Industry & Services >> CEO Interviews >> February 21, 2005
JOHN HEWITT, CEO of Liberty Tax Service, remains an influential icon in
the tax industry, nationally recognized as an entrepreneurial visionary
with a blueprint for tax service success. For the fourth consecutive
year, Accounting Today has named Mr. Hewitt one of the Top 100 most
influential persons in the tax industry. Accounting Today also
recognized Mr. Hewitt on its Top 100 list while he was CEO of Jackson
Hewitt Tax Service. Mr. Hewitt has founded two franchises that
Entrepreneur magazine has ranked on their Franchise 500: Liberty Tax
Service and Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. Both companies are also on the
Inc. 500 list of privately-held companies. Mr. Hewitt was also named
Entrepreneur of the Year for Virginia by Ernst & Young for 2003, and is
a veteran of 36 tax seasons with Liberty, Jackson Hewitt and H&R Block.
He is personally committed to fighting hunger on a global basis, and has
made substantial personal contributions to the recent tsunami relief
through Stop Hunger Now, a charity he co-founded in 1998 to help fight
world hunger. Liberty Tax Service has announced his intention to donate
money to tsunami relief for every tax return his company prepares in tax
season 2005. Mr. Hewitt envisioned a new company, Liberty Tax Service,
while serving out the terms of a non-compete contract with Jackson
Hewitt Tax Service. His business plan was set into motion in Canada,
when Mr. Hewitt purchased a Canadian tax company September 1, 1997.
Using his blueprint for success, Mr. Hewitt inaugurated U.S. operations
in January 1998, with five US offices. That year, there were 126
Canadian offices. In 1969, when Mr. Hewitt was a college student, he
enrolled in a non-curricular course that would change his life, and have
a profound effect on the tax industry. He took the H&R Block tax course,
and described it as 'the most interesting course I've ever taken.' Mr.
Hewitt started as a tax preparer, then began his climb up the H&R Block
management ranks. He became assistant manager for Block's Buffalo, New
York, district the following year. After a stint as District Manager in
Elmira, New York from 1975 until 1980, Mr. Hewitt advanced to a position
as Regional Director, the youngest ever in the Block operating system.
Mr. Hewitt managed over 2,000 preparers in 250 offices in one of Block's
largest districts. He embraced the technological revolution, and had the
foresight to imagine the future and evolution of computerized tax
preparation while at Block. In the early 1980s, he and his father
developed a decision-tree tax interview program that generated
individual responses to tax interview questions. It was the first PC tax
software of its kind in the industry. Anticipating the impact of this
potential new tax revolution, Mr. Hewitt was optimistic that he could
market this futuristic product to his present employer. H&R Block was
not a taker, so Mr. Hewitt took steps to found a new tax company.
Jackson Hewitt Tax Service was founded in Hampton Roads, Virginia. In
1988, the company became Jackson Hewitt, utilizing the unique 'Hewtax'
tax interview program. By 1986, IRS personnel also had designs on the
positive effects that computerized tax preparation could have on the
filing process. This was the first year that the IRS tested the
electronic filing process to allow taxpayers to directly file their
taxes, bypassing the mailing of returns entirely. The timing was right.
Mr. Hewitt took Jackson Hewitt public in 1994. The company, a solid
second to Block, subsequently sold for $483 million in 1997. When Mr.
Hewitt left Jackson Hewitt in fiscal 1997, the company was operating
1,345 offices. Jackson Hewitt had become the first successful national
industry competitor against H&R Block. Profile
Mr. Hewitt: First I'll give you my background. I started in the industry
36 tax seasons ago with H&R Block. I started as a preparer while I was
in
