2. To Our Shareholders,
I am tempted to begin this letter by saying WOW!!!
So I think I will….WOW!!! I have told literally hundreds
of people that when we began this journey eight years
ago, most would have described my vision as inane, or
insane, I’m not sure which fits better. There were four of
us and we wrote our “commandments” on the back of a
napkin, finalized our business plan in a spare bedroom,
because only one of us had a computer, and then rented
an 800 square foot office so we’d have a business
address.
Today, almost eight years later, we have a clear
mission and principles that are printed on posters that
hang in Liberty Tax offices all across the United States
and Canada, we employ over 200 people, (all of whom
have access to a computer) and we have taken
possession of a 30,000 square foot building in the
heart of Virginia Beach. It’s no wonder I feel like
saying WOW!! These are reasons that we are
celebrating fiscal year 2005 as “Living the Dream.”
In spite of our humble beginnings we have
become the fastest growing retail tax business EVER!
It is a great feeling to be able to say that and I say it
as often as I can.
We have recruited some of the best performing
franchisees I have had the privilege to work with in
my 36 years in this industry. In tax season 2005 our
new franchisees opened offices in cities around the
country and prepared record breaking numbers of
tax returns.
Liberty Tax Service has continued to grow and
prosper and stayed on the forefront of the industry.
John T. Hewitt
! Liberty Tax Service revenues increased to $51,011,000 CEO & Founder
from $42,211,000.
! Liberty Tax Service income before taxes increased for the 8th
Revenue
consecutive year.
(in $ millions)
! Again this year we faced uncertain economic
indicators yet we increased shareholder equity by 34% and
increased our operating income by 44%.
! Our revenue from franchise sales grew to
$19,491,810. We added 326 new offices in the
United States andCanada.
! We have embarked on a new initiative to offer
proprietary software to our franchisees in the
next two years. $51.0
$42.2
! Guerrilla marketing efforts continue to bring us $28.5
$17.9
increased brand awareness in virtually every major $10.7
market. Everywhere I go, someone will tell me that
they have seen our costumed statues on the
2002 2003 2004 2005
2001
streets of their town.
3. ! The Area Development
program continues to thrive.
We have approximately 75
Area Developers, repre-
senting 650 franchisees.
! Liberty Tax Service was
ranked by Entrepreneur
magazine as the 15th best
franchise opportunity in the
world. We are also ranked
the 8th fastest growing and the
6th best low investment
opportunity.
! Inc. magazine has ranked
Liberty Tax on their list of
fastest growing privately held
companies for the second
consecutive year.
! For the sixth time, I have
been named one of the top Liberty’s mission statement.
100 most influential people in
the accounting profession by Accounting Today magazine.
! Accounting Today also ranks Liberty Tax Service on their list of top 100 accounting and tax firms, and over the last two years
we are the fastest growing on that list.
! Black Enterprise magazine also recognizes Liberty Tax as one of the ten best “Hot Deals” in franchising.
! The Virginia Chamber of Commerce recognized Liberty Tax Service in their “Fabulous Fifty” businesses in the state for the
second consecutive year.
One of the most impactful things that happened to me personally and for the company overall was President Bush referring to
me in a nationally televised speech he made in January, when he named his father and
former President Clinton co-chairmen of the U.S. Tsunami relief effort. He called on the
private sector to step forward and help the victims in Southeast Asia. Several days before EX
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businesses that had responded quickly to the disaster, and he picked up on my pledge. I
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franchisees and employees possess the kind of drive and motivation that is only found
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culture that is fun and infectious. We have created a new word, INTAXICATED, and
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everyone at Liberty is!
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Thank you for your support in 2005. We look forward to an even more exciting
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USA Today article quoting John Hewitt concerning Tsunami Relief
4. Number of Offices
1735
1409
“Never before in the history of the retail income tax
919
industry has a company been able to achieve what we
551 611 have. We are the tax company of the present, and
most certainly, the tax company of the future.” JTH
2001 2002 2003 2004 2005
The Ultimate Dream…..To be the Biggest Tax Preparation
Company in the Universe.
How will Liberty Tax Service realize this dream? We will continue to provide the best service and
develop the best brand. We will know our customers and we will offer a consistent system on which they
can depend. At the very heart of Liberty’s success is the delicate balance between growing value and
strengthening the brand.
For eight years our system of doing business has enabled the Company to generate increased
revenue and earnings. The lifeblood of this demonstrated performance is the incredible power of the
Liberty brand and the Company’s determination to continuously protect and strengthen it.
Working in seamless balance, Liberty’s increasing profitability, along with our unique and prophetic brand, fuels
exciting new opportunities that entice and excite our customers. Together, they create a passionate following and ensure the
Company’s legacy for many years to come.
In fiscal 2005 Liberty Tax Service grew in number of offices by 326. The number of returns prepared continues to increase. This
year it took 20% more returns for a franchise to make it onto the list of the top 50 offices. Our same store sales increased over 27.8%
from 2004 and second year offices grew by 53.4%. Liberty Tax Service is helping hundreds of people to realize their dream of financial
independence through the success of our franchise system.
Throughout the Liberty system we are focused on getting and keeping more customers. Brand superiority, sales expansion and
customer retention are the fundamentals for success; we continue to mine deeper for each.
What are we doing to keep the million customers we have today? We are taking advantage of every customer’s experience as an
opportunity to distinguish our brand. Whether it
is tax preparation, business-to-business
marketing or a visit to our website, we are
making every customer contact count.
How are we reaching the customers we want
tomorrow?
• We offer superior service that wins customers
from our competition.
• We create a brand experience so powerful
that it brings new customers in our door.
• We leverage our growing name recognition
and reputation to reach customers that we
have not been able to reach.
• We practice neighborhood marketing.
• We employ more sophisticated use of
targeted marketing.
• We expand our commitment to cause related
marketing that makes us better corporate
citizens.
Above and left: Liberty was mentioned in hundreds of
newspapers around the country in 2005. Marketers
willing to work throughout the winter was a great hook.
5. Number of Franchisees
1097
“I often think that back in 1996 when we started
this journey, people said I was insane. There was
804
no way I could build another tax company. But I
551
did and it’s even better than the last one.” JTH
376
248
2005
2001 2002 2003 2004
Creating the Dream……We were “tilting” at
windmills.
When John Hewitt decided it was time to start a new income tax preparation
company, customer service was already the hallmark of his plan. He learned to
cultivate strong customer service ideals during his tenure as a regional director for
HR Block and as founder of Jackson Hewitt Tax Service. By doing so, he established
a culture of “setting the standard” for his employees and franchisees. He then continued to expand
it. That fanatical commitment to provide an excellent experience for his customers, along with his keen analytical
understanding of the tax industry, served him well when the idea of Liberty Tax Service was born. Today the industry has
expanded a bit and so has our business. We’ve grown to 1735 offices in just eight short years. Never before in the history of the tax
business has this milestone been met. But we
still offer the outstanding customer service that
was the keystone to our beginning.
Since the beginning we’ve been involved in
preparing taxes, but we are not your average,
ordinary tax company. In fact we’re
extraordinary. Our goal to become the biggest
tax preparation company in the universe boils
down to one simple thing…commitment. We are
committed to our franchisees and our franchisees
are committed to getting customers. In virtually
every market in the United States and Canada our
Liberty wavers can be seen on numerous street
corners. It has become our trademark and the
thing that sets us apart from our competition.
This is the type of scrappiness and innovation
Above right: Liberty costumed characters take part in parades all around the country during off- that has made Liberty Tax Service the company
season to create brand awareness. Above left: A contingent of Lady Libertys and Uncle Sams go to
that people are talking about. But more than
Las Vegas.
that, the competition is starting to imitate us, the
most sincere form of flattery!
It took John Hewitt’s know-how, entrepreneurial spirit and hard work to develop a solid foundation, but the tax industry hasn’t
stood still and neither has the Company. Our forty member management team has over 400 combined years of experience and
continue to build upon what John has started, transforming our service, our system and our software to adapt to emerging market
trends and competitive advances. Today the transformation continues as we build upon what’s made us successful in the past. We’re
aggressively marketing our core services to new customers and developing a network of franchisees that are literally “in love” with
Liberty. Our franchisees have taken the Liberty message and culture “to the streets” by employing the unconventional marketing
machine that has become our signature. The army is now over 1000 strong and growing every day. Last year we awarded 630 new
territories and opened 326 new offices. Our increase in raw number of tax returns prepared was over 200,000. HR Block opened
approximately 1200 new offices and they experienced a decrease in number of returns prepared for the third year in a row. We have
created the dream.
6. The Results of the Dream(so far)...
The Proof is in the Pudding.
In fiscal year 2005, Liberty Tax Service continued to set the standard for the tax industry. Companywide we prepared over 1
million returns. We had the largest increase in raw number of returns prepared of all three branded tax companies. We continue to
be recognized by the investment community and have been invited to make presentations at several of the large investment firms.
During tax season we conducted a series of conference calls for investment analysts to assess the tax season. As a result, John Hewitt
has established himself as the tax industry expert for analysts nationwide.
Our media exposure this year has been phenomenal. During tax season we generated over
700 media exposures on radio, television and newspaper. The costumed characters that wave on
the street corners are attention getting and certainly attract a lot of attention from the media. For
our tsunami relief efforts, we were also featured on ABC Nightly News,
Neil Cavuto’s Your World show on the Fox network and countless local
television stations. One of the big cause-related marketing programs we
rolled out this year was a National Premier Partnership with a program
called Cell Phones For Soldiers. The concept was the brainstorm of
thirteen year old Brittany Bergquist and her twelve year old brother
Robbie of Norwell, Massachusetts. They were disturbed after hearing a
Above: Soldiers in Afghanistan thank Liberty for supporting Cell Phones For Soldiers.
Left: The founders of Cell Phones for Soldiers, Brittany and Robbie Bergquist, spoke
at the opening ceremonies of the 2005 Liberty Convention.
7. “Results are what count…it’s not how you
start, but how you finish.” JTH
news story about an American soldier in Iraq with a staggering
phone bill. They started Cell Phones For Soldiers with snack
money and have subsequently recruited sponsors and cell phone
companies to help. Liberty franchisees promoted the program
and asked people to drop off their old cell phones at offices across
the country. Each phone donated buys a calling card of up to 100
minutes. The cards are then sent to Iraq for distribution to the
service men and woman. During fiscal 2005, Liberty franchisees
collected over 25,000 cell phones resulting in 2,500,000 minutes
of calling time for our troops. We are continuing the program
this year.
We believe that throughout 2005 we continued to build
momentum, setting ourselves up for 2006 and beyond. The heart
and soul of our business is, and will continue to be tax
preparation. We are expanding in existing areas and branching
out to new markets every day. We now have franchisees in all 50
states and have a presence in 155 television markets out of a total
of 210.
Our plan is simple but tough. Every day we get closer to our
ultimate goal of being the biggest tax preparation company in the
universe.
Right and below: Liberty sent costumed franchisees and employees to New
York City to celebrate the reopening of the Statue of Liberty in August
2004. Hundreds of Liberty crowns were handed out at the ferry and
newspapers all over the country picked up the story. (Mario Tama/Getty
Images)
8. 1999
1997 John Hewitt’s non-compete clause
ends
Liberty officially begins
operations in Canada
1998
Liberty opens 35 offices in the
U.S., 214 offices are opera-
UR name changes to Liberty tional in Canada
Tax Service. Pictured-the
statue in Las Vegas that gave
John Hewitt the idea for the
name.
Entrepreneur magazine ranks
Liberty #405 on its Franchise
500 list
2000
Liberty moves its world headquarters to
Bonney Road in Virginia Beach, VA
Five Liberty offices open in U.S. in
Columbus, Ohio.
John Hewitt is named one of the
top 100 most influential people in
accounting by Accounting Today
9. 2001
2003
Liberty wins a lawsuit against HR
®
Block, forcing Block to stop
misrepresenting tax loans as
refunds or refund amounts Liberty is ranked #15 on Entrepreneur’s
list of Top Low-Cost Franchises and #50 on
the list of Fastest Growing Franchise
Opportunities
2002
John Hewitt is named Virginia Entrepre-
Liberty makes neur of the Year by Ernst Young. Here,
NBC Today Show John’s son Danny accepts the award.
debut appearance
2004 Liberty is ranked #106 on
Inc. Magazine’s Inc. 500 list
of privately-held
WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 4,2004
companies
Lady Liberty Opens Her Doors
nice plug, and mentioned our “guerrilla
marketing tactics.”
We continued to create a visual
display of Liberty Tax Service support
when we had a picnic in Bryant Park, rode
the ferry to Liberty Island, and the subway
Liberty is ranked #28 on to the Yankees game. Our Lady Libertys
were the toast of New York and photo
opportunities for not only the media, but
others curious and excited about seeing so
many of us together. Everywhere we went
people were stopping and asking to take
Entrepreneur’s Franchise Liberty franchisees
pictures of us. We handed out over 8,000
crowns in NYC on Tuesday alone.
This was truly our greatest team effort
in Liberty history, with so much support
from the franchisees and headquarters
500; #12 on their list of
staff to bring this concept to fruition. To
and staff visit New
all who helped, we could not have done it
Lovely Lady Liberty Tax Service franchisee Tina Napolitano of Queens in front of without you! Thanks to all who truly
the Statue of Liberty, which opened yesterday for the first time since the September
helped Liberty market outrageously, and
11 attacks
have lots of fun in the brand-building
process on a great day for America!
huddled and costumed Miss Liberty
When the Statue of Liberty officially
Top Low-Cost Franchises masses, some of our franchisees were
reopened August 3rd, Liberty Tax Service
York City on the day
clearly visible on the program. The LTS
was a part of it in New York, New York. A
delegation then headed to Good
delegation of 100 costumed LTS Lady
Morning America, and the Fox morning
Libertys and Mr. Libertys converged on
news program where we were also
New York City. Headquarters staffers filled
featured.
four vans and hit the road to meet up with
and #9 on the list of Fastest of the reopening of
Local and national media spread
local New York franchisees and other
the news, and featured pictures and
franchisees who traveled from as far away
mentions about us. We got ink and/or
as Utah, Florida and Tennessee. Our
pictures and mentions in the New York
diverse group was not only “mighty
Times, the New York Sun (Front page),
women with a torch,” but tiny Lady
The Financial Times, Newsday, Detroit
Libertys and Mr. Libertys of various ages
Growing Franchise the Statue of Liberty
Free Press, Palm Beach Post (Front
and races.
page), Washington Post, www.npr.com,
Our full day August 3rd started with a Call Me Liberty Liberty Tax Service franchisees Walter
www.peopledaily.com, Associated
2:00 a.m. wake-up call, and a subway ride and Norma Icker are among those dressed as the
Press and the San Antonio Express
to Rockefeller Plaza to be outside The Statue of Liberty yesterday as the monument partially
reopened to the public.
News. National Public Radio gave us a
Today Show. Although our original plan
was foiled to show the NBC viewers our
Opportunities in August
2005
Liberty is ranked #15 on
Entrepreneur’s Fran-
Tax Wars
chise 500; #6 on their
heated up
list of Top Low-Cost
when HR
Block® tried to Franchises and #8 on
Liberty Tax Service operates the list of Fastest
compete with
1,735 offices. It took our Growing Franchise
Liberty in
competitors 13 years to reach Opportunities
guerrilla
that number.
marketing
10. Liberty Directors and Officers
Directors
John Hewitt
President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman
John Garel Steven Lepkowski
Director Director
Gary Golding Ross N. Longfield
Director Director
Steven Ibbotson George Robson
Director Director
Officers
Mark Baumgartner Mark Johnson
Chief Financial Officer Vice President of Area Development
Dennis Bowerman Charles Kirkpatrick
Vice President of Field Operations Chief Information Officer
Kathleen Curry Steven Lepkowski
Vice President of Legal Vice President of Sales Marketing
Donna Halligan Martha O’Gorman
Vice President of Area Developer Operations Vice President of Marketing
and Corporate Secretary
T. Rufe Vanderpool
Vice President of Software Development
11. Liberty Convention
Snapshots
Where can you find a beach concert
featuring Motown greats Martha Reeves and
the Vandellas, fireworks, golf tournaments, a
nationally acclaimed marketing guru,
breakout sessions, a casino night and about
200 Lady Libertys and Uncle Sams?
At the 2005 Liberty Tax Convention,
of course. Record numbers of franchisees
came to Virginia Beach in May to help
celebrate the year’s successes.
Excitement mounted during the opening ceremonies of the 2005 Convention as
the lights went down.
The chorus from Green Run
High School sang the National
Anthem.
Then the Lady
Libertys took over
the stage.
Tom Feltenstein, author of the 10-minute Marketer and the
convention’s keynote speaker, delivered a rousing speech about
neighborhood marketing and gave Liberty’s guerrilla marketing
The last night efforts high marks.
culminated in lucky
San Antonio, Texas
franchisee, Lana Lee,
winning a Jeep
Liberty during Casino
Night.
