For the past thirty or forty years, the tax preparation business has been one of steady growth, with low barriers to entry, with no educational or licensing requirements. And, in most locations, anyone with a business card and a computer could call themselves a tax preparer.
Because of these minimal requirement, consumers had no quality control over their tax preparation other than to judge it by the size and speed of the refund. This gave rise to fly-by-night tax preparation businesses, refund anticipation loans, and more. Every new franchise was going to be the one that turned out to be bigger than H&R Block.
Because of these minimal requirement, consumers had no quality control over their tax preparation other than to judge it by the size and speed of the refund. This gave rise to fly-by-night tax preparation businesses, refund anticipation loans, and more. Every new franchise was going to be the one that turned out to be bigger than H&R Block.