger and frustrated and disgusted and mike for contributing comments today..and welcome back. Good to see you all have NOT FORGOTTEN that I was once a franchisee who believed the program was all positive. As some of you had said, you will see in time. I see clearly now and thank you for the support and information shared in the past despite my resistance to believe truths to your stories over the years. I should have never expanded and should and Thank GOD and you all that I did not ever fall for a DMA investment opportunity. Please reach out to all those we can. DO NOT BUY, and trust the right people to get your way out at the right time. Do the exhaustive homework and talk about it.
  @ Roger, excellent information given today…..”Dig Deep”

  -Trisha

• guest9,

  The AD programs are different from franchisee programs and that answer to your question copied below… I am not sure on with confidence at this moment to disclose information on. It is a huge issue and that is a dangerous question at this point so someone else needs to answer that here or privately. I can only say, no it is not that easy.

  (“What I want to know is this. When she bought the DMA, she told me that the big note was unsecured and thus there was no way they could come after our house in the event she can’t handle the payments — she could just walk away. I’m guessing it’s not that easy, right?”)-guest9

  Maybe another guest can perhaps answer please?

  -Trisha

• Trish,
  When I bought my franchise I did not know that my AD was new also. He was not only my AD but he purchased 10 franchisees and opened 10 stores in my area at the same time that I did. Imagine me trying to get something done by him at that time. The only thing that happened was that the territory that I was promised was given to him instead and I had to decide on another in my area. It was hard as there are only so many locations to choose from in any territory. Every time I found a location he would not approve it as he thought they were too close to his. Well corporate let him open on the border of the territories and that limited my choices that was the real problem. Besides that you would think that they would spend some advertising money in an area that opened 13 total stores to get us kick started, but no they didn’t. Where does the advertising money go that they take from the franchisees? Needless to say after 2 years the AD lost all his stores and signed a notice to cure to forgive his dept which was massive and Liberty walked in and took over. Some were opened for the 3rd year, most weren’t. I really should sue them for the ad that they put in job offerings as that is what really led me to their site and started everything. Well good luck to all and keep reading this site and keep complaining the truth needs to be told.

• Guest9;

  You need to do some homework and find a business person who your wife will respect, and knows the in’s and out’s of franchising. As stated earlier, she does not own an asset she can freely sell. If you own a flower shop, you can sell the inventory, the shelves, the intangible assets and the name. It is all worth something. A franchise is owned by the franchisor, and is subject to the rules created by them. If she wanted to sell tomorrow, who would buy it. Probably no one. There are no assets to buy, only air. She needs to think about that.

• @guest9

  I saw your post and could not help but respond. There is a very good reason why Liberty has stretegically placed themselves in Virginia. The laws are to their favor when it comes to suing franchisees. They have many corporate lawyers on their side who do nothing but find ways to keep franchisees in court after they have forced you out and keep spending money on your own lawyers. They will drag you to if at all possible to sue you in Virginia court no matter where you are from. When they terminate your contract and want you to sign a mutual termination agreement, it is only to protect them. They want to impose charges on you if they have people from previous season come in with mistakes. I have to wonder how long will they keep up with their scams. They have been known to even recruit military people and then give no support. JTH loves to his lawyers to threaten franchisees. You can do the top 11 things on John’s top ten and it still would not be enough. If you miss just one of these you become a failure in their eyes. They wait until the third year in hopes that they can turn over your franchise. That is where they make most of their money. Should all go to Virginia and protest outside their headquarters and make sure you invite camera’s. I think the public needs to be aware of the unethical businesss practices they impose on people. Yes, impose, when they do not tell you the whole story about your territory and store and they lie, that is unethical business practices.

• @ Richie B,

  Contact admin and ask for my info permissions or if you know facebook, my number is listed there, send me a request and I will give you someone to call and talk to about this breach of trust issue. ;-) Liberty wants to talk about breach of contract, but what about breach of trust?? What about forcible entries they do on your paid leased buildings? What about non-disclosure and misleading fraud? Well, I guess we have to stick to one cause and nature at a time. Wonder what it should be for each franchisee? We shall see.

  I understand your border territory boxing-in issue completely. They boxed me in to force me to expand or all my clients would migrate. Interesting how they manipulate your emotions and set you up is it not? I had to find out from my AD one January that a store was opened right on my territory border IN my territory at the time, then suddenly they changed the territory border based on where the building was sitting. Nice move but not forgotten. So I was persuaded to take the south side 3 miles away or someone else would get it and my 12 yr old previously-owned multiple times store would just be sitting there as a use to be where everyone had to drive to.

  It is true about terrible support, horrible support at the most needed times, especially tech support unless someone took a liking to you and snatched your ticket for you and would call middle of the night after days of waiting so you race to the office in your pajamas type of nights at 4am thinking you may never hear from them again to fix their horrible updates and software issues. Uncommon to get that lucky though.

  And advertising budget, omg…thats a whole different story of horror Liberty Tax claims were mistakes made every year.

  I cannot stomach to go to convention after seeing a video of John Hewitt holding his grandson up on the stage to speak a rehearsed line of being the next in line for business (something of the sort), he talks to his entire family like they are criminals and idiots and has nothing to do with them. Never have I ever heard him tell a story of his family fun, or even as a guest at his house several times, he never even participated with one day or night of family time when his family was there entertaining me and other franchisees. A family man, think not. Should have known then, he was all self-centered.

  Have you ever been a guest at his beachfront home anyone? Did he make you feel special and hand-picked?

• @Trisha
  Are you a current franchisee? If so, I am surprised that they have not forced you out by posting on this site. I am sure they monitor this site. If you try to force their hand in any way they will force you out of business because they look at you as a pest and not working with the system. Just a warning if you are a franchisee.

• Thanks Roger, but that is the problem. People fear the felon John Hewitt a little too much. I am in my full truth here, Correct name and all of it out there. I would be happy to know they monitor this site and think I am a pest. I am also happy they can do nothing to exterminate me.

  -Trisha