Franchise Group, Inc. - FORM 10-K

Attached files

file	filename
EX-23.1 - EXHIBIT 23.1 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex231.htm
EX-32.1 - EXHIBIT 32.1 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex321.htm
EX-31.2 - EXHIBIT 31.2 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex312.htm
EX-31.1 - EXHIBIT 31.1 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex311.htm
EX-21.1 - EXHIBIT 21.1 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex211.htm
EX-10.17 - EXHIBIT 10.17 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex1017.htm
EX-10.18 - EXHIBIT 10.18 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex1018.htm
EX-32.2 - EXHIBIT 32.2 - Franchise Group, Inc.	a04302015ex322.htm

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UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K



ý		ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended April 30, 2015

		or

o		TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the transition period from to

Commission File Number: 001-35588

Liberty Tax, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)



	Delaware (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)		27-3561876 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.)
	1716 Corporate Landing Parkway, Virginia Beach, Virginia (Address of principal executive offices)		23454 (Zip Code)

Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (757) 493-8855

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:



	Class A Common Stock, par value $0.01 per share (Title of Class)		The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (Name of Exchange on which registered)

Securities to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. YES o NO ý

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15 (d) of the Act. YES o NO ý

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. YES ý NO o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate Website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). YES ý NO o

Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer or a smaller reporting company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," and "smaller reporting company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.



Large accelerated filer o	Accelerated filer ý	Non-accelerated filer o (Do not check if a smaller reporting company)	Smaller reporting company o

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). YES o NO ý

The aggregate market value of the shares of Class A common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant computed based on the last reported sale price of $37.89 on October 31, 2014 was $268,395,343.

The number of shares of the registrant's Class A common stock outstanding as of June 23, 2015 was 11,920,712.

The number of shares of the registrant's Class B common stock outstanding as of June 23, 2015 was 900,000.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the registrant’s Proxy Statement for the 2015 Annual Meeting of Stockholders are incorporated by reference into Part III hereof.

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Part I
Item 1.	Business	6
Item 1A.	Risk Factors	14
Item 1B.	Unresolved Staff Comments	30
Item 2.	Properties	30
Item 3.	Legal Proceedings	30
Item 4.	Mine Safety Disclosures	31
Part II
Item 5.	Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities	32
Item 6.	Selected Financial Data	35
Item 7.	Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations	38
Item 7A.	Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk	52
Item 8.	Financial Statements and Supplementary Data	52
	Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm	F-1
	Consolidated Balance Sheets	F-2
	Consolidated Income Statements	F-3
	Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income	F-4
	Consolidated Statements of Stockholders' Equity	F-5
	Consolidated Statement of Cash Flows	F-8
	Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements	F-10
Item 9.	Changes in and Disagreements with Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure	52
Item 9A.	Controls and Procedures	52
Item 9B.	Other Information	53
Part III
Item 10.	Directors, Executive Officers, and Corporate Governance	54
Item 11.	Executive Compensation	54
Item 12.	Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters	54
Item 13.	Certain Relationships and Related Transactions and Director Independence	54
Item 14.	Principal Accounting Fees and Services	54
Part IV
Item 15.	Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules	55
Signatures		58

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SPECIAL NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report contains forward-looking statements concerning our business, operations, and financial performance and condition as well as our plans, objectives, and expectations for our business operations and financial performance and condition. Any statements contained herein that are not of historical facts may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. You can identify these statements by words such as "aim," "anticipate," "assume," "believe," "could," "due," "estimate," "expect," "goal," "intend," "may," "objective," "plan," "predict," "potential," "positioned," "should," "target," "will," "would," and other similar expressions that are predictions of or indicate future events and future trends. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts, and projections about our business and the industry in which we operate and our management's beliefs and assumptions. They are not guarantees of future performance or development and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that are in some cases beyond our control. As a result, any or all of our forward-looking statements in this annual report may turn out to be inaccurate. Factors that may cause such differences include, but are not limited to, the risks described under "Item 1A—Risk Factors," including:


•	our inability to sustain growth at our historical pace;


•	the seasonality of our business;


•	the continued service of our senior management team and our ability to attract additional talent;


•	our inability to secure reliable sources of the tax settlement products we make available to our customers;


•	government regulation and oversight, including the regulation of our tax settlement products such as refund transfers and loan settlement products;


•	government initiatives that simplify tax return preparation, improve the timing and efficiency of processing tax returns, limit payments to tax preparers, or decrease the number of tax returns filed or the size of the refunds;


•	government initiatives to pre-populate income tax returns;


•	the effect of regulation of the products and services that we offer, including changes in laws and regulations;


•	the possible characterization of refund transfers as a form of loan or extension of credit;


•	changes in the tax settlement products offered to our customers that make our services less attractive to customers or more costly to us;


•	our ability to maintain relationships with our tax settlement product service providers;


•	our ability and the ability of our franchisees to comply with legal and regulatory requirements;


•	failures by our franchisees and their employees to comply with their contractual obligations to us and with laws and regulations, to the extent these failures affect our reputation or subject us to legal risk;


•	the ability of our franchisees to open new territories and operate them successfully;


•	the ability of our franchisees to generate sufficient revenue to repay their indebtedness to us;


•	our ability to manage Company-owned offices;


•	our exposure to litigation;


•	our ability and our franchisees' ability to protect customers' personal information, including from a cyber-security incident;


•	the impact of identity-theft concerns on customer attitudes toward our services;


•	our ability to access the credit markets and satisfy our covenants to lenders;


•	challenges in deploying accurate tax software in a timely way each tax season;


•	delays in the commencement of the tax season attributable to Congressional action affecting tax matters and the resulting inability of federal and state tax agencies to accept tax returns on a timely basis, or other changes that have the effect of delaying the tax refund cycle;


•	competition in the tax preparation market;

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•	the effect of federal and state legislation that affects the demand for paid tax preparation, such as the Affordable Care Act and potential immigration reform;


•	our reliance on technology systems, including the deployment of our LibPro project, and electronic communications;


•	our ability to deploy our LibPro software in a timely manner and with all the features our customers require;


•	the impact of any acquisitions or dispositions, including our ability to integrate acquisitions and capitalize on their anticipated synergies; and


•	other factors, including the risk factors discussed in this annual report.

Potential investors and other readers are urged to consider these factors carefully in evaluating the forward-looking statements and are cautioned not to place undue reliance on the forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this annual report. Unless required by law, we do not intend to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements to reflect new information or future events or otherwise. A potential investor or other vendor should, however, review the factors and risks we describe in the reports we will file from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") after the date of this annual report.

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PART I

Item 1. Business.

Company Information

We were incorporated in Delaware in September 2010 as JTH Holding, Inc. In July 2014, our corporate name was changed to Liberty Tax. Inc. in order to better reflect our primary business and to eliminate confusion among stockholders and potential investors seeking information about us. We are the holding company for JTH Tax, Inc. d/b/a Liberty Tax Service, our largest subsidiary, which was incorporated in Delaware in October 1996. As an "emerging growth company" under applicable federal securities laws, we are subject to reduced public company reporting requirements.

References in this report to "years" are to our fiscal years, which end on April 30 unless otherwise noted, and all references to "tax season" refer to the period between January 1 and April 30 of the referenced year. Unless the context requires otherwise, the terms "Liberty Tax," "Liberty Tax Service," "we," "the Company," "us," and "our" refer to Liberty Tax, Inc. and its consolidated subsidiaries. A complete list of our subsidiaries can be found in Exhibit 21.1 to this report.

Financial Information about Segments

The majority of our revenue is earned through our United States operations; however, during our fiscal years 2015, 2014, and 2013, we earned $6.9 million, $6.4 million, and $5.9 million, respectively, from our Canadian operations. Due to the similarity in the nature of products and services, production process, type of customer, distribution methods, future prospects, and regulatory environment, we combine our United States operations and our Canadian operations into one reportable segment.

Our Business

We are one of the leading providers of tax preparation services in the United States and Canada. As measured by both the number of returns prepared and the number of retail offices, we are the second largest national retail preparer of individual tax returns in the United States and the second largest retail preparer of individual tax returns in Canada. Although we operate a limited number of Company-owned offices each tax season, our tax preparation services and related tax settlement products are offered primarily through franchised locations. All of the offices are presently operated under the Liberty Tax Service or SiempreTax+ brands.

Our business involves providing retail federal and state income tax preparation services and related tax settlement products in the United States and Canada. Our focus is on growing the number of Liberty Tax and SiempreTax+ offices, increasing the number of tax returns prepared by those offices, and enhancing profitability by offering services and products that continue to build both brands.

The tax return preparation market is divided into two primary distinct sectors: paid tax preparation and Do It Yourself ("DIY") preparation, which includes traditional "pen and paper" preparation as well as DIY preparation through online and software-based tax products. Although recent years have seen growth in the relative portion of the DIY sector that has been captured by online and software-based tax products, the separate paid tax preparation sector, in which we and our franchisees primarily compete, has also continued to grow. Approximately 59% of e-filed returns during the 2015 tax season were prepared by paid preparers.

The percentage of returns filed through paid tax preparers has remained relatively stable over the past decade, with material year-to-year variations generally in years where government tax rebate programs cause a spike in filings by taxpayers who might otherwise not have filed, or where recessionary conditions, as in 2009, temporarily depress filings. The requirements and complexity of the Affordable Care Act ("ACA"), and the effect of possible future immigration reform, may cause an increase in paid tax preparation in 2016 and future years.

Through our franchisees, we offer tax preparation services and related financial products to our tax customers. The services and products that our franchisees implement are designed to provide streamlined tax preparation services for taxpayers who, for reasons of complexity, convenience, or the need for prompt tax refunds, seek assisted tax preparation services.

In the 2015 tax season, we and our franchisees accounted for 1.9 million tax returns filed through our U.S. retail offices, 0.3 million through our Canadian retail offices, and 0.2 million through our online tax programs.

A typical tax season consists of two primary filing periods: a "first peak" involving filers who file relatively quickly after receiving their Forms W-2, and late-season filers who file during the weeks leading to the usual April 15 federal tax filing deadline. In the 2015 tax season, 66% of returns filed in our retail offices were filed between January 1 and February 28, and an additional 15% were filed between April 1 and April 15. During the 2015 tax season, the IRS opened its electronic filing system

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on January 20, 2015, which was earlier than in the previous two years, when late tax legislation and a government shutdown delayed the beginning of the tax seasons.

We expect to benefit from anticipated industry consolidation as we believe many independent tax preparers will look to exit the industry as they confront increased costs, regulatory requirements and demands to provide tax settlement products. We believe we will be a beneficiary of this consolidation because we are able to more efficiently address changing regulatory requirements due to our scale and also because we have succeeded in providing a fully competitive mix of the kinds of financial products sought by customers. In addition, our reputation in the market should continue to drive new customers to our brands, which will also enhance our position in a consolidating industry. As a result, we believe we will continue to accrete market share by virtue of our attractive platform for preparers and for new franchisees looking to capture customers from exiting independent preparers. We may also consider larger strategic transactions if those opportunities arise.

We believe the ACA presents an opportunity for potential growth in revenue and in number of returns. Because of the complexity of the ACA, we expect that taxpayers will seek assistance and we could see an increase in the number of filers in general and an increase in the number of filers who shift to a paid preparer from DIY. The ACA also requires additional forms and worksheets to be completed, which may produce more revenue. We have provided extensive training and educational materials to our offices and franchisees so that they will be able to guide the taxpayer through all aspects of the ACA. We have also initiated several projects related to the ACA, which we began to implement during fiscal 2015.

We also believe that the growing Hispanic population in the United States presents an opportunity for additional growth to tax providers that are able to successfully target those potential customers with tax and related services that serve the unique needs of the Hispanic community. For that reason, during fiscal 2015 we launched a new franchised tax brand, SiempreTax+, and we and our franchisees operated 57 SiempreTax+ offices during the 2015 tax season. We expect this brand to continue to grow, and we are working with our franchisees to develop additional non-tax service offerings in these offices that will attract customers to the brand. Moreover, we anticipate that any immigration reform, whether enacted through executive action or by Congress, will necessarily have the effect of encouraging a substantial number of undocumented immigrants to prepare and file tax returns, perhaps from multiple years. For that reason, we believe that any immigration reform that is implemented will result in an increase in the number of filers utilizing a paid preparer to guide them through this important governmental interaction.

Our Franchise Model

We rely on a franchise model for our growth. Although our larger primary competitors maintain a mix of franchise locations and Company-owned offices or primarily operate Company-owned offices, we have determined that we can best grow our Company by increasing our franchisee base, and the number of offices operated by our existing franchisees. We have also included in our franchisee model the sale of area developer ("AD") areas. Under this AD model, we make large clusters of territories available to an AD who is responsible for marketing the available franchise territories within the larger AD area in order to help us fill gaps in our franchise system. As described below, when we utilize an AD to assist us in franchise sales, we receive revenue from the sale of the AD area but sacrifice a portion of the franchise fees and the royalty stream from the franchises within the AD area.

We believe that our franchise system is the core of our highly scalable business model. Most of the Liberty Tax and SiempreTax+ offices are operated by franchisees. Because we do not own or operate a significant number of tax offices, we are able to focus on marketing, franchisee coaching and support, financial product development and other initiatives that drive our overall success. In addition, our franchise model allows us to grow our tax system with minimal capital expenditures or fixed cost investments.

Franchise territories. We have divided the United States into approximately 10,000 potential franchise territories. We attempt to draw territory boundaries such that each territory has a target population of approximately 30,000 people. Franchisees are permitted to open more than one office in a territory, and they may also have the opportunity to open a tax preparation kiosk in a retail operation within the territory. We presently have kiosk arrangements with several retailers, including Walmart.

Upon the launch of our new SiempreTax+ brand, we made clear to franchisees who owned existing territories that they would retain the rights to operate both brands within those territories, and that they would be permitted to open offices of both brands, in their existing territories, if they determine that the territory will support both a Liberty Tax office and a SiempreTax+ office. Our franchisees may also be permitted to sell rights to one brand in their territory while retaining rights to the other brand. During fiscal 2015, we also began to sell the rights to our two brands separately in undeveloped territories while we retained the territory boundaries that existed before the launch of our second brand.

As of April 30, 2015, our largest franchisee entity operated 31 tax locations, but a majority of our franchisees operated one or two tax locations. As part of our growth strategy, we anticipate substantially increasing the average number of offices per

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franchisee by encouraging more of our franchisees to acquire and open additional franchise territories. We anticipate that a significant number of our franchisees may elect to remain single-office owners, but that others will be attracted to the opportunity to grow their revenue base and overall profitability by enjoying the economies of scale associated with multi-unit operations. Because we continue to have measurably fewer offices than our two largest competitors, we believe that we have a significant number of additional territories available that will allow us to implement this business model, and we are devoting a substantial amount of our sales efforts to providing opportunities to existing franchisees to acquire additional territories.

Franchise sales process. We engage in an active marketing process, both directly and through our ADs, in order to sell additional franchise territories. Our sales process includes sales to new franchisees, as well as the sale of additional territories to existing franchisees willing to expand into additional territories. For new franchisees, the process includes multiple steps that culminate in a week-long training session that we call Effective Operations Training. A new franchisee may pay the entire franchise fee for the franchisee's first territory at the time of acquisition, but as described below, we often provide financing for territory purchases by both new and existing franchisees. We also utilize advertising in national publications, appearances at conventions and trade shows at which we believe potential franchisees may be present, and various direct marketing techniques, in order to obtain and pursue franchisee leads.

We offer a special franchise purchase program, "rent to own," which was designed to allow existing franchisees to acquire additional territories with minimal risk. In this program, which is designed for the purchase of unsold territories, we allow an existing franchisee that is willing to pursue expansion to operate a territory without an obligation to pay a franchisee fee during the first tax season. If the franchisee operates the territory and elects to purchase the territory, the territory becomes subject to a standard franchise agreement and the payment of the standard franchise fee.

Because of the uncertainty surrounding the availability of tax settlement products, the difficulty that many independent and smaller tax preparers are having accessing sources of these products, and an increasingly cumbersome regulatory climate, we believe that there is an opportunity to convert independent tax preparers, including smaller multi-unit operations, to Liberty Tax franchisees. We are expending significant marketing effort to encourage these conversions, and because these operations involve existing tax operations, generally offer more favorable terms to these prospective franchisees than we make available for undeveloped territories.

Our franchise agreements. Under the terms of our standard franchise agreement, each franchisee receives the right to operate a tax return preparation business under the Liberty Tax Service brand and/or SiempreTax+ brand within a designated geographic area. Similarly, our agreements with ADs permit ADs to market franchise territories within a designated multi-territory area. Franchise agreements have an initial term of five years and are renewable. The agreements impose various performance requirements on franchisees, require franchisees to use our proprietary software and equipment designated by us, and obligate our franchisees to operate in their offices in accordance with standards we establish. These standards include specified in-season and out-of-season opening hours, criteria for the location of franchise offices, requirements related to tax preparers and other office employees, and minimum performance standards. Our agreements also require our franchisees to comply with applicable state and federal legal requirements. Although we do not control and are not responsible for any compliance issues that could be caused by our franchisees or their tax preparers, we provide guidance to our franchisees regarding their compliance obligations, including the provision of standard advertising templates, training materials that include detailed compliance information, and systems that alert them to unusual activity. We also use a variety of means to identify potential compliance issues and to require franchisees to address any concerns.

Each year, as part of our active management of our franchise base, we terminate a number of franchisees, and other franchisees voluntarily relinquish their territories, sometimes in exchange for our forbearance on the remaining indebtedness owed to us in connection with the franchise territory. We generally intend to resell these territories to new or existing franchisees; however, we sometimes close office locations or maintain office locations that we were not able to resell before the subsequent tax season as Company-owned offices. In order to protect our competitive position, we regularly take actions to enforce the non-competition obligations and restrictions regarding customer lists and our trademarks and service marks contained in our franchise agreements.

AD areas. We initiated our AD program in 2001 in order to accelerate the growth of our franchise system. We continue utilizing the AD program to focus on areas with large underdeveloped groups of territories we believe would benefit from the dedicated sales attention that an AD offers. Our fees for AD areas vary based on our assessment of the revenue potential of each AD area, and also depend on the performance of any existing franchisees within the AD area being sold. Our ADs generally receive 50% of both the franchise fee and royalties collected from franchises located in their AD areas and are required to provide marketing and operational support.

Company-owned offices. We intentionally operate relatively few Company-owned offices. During the 2015 tax season we operated 182 Company-owned offices in the U.S. and Canada, 17 of which were seasonal offices. We focus primarily on growing through the opening of new franchise locations, and most of the Company-owned offices we operate in a given tax

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season are offices that have been previously owned by former franchisees who have ceased operations or failed to meet our performance standards. Rather than close offices that we believe have the potential to be successful, we attempt to resell these offices, and when we fail to do so before the beginning of a tax season, we may operate them as Company-owned offices until we can resell them at a later time. For this reason, the number of offices we operate as Company-owned offices changes substantially from season to season. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, we began classifying assets associated with our U.S. Company-owned offices as assets held for sale because it is our intent to sell these offices within one year.

Franchise fees and royalties. New franchisees (and existing franchisees acquiring additional territories) presently have several options for acquiring a new undeveloped territory:

•

For new franchisees purchasing their first territory, payment of a franchise fee of $40,000, all or a portion of which might be financed by us subject to credit approval. In territories that we believe can support both a Liberty Tax office and a SiempreTax+ office, the franchise fee for one of the franchises is $40,000 and $25,000 for the other franchise, although we have reserved the right to vary this dual-fee structure.


•	For existing franchisees acquiring additional territories, payment of a franchise fee of $40,000, of which 20% must be paid as a down payment and the balance may be financed by us subject to credit approval. As noted above, in territories that can support offices for both of our brands, we may charge separate franchise fees for the acquisition of the rights to each of the brands.


•	For existing franchisees willing to expand, use of our "rent to own" option, which requires the same 20% down payment, but allows the franchisees to defer the down payment until they have operated the territory for most of one tax season and elect to keep the territory.

When we resell franchises in existing territories, we generally base the price of the territory on the revenue generated by the tax location in prior years, and in some cases may make the "rent to own" option available to prospective purchasers. The purchasing franchisee is required to pay what we consider to be a customer list purchase price, representing the value attributable to the prior operations in the franchised office.

Our franchise agreement requires franchisees to pay us:


•	A base royalty equal to 14% of the franchisee's tax preparation revenue, subject to certain specified minimums.


•	An advertising fee of 5% of the franchisee's tax preparation revenue that we utilize to fund our collective advertising efforts.

Our franchisees generally pay royalties and advertising fees to us during the month following the month in which they accrue. We have the ability to collect from our franchisees through a "fee intercept" mechanism. Our franchisees file returns electronically for their customers utilizing our facilities. Our franchise agreement allows us to obtain repayment of amounts due to us from our franchisees through an electronic fee intercept program before our franchisees receive the net proceeds from tax preparation and other fees they have charged to their customers who have received a tax settlement product. Therefore, we are able to reduce the nonpayment risk associated with amounts outstanding from franchisees by obtaining direct electronic payment in the ordinary course throughout the tax season. Our credit risk associated with amounts outstanding to ADs is also mitigated by our electronic fee intercept program, which enables us to obtain repayments of amounts that would otherwise flow through to ADs as their share of franchise fee and royalty payments, to the extent of an AD's indebtedness to us.

Franchisee loans. We provide a substantial amount of lending to our franchisees and ADs. In addition to allowing franchisees to defer a portion of their franchise fees, which they pay over time, we offer our franchisees working capital loans to fund their operations between tax seasons and expenditures they need to make in order to prepare for the upcoming tax season.

This indebtedness generally takes one of the following forms:


•	The unpaid portion of franchise and AD fees, which does not represent a cash advance by us to the franchisee or AD, but a loan of the franchise or AD fee, generally payable over four years for territory franchise fees and six years for AD fees.


•	Amounts due to us in connection with the purchase of a Company-owned office. The notes for these amounts are generally payable over five years following the acquisition.


•	Annual working capital loans made available to qualified franchisees between May 1 and January 31 each year, which are repayable to us generally by the end of February.

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We utilize our fee intercept mechanism in order to facilitate repayment of these amounts by our franchisees, ensuring that repayment occurs from the stream of revenues our franchisees receive from tax preparation and other services. In addition, when a franchise is held by an entity, rather than an individual principal, we generally require an individual guaranty of the franchisee indebtedness.

LibTax software. Our current proprietary tax software program, "LibTax," was first deployed for the 2007 tax season and offers an interactive question-and-answer format that is easy for our retail office tax preparers to use, facilitating tax preparer training. A substantial number of changes are made each year to tax laws, regulations, and forms that require us to expend substantial resources every year to develop and maintain tax preparation software, at both the federal level and for every state with income tax filing requirements, that will be ready to be deployed in every office before the beginning of the tax season. We use the LibTax software in both our Liberty Tax offices and our SiempreTax+ offices.

Electronic filing. The LibTax software also allows tax customers to have their federal and state income tax returns filed electronically. Electronic filing permits taxpayers to receive tax refunds substantially sooner than when a tax return is filed on paper through the mail. Based on information made available by the IRS, we believe that an electronically-filed return for which a refund is direct deposited into a bank account takes fewer than 21 days after the IRS accepts the return for the refund to be made available to a taxpayer, while a refund associated with a mailed return will take 21 to 28 days after the IRS accepts the return if the refund is to be direct deposited and 6-8 weeks after IRS acceptance if the refund is to be mailed to the taxpayer using a government check. Although our software will permit a customer's return to be printed and filed as a paper return, substantially all of our customers utilize the electronic filing option available through our software.

Franchisee support. We provide substantial support to our franchisees in a variety of ways. Our franchise agreement requires our franchisees to adhere to certain minimum standards, including the use of tax preparation software we provide, the use of computers and other equipment that we select (but that we do not sell to them), training requirements, and other criteria. We make substantial training opportunities available to our franchisees and their prospective employees, and we require each franchisee to send representatives to a week-long Effective Operations Training seminar before they are allowed to operate a franchise location. We also make intermediate and advanced training available to our franchisees, offer "Tax School" classes for franchisees and prospective tax preparers, and provide substantial phone and internet-based support, particularly during the tax season. During the tax season, we maintain a fully-staffed operations center, with extended hours, at our corporate headquarters in Virginia Beach, Virginia. During the peak tax season, we hold daily conference calls in which we share and allow other franchisees to share recommendations and techniques for improving office performance, and in which we emphasize the importance of implementing the marketing plan that we recommend as part of our franchisee training.

Integration of product offerings. The LibTax software makes each of our product offerings available to our customers, including loan-based products and refund transfer products. We believe that this integration of our products into our tax preparation software is essential to attracting customers to the tax preparation services offered in our retail office locations.

Our LibPro tax software project, which we piloted in a small number of offices during the 2015 tax season, will integrate our existing LibTax and online tax offerings so customers will be able to move between the two offerings and access all of our tax products and services through both offerings. Additionally, this product will move us from managing software at individual office PC locations to a browser-based system.

Our Financial Products

We expend considerable effort to ensure that our franchisees are able to offer a complete range of tax settlement products to our customers, and to provide our customers choices in these products. We offer these products because we believe that a substantial portion of our prospective customer base places significant value on the ability to monetize their expected income tax refund more quickly than they would be able to do if they were to file their tax return without utilizing the services of a paid tax preparer. We offer two types of tax settlement products: refund transfer products and refund-based loans.

Refund transfer products. Many of our tax customers seek products that will enable them to obtain access to their tax refunds more quickly than they might otherwise be able to receive those funds. We believe that many of our customers are unbanked, in that they do not have access to a traditional banking account, and therefore, cannot make such an account available to the IRS and other tax authorities for the direct deposit of their tax refunds. Additional customers may have access to a traditional banking account, but for personal reasons, may prefer not to utilize that account for the deposit of their tax refunds. A refund transfer product involves:


•	a direct deposit of the customer's tax refund into a newly established temporary bank account in the customer's name that we establish with one of our banking partners or other banks that have contracted with one of our subsidiaries, JTH Financial, LLC ("JTH Financial"), or

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•	delivery to the customer of a paper check or a prepaid card containing the balance of the customer's refund after the payment of tax preparation and other fees.

When the prepaid card option is elected, the card is issued through one of our financial product partners and is branded with the Liberty Tax logo. When we deliver a physical refund check to a customer, we are generally able to print the check in one of our retail tax offices on check stock paper provided by the bank within a matter of hours after the electronic deposit of the customer's refund has been made to the customer's temporary account. We also enter into check-cashing arrangements with a number of retail establishments, including Walmart, which facilitate the ability of our customers to monetize their check even when they do not have traditional banking relationships. Unlike some of our competitors that penalize their customers for receiving their tax refunds on a paper check, we do not assess similar fees against our customers, who are permitted to choose freely among different disbursement options. For this reason, disbursements on prepaid cards represent a smaller percentage of our financial products than for some of our competitors, and we receive less income from this source than those competitors.

We believe the continued availability of refund transfers will enable us to continue to offer an adequate mix of tax settlement products to our customers. Although the number of refund-based loans, described below, obtained by our customers has declined significantly since the 2010 tax season, the number of customers receiving our refund transfer products, which we call our "attachment rate," has varied from 49.7% for the 2015 tax season compared to 51.5% for the 2014 tax season and 48.1% for the 2013 tax season.

Refund-based loans. We partner with a non-bank counter-party to provide a refund-based loan product that is marketed as an Instant Cash Advance ("ICA"). For the last three years we have not earned any significant revenue on this product; however, we feel that the availability of this product is appreciated by a segment of our customer base.

Online Tax Preparation

Although online tax preparation, through our online tax services, represents a small portion of tax returns prepared and associated revenue, we believe there is a substantial market for customers who wish to prepare their own tax returns using moderately priced online tax preparation products, and the continued availability of these products will be a part of our long-term growth, particularly if we are able to successfully integrate our online and retail tax services. At present, because our online tax customers often reside in territories where we have franchisees, the revenue associated with online customers in franchise territories is split with our franchisees on the same basis as our franchisees split with the Company the tax preparation revenues purchased in the retail offices.

Based on the highly competitive pricing environment in the online tax preparation market, as well as the costs of customer acquisition, we determined that the carrying amount of our online software and related acquired customer lists would not be recovered through estimated future cash flows; for this reason, we compared the fair value of the online software and acquired customer lists to their carrying value and recognized a non-cash impairment charge of $8.4 million as of April 30, 2015.

Intellectual Property

We regard our intellectual property as critical to our success and we rely on trademark, copyright, and trade secret laws in the United States to protect our proprietary rights. We pursue the protection of our service mark and trademarks by applying to register key trademarks in the United States. The initial duration of federal trademark registrations is 10 years. Most registrations can be renewed perpetually at 10-year intervals. In addition, we seek to protect our proprietary rights through the use of confidentiality agreements with employees, consultants, vendors, advisors, and others. The primary marks we believe to be of material importance to our business include our Lady Liberty logo and the brands "Liberty Tax," "Liberty Tax Service," "Liberty Income Tax," "Liberty Canada," and "SiempreTax+."

Seasonality

The tax return preparation business is highly seasonal, and we historically generate most of our revenues during the period from January 1 through April 30. For example, in fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2014, we earned 29% and 26% of our revenues during our fiscal third quarter ended January 31 and 90% and 90% of our revenues during the combined fiscal third and fourth quarters of 2015 and 2014, respectively. We generally operate at a loss during the period from May 1 through December 31, during which we incur costs associated with preparing for the upcoming tax season.

Available Financing

By building on steady growth since our founding and using our available financing to fund operations between tax seasons, we have avoided excess leverage while ensuring minimal outstanding indebtedness at the end of each tax season. At April 30, 2015 and 2014, for example, we had no outstanding balance under our revolving credit facility. Our term loan had outstanding balances of $20.5 million and $21.9 million at April 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.

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Competition

The paid tax preparation market is highly competitive. We compete with tens of thousands of paid tax return preparers, including H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, regional and local tax return preparation companies, most of which are independent and some of which are franchised, regional and national accounting firms, and financial service institutions that prepare tax returns as part of their businesses. We consider the major factors that will affect our ability to successfully compete in our industry to include the following:


•	Our ability to continue to grow our franchise base in order to broaden our national reach and brand recognition.


•	Our ability to offer best of class customer and franchisee service and support.


•	Consolidation in our industry and our ability to capitalize on such consolidation.


•	Our ability to continue to offer a competitive range of tax settlement financial products.


•	The successful deployment of the next stage of our LibPro tax software.

We also face increased competitive challenges from the online and software self preparer market, including the Free File Alliance ("FFA"), a consortium of the IRS and online preparation services that provides free online tax return preparation, and from volunteer and certain state organizations that prepare tax returns at no cost for low-income taxpayers. Our ability to compete in the tax return preparation business depends on our product mix, price for services, customer service, the specific site locations of our offices, local economic conditions, quality of on-site office management, the ability to file tax returns electronically with the IRS, and the availability of tax settlement products to offer to our customers.

We also compete for the sale of tax return preparation franchises with H&R Block, Jackson Hewitt, and other regional franchisors. In addition, we compete with franchisors of other high-margin services outside of the tax preparation industry that attract entrepreneurs seeking to become franchisees. Our ability to continue to sell franchises is dependent on our brand image, the products and services to be provided through the network, the relative costs of financing and start-up costs, our reputation for quality, and our marketing and advertising support. However, we believe that there is no existing smaller competitor in the retail tax preparation market that could challenge our market position on a national scale due to the expense and length of time required to develop the infrastructure, systems and software necessary to create and support a nationwide network of tax preparation offices. As a result, we believe that it would be difficult for an additional national competitor to emerge in our market for the foreseeable future.

Our online tax business also competes with a number of companies. Intuit, Inc., the maker of Turbo Tax, is the largest supplier of tax preparation software for online tax preparation services. H&R Block and Blucora, Inc., the owner of TaxAct, also have substantial online and software-based products.

Although we acquired the customer lists of two other online tax providers before the 2013 and 2014 tax seasons, the substantial advertising resources of our largest online tax competitors places us at a substantial disadvantage in this very competitive segment of the tax preparation market. During fiscal 2015, we recognized a portion of the purchase prices of those previously acquired customer lists as impaired, and we do not have any present plans for further growth of our online business through acquisition, unless a compelling strategic opportunity presents itself.

Regulation

We and our franchisees must comply with laws and regulations relating to our businesses. Regulations and related regulatory matters specific to our businesses are described below.

Federal tax return preparation regulation. Federal law requires tax preparers to, among other things, set forth their signatures and identification numbers on all tax returns prepared by them and retain for three years all tax returns prepared. Federal laws also subject tax preparers to accuracy-related penalties in connection with the preparation of tax returns. Preparers may be enjoined from further acting as tax preparers if they continually or repeatedly engage in specified misconduct. Additionally, all authorized IRS e-file providers must adhere to IRS e-file rules and requirements to continue participation in IRS e-file. Adherence to all rules and regulations is expected of all providers regardless of where published and includes, but is not limited to, those described in IRS Publication 1345, Handbook for Authorized IRS e-file Providers. Various IRS regulations also require tax return preparers to comply with certain due diligence requirements to investigate factual matters in connection with the preparation of tax returns. The IRS conducts audit examinations of authorized IRS e-file providers and tax return preparers, reviewing samples of prepared tax returns to ensure compliance with regulations in connection with tax return preparation activities. From time to time, certain of our franchisees and Company-owned offices are the subject of IRS audits to review their tax return preparation activities.

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We engage in significant efforts to enhance tax compliance by our franchisees and their preparers, including the use of a franchisee alert system that identifies anomalous patterns, compliance audits of selected offices and returns, additional training requirements and actions taken against problematic preparers (including blacklisting to prevent their hiring by other franchisees).

The IRS published final regulations in 2010 that would have imposed mandatory tax return preparer regulations, but federal courts have ruled that the IRS did not have authority to implement those regulations. The IRS has created a voluntary tax preparer certification regime.

State tax return preparation regulation. We are also subject to tax return preparation regulation at the state level. The scope and substance of these regulations vary from state to state, but states also conduct examinations and take enforcement action against tax return preparers. From time to time, certain of our franchisees and Company-owned offices are the subject of state-level audits to review their tax preparation activities. In addition, particularly in the absence of effective IRS regulations imposing mandatory tax return preparer requirements, several states have begun to fill this void by imposing state-level preparer regulatory requirements. We believe our in-house certification program exceeds these regulatory requirements.

Financial privacy regulation. The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and related FTC regulations require income tax return preparers to adopt and disclose customer privacy policies and provide customers a reasonable opportunity to opt-out of having personal information disclosed to unaffiliated third parties for marketing purposes. Some states have adopted or proposed stricter opt-in requirements in connection with use or disclosure of consumer information. Federal and state law also requires us and our franchisees to safeguard the privacy and security of our customers' data, including financial information, to prevent the compromise or breach of our security that would result in the unauthorized release of customer data. Breaches of information security that affect us or our franchisees require compliance with customer notification requirements imposed at the state and local level, and in addition, may subject us to regulatory review by the FTC and other federal and state agencies. For example, in connection with a burglary that occurred at a single franchise office in California in early 2015, both we and the affected franchisee have been required to respond to a document request issued by the FTC. Additional restrictions on disclosure are imposed by the IRS, which prohibits the use or disclosure by tax preparers of income tax return information without the prior written consent of the taxpayer. The IRS may continue to consider further regulations concerning disclosures or uses of tax return information.

Financial product regulation. Federal and state statutes and regulations govern the facilitation of refund-based loans and other tax settlement financial products. These laws require us, among other things, to provide specific loan disclosures and advertise loans in a certain manner. In addition, we are subject to federal and state laws that prohibit deceptive claims and require that our marketing practices are fair and not misleading. Federal law also limits the annual percentage rate on loans for active duty service members and their dependents. There are also many states that have statutes regulating, through licensing and other requirements, the activities of brokering loans and offering credit repair services to consumers, as well as local usury laws which could be applicable to our business in certain circumstances. From time to time, we receive inquiries from various state regulators regarding our and our franchisees' facilitation of refund-based loans and other tax settlement products. We have in certain states paid fines, penalties, and other payments as well as agreed to injunctive relief, in connection with resolving these types of inquiries.

Potential regulation of refund transfer products or treatment of refund transfer products as loans or extensions of credit. Our refund transfer products may be subject to additional regulation because of potential regulatory changes as well as litigation asserting that refund transfer products constitute a loan or extension of credit because many customers who receive refund transfer products elect to defer paying their tax preparation fees until their tax refund is received. With respect to possible new regulation, the broad authority of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau may enable that agency to pursue initiatives that negatively impact our ability to offer tax settlement products by imposing disclosure requirements or other limitations that make the products more difficult to offer or reduce their acceptance by potential customers. See "Item 1A—Risk Factors—Risk Related to Regulation of Our Industry—Legislative and regulatory reforms may have a significant impact on our business, results of operations and financial condition" and "—Federal and state regulators may impose new regulations on non-loan tax settlement products that would make those products more expensive for us to offer or more difficult for our customers to obtain."

We are also subject to pending litigation that asserts that the refund transfer product is a loan or extension of credit, and should therefore be subject to loan-related federal and state disclosure requirements. See "Item 3—Legal Proceedings—ERC class action litigation." We are also subject to an injunction in California that treats our refund transfer product as an extension of credit. If we are subject to an adverse decision in future litigation that affects our offering of refund transfer products in other states, our refund transfer products would be subject to additional regulatory requirements in those states, including federal truth-in-lending disclosure obligations, and possible compliance with statutes and regulations governing refund anticipation loans that have been adopted in numerous states. This additional regulation would not prohibit us from offering refund transfer products but might require us to make interest rate and other disclosures to customers because of the characterization of the

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refund transfer product as a loan or extension of credit that would make it more difficult to market the refund transfer product to potential customers or reduce their acceptance by potential customers, and might adversely affect fees charged related to refund transfer products because of limitations on fees imposed by state refund anticipation loans statutes and regulations. See "Item 1A—Risk Factors—Risks Related to Regulation of Our Industry—Federal and state regulators may impose new regulations on non-loan tax settlement products that would make those products more expensive for us to offer or more difficult for our customers to obtain" and "—We may be unsuccessful in litigation that characterizes refund transfer products as loans, which could subject us to damages and additional regulation, and which could adversely affect our ability to offer tax settlement products and have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results."

Franchise regulations. Our franchising activities are subject to the rules and regulations of the FTC and various state agencies regulating the offer and sale of franchises. These laws require that we furnish to prospective franchisees a franchise disclosure document describing the requirements for purchasing and operating a Liberty Tax franchise. In a number of states in which we are currently franchising, we are required to be registered to sell franchises. Several states also regulate the franchisor/franchisee relationship particularly with respect to the duration and scope of non-competition provisions, the ability of a franchisor to terminate or refuse to renew a franchise, and the ability of a franchisor to designate sources of supply. Bills have been introduced in Congress from time to time that would provide for federal regulation of the franchisor/franchisee relationship in certain respects.

Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Maintaining contact with customers is an essential component of the efforts by our franchisees, and by us in Company-owned offices, to retain tax customers from year-to-year. In addition, we utilize a variety of contact methods to solicit new franchisees. The Telephone Consumer Protection Act ("TCPA") imposes substantial restrictions on the manner in which persons may be contacted, by telephone calls or text, on mobile telephones. We are required to comply with these restrictions in the telephone calls and text messages that we send, and we also make available tools intended to assist our franchisees in ensuring that telephone calls they made and text messages they send are compliant with the TCPA. Violations of the TCPA may result in per-call and per-message penalties of $500 to $1,500, and frequently result in class action litigation. The Federal Communications Commission ("FCC"), which is responsible for regulations relating to the TCPA, has been asked to clarify certain aspects of their regulations that have led to a substantial increase in TCPA litigation, but it is not clear that any significant changes to those regulations will be implemented in the foreseeable future.

Tax course regulations. Our tax courses are subject to regulation under proprietary school laws and regulations in many states. Under these regulations, our tax courses may need to be registered and may be subject to other requirements relating to facilities, instructor qualifications, contributions to tuition guaranty funds, bonding, and advertising.

Foreign regulations. We are subject to a variety of other regulations in the Canadian markets, including anti-corruption laws and regulations. Foreign regulations and laws potentially affecting our business are evolving rapidly. We rely on external counsel in Canada to advise us regarding compliance with applicable laws and regulations.

Employees

As of April 30, 2015, we employed 1,026 full-time employees, consisting of 494 employees in our corporate operations, primarily located in Virginia Beach, Virginia and 532 employees at our Company-owned offices. Many of our employees are seasonal and, by contrast, we had 623 corporate employees and 936 employees at our Company-owned offices as of February 28, 2015. As of May 31, 2015, we employed 493 corporate employees and 407 employees at our Company-owned offices. We consider our relationships with our employees to be good.

Available Information

Our annual report on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and all amendments to those reports filed with or furnished to the SEC are available, free of charge, through our website at www.libertytax.com as soon as reasonably practicable after such reports are electronically filed with or furnished to the SEC. The public may read and copy any materials we file with the SEC at the SEC's Public Reference Room at 100 F Street, NE, Washington, DC 20549. The public may obtain information on the operation of the Public Reference room by calling the SEC at 1-800-SEC-0030. The SEC maintains a website at www.sec.gov containing reports, proxy and information statements and other information regarding issuers who file electronically with the SEC.

Item 1A. Risk Factors.

In addition to the other information contained in this annual report, the following risk factors should be considered carefully in evaluating our business. If any of the risks or uncertainties described below were to occur, our business, financial condition, and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Additional risks not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial may also impair our business and operations.

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Risks Related to Our Business

Because much of our growth has been achieved through rapidly establishing new offices, we may not achieve the same level of growth in revenues and profits in future years.

Historically our growth has been driven by selling franchises and entering into agreements with ADs who have assisted us in expanding our geographic reach. Our future viability, profitability, and growth will depend upon our ability to successfully operate and continue to expand our operations in the United States and Canada. Furthermore, our business has experienced rapid growth in the number of franchisees and office locations in large geographic markets, and our continued growth in those markets may not continue at the same pace. Our ability to continue to grow our business will be subject to a number of risks and uncertainties and will depend in large part on:


•	adding new customers and retaining existing customers;


•	innovating new products and services to meet the needs of our customers;


•	finding new opportunities in our existing and new markets;


•	remaining competitive in the tax return preparation industry;


•	our ability to offer directly and to facilitate through others the sale of tax settlement products;


•	attracting and retaining capable franchisees and ADs;


•	maintaining a reputation for quality tax preparation services sufficient to attract and retain customers and franchisees;


•	our success in replacing independent preparers with franchisees;


•	hiring, training, and retaining skilled managers and seasonal employees; and


•	expanding and improving the efficiency of our operations and systems.

There can be no assurance that any of our efforts will prove successful or that we will continue to achieve growth in revenues and profits.

The highly seasonal nature of our business presents a number of financial risks and operational challenges which, if we fail to meet, could materially affect our business.

Our business is highly seasonal, with the substantial portion of our revenue earned in the January through April "tax season" in the United States and Canada each year. The concentration of our revenue-generating activity during this relatively short period presents a number of challenges for us and our franchisees, including:


•	cash and resource management during the first eight months of our fiscal year, when we generally operate at a loss and incur fixed costs and costs of preparing for the upcoming tax season;


•	compliance with financial covenants under our credit facility, particularly if the timing of our revenue generation deviates from our typical revenue patterns;


•	the availability of seasonal employees willing to work for our franchisees for little more than the minimum wage, with minimal benefits, for periods of less than a year;


•	the success of our franchisees in hiring, training, and supervising these employees and dealing with turnover rates;


•	accurate forecasting of revenues and expenses because we may have little or no time to respond to changes in competitive conditions, markets, pricing, and new product offerings by competitors, which could affect our position during the tax season;


•	disruptions in one tax season, including any customer dissatisfaction issues, which may not be discovered until the following tax season; and


•	ensuring optimal uninterrupted operations during peak season.

If we experience significant business disruptions during the tax season or if we or our franchisees are unable to meet the challenges described above, we could experience a loss of business, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

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Our future success will depend in part upon the continued services of our senior management, including our CEO, as well as our ability to attract and retain capable middle management.

Failure to maintain the continued services of senior management personnel or to attract and maintain capable middle management could have a material adverse effect on us. If our Chairman and CEO, John Hewitt, or other senior management were to leave the Company, it could be difficult to replace him or her, and our operations and ability to manage day-to-day aspects of our business as well as our ability to continue to grow our business may be materially adversely affected. Our future success will also depend in part upon our ability to attract and retain capable middle management, such as regional directors, consultants for franchised offices, training directors, tax advisors, and computer personnel, having the specific executive skills necessary to assist us and our franchisees. We face competition for personnel from numerous other entities, including competing tax return preparation firms, some of which have significantly greater resources than us.

Because we are not a financial institution, we can only facilitate the sale of financial products through our arrangements with financial institutions and other financial partners and, if these arrangements are terminated for any reason, we may not be able to replace them on acceptable terms or at all.

In the United States, 23% of our revenue during our 2015 fiscal year was directly derived from our facilitation of the sale of financial products provided to our customers by financial institutions and other lenders or providers, and we believe that percentage may grow in future tax seasons. Our tax return preparation business is also, to some extent, dependent on our ability to facilitate the sale of these products, because our customers are often attracted to our business by the expectation that these products will be available. Financial products that monetize future tax refunds are specialized financial products, and if our arrangements with the financial institutions and other partners that provide our tax settlement products were to terminate and we were unable to enter into an alternative relationship on acceptable terms, or at all, our financial results could be materially adversely affected. In addition, any changes in our contractual terms with these financial institutions and other partners that result in a reduction in our fee income, if not offset by customer growth associated with lower fees, could adversely affect our profitability. See "—Risks Related to Regulation of Our Industry—We may be unsuccessful in litigation that characterizes refund transfer products as loans, which could subject us to damages and additional regulation, and which could adversely affect our ability to offer tax settlement products and have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results."

The loan products made available through non-bank lenders may be limited in scope, are dependent on the availability of financing, may be more expensive, and could subject us to greater risk of loss.

During recent tax seasons, we entered into a relationship with a non-bank lender to offer an ICA product to customers in a limited number of our offices. Because some tax settlement products such as ICAs are offered by third-party lenders that are not subject to federal banking law regulations, the products offered through these lenders may subject us to additional laws and regulation at the state level. These laws and regulations may make the offering of the products more expensive and may increase the cost of these products to our customers. Moreover, ICAs will not be available in all states due to regulatory restrictions. The ability to maintain and expand the program will depend on the availability of financing the lender must secure each year. The impact of this additional layer of regulation and the availability of funding may, therefore, limit our product offerings and adversely affect our profitability. Moreover, because we are continuing to work with the lenders to refine loan underwriting criteria for ICAs, these third parties may experience a higher rate of loss on these loans. We have agreed to repurchase delinquent loans in the ICA program in the past, and if we incur losses as a result of similar obligations in the future, they could adversely affect our results of operations. To the extent ICAs become a more significant product in our portfolio of tax settlement products, our risk of incurring losses due to these or similar repurchase obligations will also increase.

We face significant competition in the tax return preparation business and face a competitive threat from software providers and internet businesses that enable and encourage taxpayers to prepare their own tax returns.

The tax return preparation industry is characterized by intense competition. We compete with H&R Block, which is larger and more widely recognized than us, and with other national and regional tax services and smaller independent tax return preparation services, small franchisors, regional tax return preparation businesses, accounting firms, and financial service institutions that prepare tax returns as part of their business. Additionally, many taxpayers in our target market prepare their own returns. The availability of these alternative options may reduce demand for our products and limit the fees our franchisees can charge, and competitors may develop or offer more attractive or lower cost products and services than ours, which could erode, our consumer base.

We also face increased competitive challenges from the online and software self-preparer market, including the FFA, a consortium of the IRS, online preparation services that provides free online tax return preparation, and assistance from volunteer organizations that prepare tax returns at no cost for low-income taxpayers. In addition, many of our direct competitors offer certain free online tax preparation and electronic filing options, and limited in-office promotions of free or nominal cost tax preparation services. Government tax authorities, volunteer organizations, and direct competitors may elect to expand free

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and reduced cost offerings in the future. Intense price competition, including offers of free service, could result in a loss of market share, lower revenues, or lower margins. Our ability to compete in the tax return preparation business depends on our product offerings, price for services, customer service, the specific site locations of our offices, local economic conditions, quality of on-site office management, the ability to file tax returns electronically with the IRS, and the availability of tax settlement products to our customers.

We rely on our own proprietary tax preparation software, and any difficulties in deploying or utilizing our software each tax season could adversely affect our business.

We have utilized our own tax preparation software, since the 2007 tax season. However, tax changes made by the federal and state governments each year and changes in tax forms require us to make substantial changes to our software before the beginning of each tax season. Although we engage in extensive testing of our software before deploying it in our franchisees' tax preparation offices, any delays in the availability of IRS forms or instructions or problems with the rollout of the new software each season could delay our franchisees' ability to file tax returns at the beginning of the tax season and could adversely affect our business. Moreover, we are in the early stages of deploying our new LibPro software, which is based on a different platform than our previous software, and any implementation issues with that software could adversely affect our business.

Our online tax business will depend in the future on our ability to deploy our own software, and any further delays in deploying fully functional software could adversely affect our business.

Until 2004, we utilized software provided by a third party in order to offer online tax preparation. Our agreement with the third party expired in 2013, and they no longer support that product. We replaced the third-party online software with our LibPro software for the 2014 tax season, but the version we utilized for the 2014 and 2015 tax seasons did not include all available IRS forms or permit state tax filing in all states. We expect to add additional functionality for the 2016 and subsequent tax seasons, but any limitations on functionality could adversely affect both customer retention and our ability to attract new customers.

Our Company-owned offices may not be as successful as our franchised offices.

Historically, almost all Liberty Tax offices have been owned by franchisees, and most of the Company-owned offices we have operated during a tax season have been offices previously operated by former franchisees. For the 2015 tax season, we operated a total of 182 Company-owned offices. Our Company-owned offices tend to be less successful than our typical franchisee-owned offices because they often represent offices transitioned from a less successful franchisee. For this reason, we are not able to obtain the continuity of staffing in Company-owned offices that we expect to experience in our franchisee-owned offices.

Our participation in ventures designed to take advantage of the Affordable Care Act may subject us to additional economic and regulatory risks.

During the 2014 tax season, we participated in limited programs designed to make information about health insurance options and access to health insurance enrollment opportunities available to our tax office customers. We developed additional opportunities to make health insurance information and enrollment available to our customers during the 2015 tax season and will continue to do so in future tax seasons. Some of these ventures have included and will include participation as an owner of new entities offering health insurance and receiving health insurance-related income. We cannot be certain that our participation in these ventures in order to provide additional services to our customers will be profitable, and any losses we incur as a consequence of these opportunities may have an adverse effect on our operating results. Moreover, the health insurance business is a complex regulatory environment, involving state-by-state laws and regulations in addition to federal legal requirements. Any failure by us or by any counterparties in our various health insurance related business arrangements to comply with applicable law and regulations could have an adverse effect on our business, and subject us and our franchisees to legal penalties.

The provision of health insurance and other insurance products to customers by our franchisees and their preparers may subject us and our franchisees to additional claims from customers, as well as increased regulatory risk.

As part of our effort to make information about health insurance options available to tax office customers, we have encouraged our franchisees to make licensed insurance agents available in tax offices. A significant number of our franchisees have become or arranged for the availability of insurance agents, and participated in the writing of health insurance policies for customers. The provision of these insurance services subjects our franchisees to a complex regulatory environment, and to potential claims by customers who may become dissatisfied with the insurance products they obtain. Any failure by our franchisees or their employees to comply with applicable insurance laws and regulations could have an adverse effect on our

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business and subject our franchisees and us to regulatory complaints, and any failure by our franchisees to provide satisfactory insurance services to customers may adversely affect our customer relationships and our business.

Our failure to protect our intellectual property rights may harm our competitive position, and litigation to protect our intellectual property rights or defend against third-party allegations of infringement may be costly.

We regard our intellectual property as critical to the success of our business. Third parties may infringe or misappropriate our trademarks or other intellectual property rights, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, or operating results. The actions we take to protect our trademarks and other proprietary rights may not be adequate. Litigation may be necessary to enforce our intellectual property rights, protect our trade secrets, or determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others. There are no assurances that we will be able to prevent infringement of our intellectual property rights or misappropriation of our proprietary information. Any infringement or misappropriation could harm any competitive advantage we currently derive or may derive from our proprietary rights. In addition, third parties may assert infringement claims against us. Any claims and any resulting litigation could subject us to significant liability for damages. An adverse determination in any litigation of this type could require us to design around a third party's patent or to license alternative technology from another party. Litigation is time-consuming and expensive to defend and could result in the diversion of our time and resources. Any claims from third parties may also result in limitations on our ability to use the intellectual property subject to these claims.

Our business relies on technology systems and electronic communications, which, if disrupted, could significantly affect our business.

Our ability to file tax returns electronically and to facilitate tax settlement products depends on our ability to electronically communicate with all of our offices, the IRS, state tax agencies, and the financial institutions that provide the tax settlement products. Our electronic communications network is subject to disruptions of various magnitudes and durations. Any severe disruption of our network or electronic communications, especially during the tax season, could impair our ability to complete our customers' tax filings, to provide tax settlement products from financial institutions, or to maintain our operations, which, in turn, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We are dependent on our financing sources and any loss of financing could materially and adversely affect our operating results and our ability to expand our business.

We are dependent upon the continued availability of our credit facility, which consists of a term loan and a revolving loan, in order to fund our seasonal needs and for the further expansion of our business. Were we to default on our financing or otherwise lose access to our sources of credit, our ability to provide financing to our franchisees would be significantly impaired and may result in certain offices closing if our franchisees are not able to secure alternative financing for their working capital needs. In addition, our ability to expand our business would be impaired. We may need to obtain new credit arrangements and other sources of financing to continue to provide financing to our franchisees, to meet future obligations, and to fund our future growth. Our ability to maintain or refinance our debt and fund other obligations depends on our successful financial and operating performance and the availability of funds from credit markets. There is no assurance that when our credit facility matures in 2019, we will be able to renew or refinance our debt or enter into new credit arrangements on terms similar to those of our existing loans.

Our credit facility contains restrictive covenants and other requirements that may limit our business flexibility by imposing operating and financial restrictions on our operations.

Our credit facility is secured by substantially all of our assets, including the assets of our subsidiaries. We are subject to a number of covenants that could potentially restrict how we carry out our business or that require us to meet certain periodic tests in the form of financial covenants. The restrictions we consider to be material to our ongoing business include the following:


•	We must satisfy a "leverage ratio" test that is based on our outstanding indebtedness at the end of each fiscal quarter.


•	We must satisfy a "fixed charge coverage ratio" test at the end of each fiscal quarter.


•	We must reduce the outstanding balance under our revolving loan to zero for a period of at least 45 consecutive days each fiscal year.

Our credit facility also contains customary affirmative and negative covenants, including limitations on indebtedness; limitations on liens and negative pledges; delivery of financial statements and other information requirements; limitations on investments, loans, and acquisitions; limitations on mergers, consolidations, liquidations, and dissolutions; limitations on sales of assets; limitations on certain restricted payments; and limitations on transactions with affiliates; among others. Our credit

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facility also includes change of control provisions that may result in our obligations under that facility accelerating if certain change of control events were to occur, including if John Hewitt, our Chairman and CEO, ceases to control our Company.

A breach of any of these covenants, tests, or mandatory payments could limit our ability to borrow funds under the revolving loan or result in a default under our loans. In addition, these covenants may prevent us from incurring additional indebtedness to expand our operations and execute our business strategy, including making acquisitions. We may also from time to time seek to refinance all or a portion of our debt or incur additional debt in the future. Any such future debt or other contracts could contain covenants more restrictive than those in our existing credit facility. Our ability to comply with the covenants, tests, or mandatory payments in our credit facility may be affected by events beyond our control, including prevailing economic, financial, and industry conditions or our ability to make tax settlement products available to our customers. See "Item 7—Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations—Liquidity and Capital Resources—Overview of factors affecting our liquidity—Credit facility."

We are dependent on the timing of the tax filing season, and disruptions in the opening of the tax season may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and liquidity.

Historically, the federal tax filing season has begun in mid-January, and both we and our franchisees have begun to prepare tax returns in early January with the ability to electronically file those returns beginning in mid-January. For both the 2013 and 2014 tax seasons, the IRS postponed the first date on which it generally accepts electronic filings until the end of January, and in 2013, also delayed the availability of a significant number of tax forms. These delays at the beginning of the tax season were also replicated at the state level in 2013, because of the reliance of states on tax forms that are dependent upon or subject to changes in federal tax forms. The change in the start of the 2013 and 2014 tax filing seasons materially affected our revenue during the fiscal quarter ending January 31 of both years, and also required us to engage in additional borrowing to support both our operations and those of our franchisees because of the delay in receipt of revenue associated with tax filings. Substantial delays in the opening of the tax filing season in future years would be likely to have an adverse effect on our revenue and liquidity.

Our floating rate debt financing exposes us to interest rate risk.

We may borrow amounts under our credit facility that bear interest at rates that vary with prevailing market interest rates. Accordingly, if we do not adequately hedge our interest rate risk, a rise in market interest rates will adversely affect our financial results. We expect to draw most heavily on our revolving loan from July through January of each year and then repay substantially all of the borrowings by the end of each tax season. Therefore, a significant rise in interest rates during our off-season could have a disproportionate impact on our financial results during these months.

The lines of business in which we operate involve substantial litigation, and such litigation may damage our reputation or result in material liabilities and losses.

We have been named, from time to time, as a defendant in various legal actions, including arbitrations, class actions, and other litigation arising in connection with our various business activities. Adverse outcomes related to litigation could result in substantial damages and could cause our net income to decline or may require us to alter our business operations. Negative public opinion can also result from our actual or alleged conduct in such claims, possibly damaging our reputation, which could negatively impact our financial performance and could cause the value of our stock to decline. See "Item 3—Legal Proceedings."

If we fail to protect or fail to comply with laws and regulations related to our customers' personal information, we may face significant fines, penalties, or damages and our brand and reputation may be harmed.

Privacy concerns relating to the disclosure of consumer financial information have drawn increased attention from federal and state governments in the United States. The IRS generally prohibits the use or disclosure by tax return preparers of taxpayers' information without the prior written consent of the taxpayer. In addition, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and other Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") regulations require financial service providers, including tax return preparers, to adopt and disclose consumer privacy policies and provide consumers with a reasonable opportunity to opt out of having personal information disclosed to unaffiliated third parties for advertising purposes. We and our franchisees manage highly sensitive client information in our operations, and although we have established security procedures to protect against identity theft and require our franchisees to do the same, a security incident resulting in breaches of our customers' privacy may occur. If the measures we have taken prove to be insufficient or inadequate or if our franchisees fail to meet their obligations in this area, we and our franchisees may become subject to litigation or administrative sanctions, which could result in significant fines, penalties, or damages and harm to our brand and reputation, which in turn could negatively impact our ability to retain our customers. Moreover, although we have some insurance that may defray the cost, the cost of remediating any breach resulting from a cybersecurity incident or other breach of the privacy of customer information would likely be substantial. Furthermore, we may be required to invest additional resources to protect us against damages caused by these actual or perceived disruptions

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or security breaches in the future. We could also suffer harm to our reputation from a security breach or inappropriate disclosure of customer information. Changes in these federal and state regulatory requirements could result in more stringent requirements and could result in a need to change business practices, including how information is disclosed. These changes could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, a significant security breach or disclosure of customer information could so damage our brand and reputation that demand for the services that are provided by us and our franchisees may be reduced.

If our business or the tax industry generally is perceived as a source of identity theft, our reputation may be harmed and our financial performance could be materially adversely affected.

During the 2015 tax season, there was substantial publicity around identity theft problems involving at least one of our competitors, and in May 2015, the IRS announced a significant breach of its data security that resulted in the potential theft of personally identifiable tax information involving more than 100,000 taxpayers. If the use of electronic tax filing becomes perceived by customers as subjecting them to unacceptable identity theft risk, or if we experience a breach of security that subjects a number of our customers to potential identity theft, customers may eschew our services or assisted tax preparation generally, in favor of self-preparation and the avoidance of electronic filing. In such an event, our reputation may be harmed and we may experience a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operation.

If we or our franchisees fail to comply with the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, we may face significant damages.

The retention of customers by our franchisees, and our ability to attract additional franchisees, depends on the use of telephone calls and text messaging to contact customers and potential franchisees. However, the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) imposes significant restrictions on the ability to utilize telephone calls and text messages to mobile telephone numbers as a means of communication, when the prior consent of the person being contacted has not been obtained. We are in the process of settling one lawsuit related to the manner in which a contractor for us previously contacted potential franchisees, and we recently became a defendant in another lawsuit in which text messages were allegedly sent by or on behalf of a franchisee without compliance with the TCPA. Violations of the TCPA may be enforced by individual customers through class actions, and statutory penalties for TCPA violations range from $500 to $1,500 per violation. If we fail to ensure that our own telemarketing and telemarketing efforts are TCPA compliant, or if our franchisees fail to do so and we are held responsible for their behavior, we may incur significant damages.

If we and our franchisees are unable to attract and retain qualified employees, our financial performance could be materially adversely affected.

Both we and our franchisees depend on the ability to hire a substantial number of seasonal employees for each tax season. We require seasonal employees in order to staff our franchises and customer call centers and Company-owned offices, and our franchisees require employees to implement marketing programs, to act as tax preparers, and to otherwise staff their offices. The ability of our franchisees and us to meet our labor needs is subject to many external factors, including competition for qualified personnel, unemployment levels in each of the markets in which we have offices, prevailing wage rates, minimum wage laws, and workplace regulation. Our franchisees require a substantial number of employees who are willing to become trained as tax preparers, and who have the ability to engage in temporary, seasonal employment. Moreover, in addition to our seasonal employees, we hire a substantial number of full-time employees who are required to have the technical skills necessary to participate in software development, database management, and other highly technical tasks. If we and our franchisees are not able to hire a sufficient supply of qualified seasonal employees, or if we are not able to secure employees with the technical skills we require for other purposes, our ability to serve our customers in our offices, to deploy our marketing programs, and to maintain the services that our franchisees require may be compromised and have a material adverse effect on our business.

An increase in the minimum wage may adversely affect the operations of our franchisees.

Many of the seasonal employees hired by our franchisees for each tax season receive compensation at or near the minimum wage. If our franchisees experience increases in payroll expenses as a result of government-mandated increases in the minimum wage, such as some of the state and local minimum wage increases recently adopted, their costs of operation may increase at a rate greater than their ability to raise the prices of the services they offer. If this occurs, our franchisees may not be able to maintain seasonal employment at levels that will provide an optimal level of customer service and marketing support, their marketing and advertising programs may be less effective, and their results of operations may be adversely affected, which could, in turn, adversely affect our results of operations.

If credit market volatility affects our financial partners or franchisees, our business and financial performance could be adversely affected.

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In recent years, the credit markets experienced unprecedented volatility and disruption, causing many lenders and institutional investors to cease providing funding to even the most creditworthy borrowers or to other financial institutions. If additional credit market volatility prevents our financial partners from providing tax settlement products to our customers, limits the products offered, or results in us having to incur further financial obligations to support our financial partners, our revenues or profitability could decline. The cost and availability of funds has also adversely impacted our franchisees' ability to grow and operate their businesses, which could cause our revenues or profitability to decline. In addition, future disruptions in the credit markets could adversely affect our ability to sell territories to new or existing franchisees, causing our revenues or profitability to decline.

Because the tax season is relatively short and straddles two quarters, our quarterly results may not be indicative of our performance.

We experience quarterly variations in revenues and operating income as a result of many factors, including the highly seasonal nature of the tax return preparation business, the timing of off-season activities, and the hiring of personnel. Due to the foregoing factors, our quarter-to-quarter results vary significantly. In addition, because our peak period straddles the third and fourth quarters, any delay or acceleration in the number of tax returns processed in January may make our year-to-year quarterly comparisons not as meaningful as year-to-year tax season comparisons. To the extent our quarterly results vary significantly from year to year, our stock value may be subject to significant volatility.

Risks Related to Our Franchise Business

Our success is tied to the growth and operations of our franchises, and their operations could adversely affect our business.

Our financial success depends on our franchisees and the manner in which they operate and develop their offices. We do not exercise direct control over the day-to-day operations of our franchises, and our franchisees may not operate their offices in a manner consistent with our philosophy and standards and may not increase the level of revenues generated compared to prior tax seasons. Our growth and revenues may, therefore, be adversely affected. There can be no assurance that the training programs and quality control procedures we have established will be effective in enabling franchisees to run profitable tax preparation businesses or that we will be able to identify problems or take corrective action quickly enough. In addition, failure by a franchisee to provide service at acceptable levels may result in adverse publicity that can materially adversely affect our reputation and ability to compete in the market in which the franchisee is located.

If our franchisees fail to open offices in new territories or if they are not successful in operating their new offices, our franchise-related revenue and results of operation will be adversely affected.

Each year, we anticipate adding offices to our franchise system but the opening of these offices depends on the purchase of additional territories by our franchisees and on the opening of offices in territories previously purchased and newly purchased. Many factors go into opening a new office, including obtaining a suitable office location, the availability of sufficient start-up capital, and the ability to recruit tax preparers and other personnel to work in new offices. If a significant number of offices that we expect to be open in a tax season fail to open, are delayed, or open in unsuitable locations or with insufficient personnel, the revenue we expect to receive from royalty payments and the repayment of indebtedness to us by our franchisees will be adversely affected. Because we utilize an almost exclusive franchise business model, we do not have the same flexibility to open new offices as our competitors who make greater use of Company-owned offices.

Our operating results may be adversely affected by the default of our franchisees and ADs on loans made by us or third parties.

We extend financing to certain franchisees for initial franchise fees as cash advances for their working capital needs and for other purposes. The financing is in the form of promissory notes payable to us. There can be no assurance that any franchisee will generate revenue sufficient to repay any amounts due nor is there any assurance that any franchisee will be able to repay any amounts due through other means. We also extend financing to ADs from time-to-time for a portion of their area development fees. At April 30, 2015, the aggregate amount due to us, including accrued interest, from franchisees and ADs for financing was $94.0 million, net of unrecognized revenue of $38.6 million, of which we considered $17.0 million to be impaired because the amounts due exceeded the fair value of the underlying franchise. Any failure by the franchisees and ADs to pay these amounts, if the amounts are not recoverable by us through other means, could have a material adverse effect on our financial performance.

Moreover, in some cases, we may be liable for office leases or other contractual obligations that have been assumed by purchasers of Company-owned offices and acquired tax practices. If the franchisees default on third-party obligations for which we continue to have liability, our operating results will be adversely affected.

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We may be held responsible by third parties, regulators, or courts for the action of, or failure to act, by our franchisees and be exposed to possible fines, other liabilities, and bad publicity.

We grant our franchisees a limited license to use our registered service marks and, accordingly, there is risk that one or more of the franchisees may be identified as being controlled by us. Third parties, regulators, or courts may seek to hold us responsible for the actions or failures to act by our franchisees. The extent to which franchisors should be held responsible for the behavior of their franchisees has become a more significant issue in recent years, with some government agencies taking the position that the extent to which a franchise system establishes requirements for franchisees may justify treating the franchisor as if it “controls” the franchisee’s behavior. Thus, the failure of our franchisees to comply with laws and regulations may expose us to liability and damages that may have an adverse effect on our business.

The Liberty Tax brand could be impaired due to actions taken by our franchisees or otherwise.

We believe the Liberty Tax brand is one of our most valuable assets in that it provides us with a competitive advantage, particularly over our competitors that do not have a national presence. Our franchisees operate their businesses under our brand. Because our franchisees are independent third parties with their own financial objectives, actions taken by them, including breaches of their contractual obligations, and negative publicity associated with these actions, could adversely affect our reputation and brand more broadly. Any actions as a result of conduct by our franchisees or otherwise which negatively impacts our reputation and brand may result in fewer customers and lower revenues and profits for us.

Our tax return preparation compliance program may not be successful in detecting all problems in our franchisee network, and franchisee misbehavior and related enforcement action may damage our reputation and adversely affect our business.

Although our tax return preparation compliance program seeks to monitor the activities of our franchisees, it is unlikely to detect every problem. While we have implemented a variety of measures to enhance tax return preparation compliance as well as our monitoring of these activities, there can be no assurance that franchisees and tax preparers will follow these procedures. From time to time, the federal and/or state authorities may take adverse action against franchisees or preparers related to tax compliance issues, seeking injunctions, damages or even criminal sanctions with respect to such behavior. Failure to detect and prevent tax return preparation compliance issues could expose us to the risk of government investigation or litigation, result in bad publicity and reputational harm, and could subject us to remedies and loss of customers that could cause our revenues or profitability to decline.

Disputes with our franchisees may have a material adverse effect on our business.

From time to time, we engage in disputes with some of our franchisees, and some of these disputes result in litigation or arbitration proceedings. Disputes with our franchisees may require us to incur significant legal fees, subject us to damages, and occupy a disproportionate amount of management's time. A material increase in the number of these disputes, or unfavorable outcomes in these disputes, may have a material adverse effect on our business. To the extent we have disputes with our franchisees, our relationships with our franchisees could be negatively impacted, which could hurt our growth prospects or negatively impact our financial performance.

Our operating results depend on the effectiveness of our marketing and advertising programs and franchisee support of these programs.

Our revenues are heavily influenced by brand marketing and advertising. If our marketing and advertising programs are unsuccessful, we may fail to retain existing customers and attract new customers, which could limit the growth of our revenues or profitability or result in a decline in our revenues or profitability. Moreover, because franchisees are required to pay us marketing and advertising fees based on a percentage of their revenues, our marketing fund expenditures are dependent upon sales volumes of our franchisees.

The support of our franchisees is critical for the success of our marketing programs and any new strategic initiatives we seek to undertake. While we can mandate certain strategic initiatives through enforcement of our franchise agreements, we need the active support of our franchisees if the implementation of our marketing programs and strategic initiatives is to be successful. Although certain actions are required of our franchisees under the franchise agreements, there can be no assurance that our franchisees will continue to support our marketing programs and strategic initiatives. The failure of our franchisees to support our marketing programs and strategic initiatives would adversely affect our ability to implement our business strategy and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our launch of a new franchise brand may be unsuccessful and consume significant management and financial resources.

During fiscal 2015, we launched a new franchise brand, SiempreTax+, designed to enable our franchisees to better serve Hispanic customers and to assist us in building out our franchise network. Although franchisees opened a significant number of SiempreTax+ offices for the 2015 tax season, the launch of a new nationwide brand involves substantial risks and uncertainties,

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and the interest of prospective franchisees and customers in the new brand may not be sufficient to permit us to grow the brand as rapidly as we hope. We expended significant management time and start-up expenses during the first year of this brand, and if the brand is not successful or falls short of anticipated growth, we may be adversely affected by continued expenses and the diversion of management time to this initiative at the expense of our core Liberty Tax brand.

Risks Related to Regulation of Our Industry

Federal and state regulators may impose new regulations on non-loan tax settlement products that would make those products more expensive for us to offer or more difficult for our customers to obtain.

Consumer advocacy organizations and some government officials have asserted that non-loan tax settlement products, such as the refund transfer products we offer, should be treated as loan products or otherwise be more heavily regulated. These groups assert that refund transfer products and similar products are loans because most customers complete the payment for their tax preparation and related fees at the time their refund is disbursed, and therefore, the customer has received an extension of credit because of a purported deferral of the tax preparation fees until the refund is received. We are subject to a judgment in the State of California that treats refund transfer product products that we provide in that state as if they were extensions of credit. In addition, certain litigation discussed below involving us and others in the tax industry include claims that refund transfer products and similar products constitute loans or extensions of credit. If other state or federal courts or agencies successfully require us to treat refund transfer products as if they are loans or extensions of credit, we may be subject to the cost of additional regulation, including disclosure requirements that could reduce the demand for these products by potential customers and may be subject to limitations on our ability to offer these products, which could materially adversely affect our operations. See "Item 3—Legal Proceedings" and "Item 1—Business—Regulation—Potential regulation of refund transfer products or treatment of refund transfer products as loans or extensions of credit."

We may be unsuccessful in litigation that characterizes refund transfer products as loans, which could subject us to damages and additional regulation, and which could adversely affect our ability to offer tax settlement products and have a material adverse effect on our operations and financial results.

We were sued in November 2011 in four states, and additional lawsuits have been filed in five other states since the initial filings. These cases have now been consolidated before a single judge in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois. The consolidated complaint alleges violations of state-specific refund anticipation loan and other consumer statutes alleging that a refund transfer product represents a form of refund anticipation loan because the taxpayer is "loaned" the tax preparation fee, and that a refund transfer product is, therefore, subject to federal truth-in-lending disclosure and state law requirements regulating refund anticipation loans. We are aware that virtually identical lawsuits were filed against three of our competitors. In June 2015, we entered into a settlement agreement in this case in order to minimize the expense of litigation and the risk attendant to the litigation. Although this case is expected to be resolved through the settlement, the underlying issue may be the subject of additional regulation and litigation. We may also become subject to existing state regulations governing refund anticipation loans (in the states that have such regulations) and the costs of additional regulation, including disclosure requirements, and we may be subject to limitations on our ability to offer these products. These additional disclosure requirements could reduce the demand for these products by potential customers, and the possible application of state lending and other refund anticipation loan-related statutes and regulations might adversely affect our fee income to the extent those statutes or regulations impose limitations on fees that we now charge in connection with refund transfer products. If it becomes more difficult for us and our franchisees to offer these products to taxpayers, or if we are subject to damages in future litigation, it could materially and adversely affect our operations and financial results. See "Item 1-Business-Regulation-Potential regulation of refund transfer products or treatment of refund transfer products as loans or extensions of credit."

The failure by us, our franchisees, the financial institutions, and other lenders that provide tax settlement products to our customers through us and our franchisees, to comply with legal and regulatory requirements, including with respect to tax return preparation or tax settlement products, could result in substantial sanctions against us or require changes to our business practices that could harm our profitability and reputation.

Our tax return preparation business, including our franchise operations and facilitation of tax settlement products, are subject to extensive regulation and oversight in the United States by the IRS, the FTC, and by federal and state regulatory and law enforcement agencies and similar entities in Canada. The profitability of our future operations will, therefore, depend in large part on our continued ability to comply with federal and state franchise regulations, and in Canada, on our continued ability to comply with Canadian and provincial franchise regulations. If governmental agencies with jurisdiction over our operations were to conclude that our business practices, the practices of our franchisees, or those of financial institutions and other lenders with which we conduct our business violate applicable laws, we could become subject to sanctions that could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. These sanctions may include, without limitation:

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•	civil monetary damages and penalties,


•	criminal penalties, and


•	injunctions or other restrictions on the manner in which we conduct our business.

In addition, the financial institutions and other providers of tax settlement products to our customers are also subject to significant regulation and oversight by federal and state regulators, including banking regulators. The failure of these providers to comply with the regulatory requirements of federal and state government regulatory bodies, including banking and consumer protection laws, could affect their ability to continue to provide tax settlement products to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our customers' inability to obtain tax settlement products through our tax return preparation offices could cause our revenues or profitability to decline. We also may be required to change business practices, which could alter the way tax settlement products are facilitated and could cause our revenues or profitability to decline.

Federal and state legislators and regulators have increasingly taken an active role in regulating tax settlement products and, because our ability to offer these products in future tax seasons may be limited, demand for our services may be reduced, we may be exposed to additional credit risk, and our business may be harmed.

From time to time, government officials at the federal and state levels introduce and enact legislation and regulations proposing to regulate or prevent the facilitation of refund-based loans and other tax settlement products and take other actions that have the effect of restricting the availability of these products. Certain of the proposed legislation, regulations, and activities could increase costs to us, our franchisees, the financial institutions, and other parties that provide our tax settlement products or could negatively impact or eliminate the ability of financial institutions to provide or facilitate tax settlement products through tax return preparation offices.

The financial institutions that provide or otherwise facilitate tax settlement products are subject to significant regulation and oversight by federal and state regulators, including banking regulators. In December 2011, Republic Bank, the last bank continuing to offer refund anticipation loans in any significant number, reached a settlement with the FDIC that required Republic Bank to cease to offer refund anticipation loans after the 2012 tax season. For this reason, any refund-related loans (such as the ICA) made available to our customers are offered by non-bank lenders.

In August 2010, the IRS announced that, starting in 2011, it would no longer provide tax preparers or refund anticipation loan providers with the Debt Indicator ("DI"), which was used by financial institutions to determine whether to extend credit to a taxpayer in connection with the facilitation of a refund anticipation loan. In eliminating the DI, the IRS no longer discloses to financial institutions or tax preparers if a taxpayer owes the federal government any money that will be deducted from the taxpayer's expected income tax refund. The unavailability of the DI subjects a lender that originates refund-related loans to additional risks because those loans are more difficult for a lender to underwrite.

Even if we continue to develop relationships that allow our customers to obtain refund-related loans through non-bank lenders, the laws and regulations that apply to those lenders and us may make these products more expensive to offer or limit their availability to our customers. The loss of the DI has caused approval rates and loan amounts to be lower than in prior tax seasons, and lenders may issue ICAs and similar products that have a greater probability of not being repaid. We may experience a loss of customers because of this change, and to the extent our arrangements with financial institutions impose any of the risk of customer defaults upon us, our profitability may be reduced. In addition, many states have statutes regulating through licensing and other requirements the activities of brokering loans and providing credit services to consumers as well as payday loan laws and local usury laws. Some state regulators are interpreting these laws in a manner that could adversely affect the manner in which tax settlement products are facilitated, or permitted, or result in fines or penalties to us or our franchisees. Some states are introducing and enacting legislation that would seek to directly apply such laws to the facilitators of refund-based loans. Additional states may interpret these laws in a manner that is adverse to how we currently conduct our business or how we have conducted our business in the past, and we may be required to change business practices or otherwise comply with these statutes and could be subject to fines, penalties, or other payments related to past conduct.

If our financial product service providers become unable or unwilling to enable us to offer refund transfer products, we may be unable to offer tax settlement products to our customers.

Our ability to offer refund transfer products (as well as other tax settlement products that require the creation of a customer bank account) is dependent on the ability and willingness of our financial product service providers to make available to our customers the bank accounts into which their tax refunds are deposited. If any of the federal or state regulatory authorities with the power to regulate these service providers prevents or makes it more difficult for our service providers to make these bank accounts available to our customers or if the service providers determine that they no longer wish to

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participate in these transactions, we may be unable to find alternative service providers that will be willing to provide the required number of bank accounts to our customers. If we are unable to make bank accounts available for refund transfer products, we will not be able to enable our customers to utilize these accounts for the direct deposit of their federal and state tax returns, which would materially affect our ability to offer tax settlement products to those customers.

Legislative and regulatory reforms may have a significant impact on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

In July 2010, the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Reform Act"), which contains a comprehensive set of provisions designed to govern the practices and oversight of financial institutions and other participants in the financial markets, was signed into law. The full impact of the Reform Act is difficult to assess because many provisions require federal agencies to adopt regulations implementing provisions of the Reform Act. In addition, the Reform Act mandates multiple studies, which could result in additional legislative or regulatory action. The Reform Act as well as other legislative and regulatory changes could adversely affect our businesses. There is particular risk associated with the establishment of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau ("CFPB") with broad authority to implement new consumer protection regulations. For example, the CFPB may pursue initiatives that negatively impact our ability and the ability of others we contract with to offer tax settlement products, may impose regulations on the manner in which tax preparation services are offered, and may take action to invalidate the use of consumer arbitration as a means of resolving customer disputes in connection with tax settlement products and otherwise.

The effect of the Reform Act on our business and operations could be significant, depending upon final implementation of regulations, the initiatives pursued by the CFPB, the actions of our competitors, and the behavior of other marketplace participants. Moreover, the Reform Act expanded the authority of state regulators to enforce and promulgate consumer protection laws and regulations, and this expansion of state authority may result in new and broader consumer protection requirements that might be more comprehensive than those at the federal level. In addition, we may be required to invest significant management time and resources to address the various provisions of the Reform Act and the numerous regulations that are required to be issued under it. The Reform Act and any related federal or state legislation or regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, and financial condition.

Increased regulation of tax return preparers could make it more difficult to find qualified tax preparers and could harm our business.

From time to time, the federal government and various states consider regulations regarding the education, testing, licensing, certification, and registration of tax return preparers. Although the IRS’ effort to implement a new model for tax return preparer regulation has been declared invalid by a federal appeals court, Congressional action authorizing mandatory regulation may be adopted in the future, and various states have begun to fill the void created by the absence of federal tax return preparer regulation by proposing new or enhanced regulatory requirements at the state level. Although we believe that our training for preparers already exceeds the requirements the IRS had proposed and that states have adopted or have proposed, regulation of tax return preparers could impact our ability to find an adequate number of tax return preparers to meet the demands of our customers and impose additional costs on us and our franchisees to train tax return preparers, which could cause our revenues and profitability to decline.

Immigration reform may lead our customers to seek our assistance with matters related to immigration reform and may subject us to additional regulatory risk.

We believe that any material immigration reform, whether implemented by executive action or by Congress, will necessarily involve the use of prior tax returns as a means by which undocumented immigrants may demonstrate their presence in the United States and compliance with federal and state tax laws. We anticipate that any additional customers we might obtain because of this opportunity to prepare additional tax returns may also seek our assistance in their efforts to comply with whatever processes are implemented to enable undocumented immigrants to take advantage of the benefits of any immigration reform initiatives. We and our franchisees may be subject to state restrictions on the unauthorized practice of law, and other federal and state restrictions regarding who may advise individuals with respect to immigration matters, and failure to comply with these regulatory restrictions may subject us and our franchisees to enforcement action and adversely affect our business.

Risks Related to Changes in Tax Laws and Regulations

Because demand for our products is related to the complexity of tax return preparation and the frequency of tax law changes, government initiatives that simplify tax return preparation, reduce the need for a third-party tax return preparer, or lower the number of returns required to be filed may decrease demand for our services and financial products.

Many taxpayers seek assistance from paid tax return preparers such as Liberty Tax Service because of the level of complexity involved in tax return preparation and filing and frequent changes in the tax laws. From time to time politicians and

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government officials propose measures seeking to simplify the preparation and filing of tax returns. The passage of any measures that significantly simplify tax return preparation or reduce the need for third-party tax return preparers may be highly detrimental to our business. In addition, any changes or other initiatives that result in a decrease in the number of tax returns filed or reduce the size of tax refunds could reduce demand for our products and services causing our revenues or profitability to decline.

For example, several members of Congress have proposed legislation that would authorize or require the IRS to allow taxpayers to access web-based tax preparation tools that would include "pre-populated" tax return forms that would presumably include data provided to the IRS from other government agencies, such as the Social Security Administration. If these or similar proposals that involve government encroachment on the tax preparation process are enacted, many tax customers might elect those services rather than paid tax preparation or the use of fee-based tax software or online tax preparation.

Initiatives that improve the timing and efficiency of processing tax returns could reduce the attractiveness of the tax settlement products offered to our customers and demand for our services.

Our performance depends on our ability to offer access to tax settlement products that increase the speed and efficiency by which our customers can receive their refunds. The federal government and various state and local municipalities have, from time to time, announced initiatives designed to modernize their operations and improve the timing and efficiency of processing tax returns. For example, during a prior tax season, the U.S. Department of Treasury introduced a prepaid debit card pilot program designed to facilitate the refund process. If tax authorities are able to significantly increase the speed and efficiency with which they process tax returns, the value and attractiveness of the tax settlement products offered to our customers and demand for our services could be reduced.

Delays in the passage of tax laws and their implementation by the federal or state governments could harm our business.

The enactment of tax legislation occurring late in the calendar year could result in the beginning of tax filing season being delayed or make it difficult for us to make necessary changes on a timely basis to the software used by our franchisees to prepare tax returns. Any such delays could impact our revenues and profitability in any given year.

Proposals to make fundamental changes in the way tax refunds are processed or to impose price limitations on tax preparation, if enacted, could result in substantial losses of customers and other risks.

Some regulators have suggested that it would be appropriate to allow taxpayers to "split" their tax refunds, in a manner that would separate the payment of tax preparation fees from the balance of a customer's refund. In describing these proposals, some advocates have called for a cap on tax preparation fees that would adversely affect the ability of tax preparers to charge market prices for tax services and could reduce income to our franchisees, and therefore, to us. Other proposals have been advanced that would attempt to reduce tax refund fraud by significantly postponing the speed with which refunds are processed, or even postponing the processing of refunds until after the April 15 federal tax filing deadline. Such a change would likely have the effect of devaluing services that allow tax customers in the early portion of the tax season to receive their refunds on a more expedited basis that is available when electronic filing is not used, and could therefore reduce the demand for the services we and our franchisees provide.

There can be no assurance that these proposals will be enacted at all or in their present form but if enacted, our growth and revenues could be adversely affected.

Our participation in government programs designed to speed access to tax refunds may result in customer loss when the IRS fails to perform.

The IRS has responded to the increase in electronic filing by developing programs designed to reduce a taxpayer's wait to receive a tax refund. In the past, we participated in some programs offered by the IRS that did not perform as expected, resulting in significant delays in processing refunds for some of our customers. Although we continue to seek to give our customers quicker access to their refunds, doing so involves the risk of customer dissatisfaction and injury to our reputation in the market if the IRS fails to perform, which is outside our control.

Risks Related to Our Class A Common Stock

We are controlled by our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, whose interests in our business may be different from those of our stockholders.

John Hewitt, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, currently owns all outstanding shares of our Class B common stock. Our Class B common stock has the power to elect, voting as a separate class, the minimum number of directors that constitute a majority of the Board of Directors. As a result, Mr. Hewitt will, for the foreseeable future, have significant influence over our management and affairs, given the Board's authority to appoint or replace our senior management, cause us

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to issue additional shares of our Class A common stock or repurchase Class A common stock, declare dividends, or take other actions. Upon Mr. Hewitt’s death, pending the effectiveness of a provision of our certificate of incorporation that will become effective only after we have conducted an initial public offering or certain other triggering events occur, Mr. Hewitt’s estate would succeed to these special voting rights. Mr. Hewitt may make decisions regarding our Company and business that are opposed to other stockholders' interests or with which they disagree. Mr. Hewitt's ability to elect a majority of the Board of Directors may also delay or prevent a change of control of us, even if that change of control would benefit our stockholders, which could deprive an investor of the opportunity to receive a premium for your Class A common stock. The power to elect a majority of the directors may adversely affect the value of our Class A common stock due to investors' perception that conflicts of interest may exist or arise. To the extent that the interests of our other stockholders are harmed by the actions of Mr. Hewitt, the price of our Class A common stock may be harmed. For information regarding the ownership of our outstanding stock, please see the section titled "Item 12-Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management and Related Stockholder Matters."

Because we are not required to comply with certain NASDAQ corporate governance requirements, our stockholders may not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the NASDAQ.

Because Mr. Hewitt owns all of the outstanding shares of our Class B common stock, and therefore, has the ability to elect a majority of our directors, we have elected to be a "controlled company" for the purposes of the NASDAQ listing requirements. As such, we are exempt from certain corporate governance requirements, including the requirements that our Board of Directors be comprised of a majority of directors who are independent under NASDAQ rules and that we have nominating and compensation committees with members meeting the NASDAQ independence requirements. We currently are voluntarily complying with the NASDAQ's corporate governance standards but may choose not to in the future. If we choose not to comply with certain of the requirements, our Board of Directors may have more directors who do not meet the NASDAQ independence standards than they would if those standards were to apply. We may also elect not to maintain formal nominating/corporate governance and compensation committees or, if we maintain those committees, they may not be comprised of independent directors. In such circumstances, you will not have the same protections afforded to stockholders of companies that are subject to all of the corporate governance requirements of the NASDAQ, and circumstances may occur in which the interests of Mr. Hewitt could conflict with the interests of our other stockholders.

Our stock price may be volatile, and investors may be unable to resell their shares at or above their acquisition price or at all.

Our stock price could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to many risk factors listed in this section, and others beyond our control, including:


•	actual or anticipated variations in our operating results from quarter to quarter;


•	actual or anticipated variations in our operating results from the expectations of securities analysts and investors;


•	actual or anticipated variations in our operating results from our competitors;


•	fluctuations in the valuation of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;


•	sales of Class A common stock or other securities by us or our stockholders in the future;


•	changes in expectations as to our future financial performance, including financial estimates by securities analysts and investors;


•	departures of key executives or directors;


•	announcements by us or our competitors of significant contracts, acquisitions, strategic partnerships, financing efforts or capital commitments;


•	delays or other changes in our expansion plans;


•	involvement in litigation or governmental investigations or enforcement activity;


•	stock price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our shares;


•	general market conditions in our industry and the industries of our customers;


•	general economic and stock market conditions;


•	regulatory or political developments; and

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•	terrorist attacks or natural disasters.

Furthermore, the capital markets experience extreme price and volume fluctuations that have affected and continue to affect the market prices of equity securities of many companies. These fluctuations often have been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political, and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes, or international currency fluctuations may negatively impact our stock price. Trading price fluctuations may also make it more difficult for us to use our Class A common stock as a means to make acquisitions or to use options to purchase our Class A common stock to attract and retain employees. If our stock price does not exceed the price at which stockholders acquired their shares, investors may not realize any return on their investment. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. Securities litigation against us could result in substantial costs and divert our management's attention from other business concerns, which could materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial position.

A significant portion of our outstanding shares of Class A common stock may be sold into the market, which could adversely affect our stock price.

Sales of a substantial number of shares of our Class A common stock in the public market could occur at any time, subject to certain securities law restrictions. Sales of shares of our Class A common stock or the perception in the market that the holders of a large number of shares of Class A common stock intend to sell shares could reduce our stock price. As of June 23, 2015, we have outstanding 11,920,712 shares of Class A common stock and 900,000 shares of Class B common stock, which are convertible into shares of Class A common stock on a one-for-one basis, assuming no exercise of our outstanding options.

At June 23, 2015, we also have approximately 1.6 million shares of our Class A common stock reserved for issuance in connection with options and restricted stock units granted under our 1998 Stock Option Plan and the 2011 Equity and Cash Incentive Plan. These shares may also be freely sold in the public market upon issuance and once vested.

The trading in our Class A Common Stock is limited.

Because of the number of shares of our Class A common stock held by affiliates, the volume of typical trading in our stock on the NASDAQ Stock Market has been limited. This limitation on the liquidity of our stock may impede the ability of our stockholders to sell shares at the time they wish to sell them at a price that they consider reasonable or at all, and could reduce our stock price and impede our ability to acquire other companies using our shares as consideration.

Our stock price and trading volume could decline if securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business or if they publish misleading or unfavorable research or reports about our business.

The trading market for our Class A common stock will depend in part on the research and reports that securities or industry analysts publish about us or our business. As of the date of this report, only two securities analysts engage in coverage of our Class A common stock, and if few securities or industry analysts commence or maintain such coverage, the trading price and liquidity for our shares could be adversely impacted. In the event we obtain securities or industry analyst coverage, if one or more of the analysts who covers us downgrades our stock or publishes misleading or unfavorable research about our business, our stock price could decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases to cover us or fails to publish reports on us regularly, demand for our stock could decrease, which could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.

We incur increased costs and our management will face increased demands as a result of operating as a company with public equity.

As a company with public equity, we incur significant legal, accounting, and other expenses. In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act as well as related rules implemented by the SEC and NASDAQ impose various requirements on companies with public equity. As a public company, we are required to:


•	prepare and distribute periodic public reports and other stockholder communications in compliance with our obligations under the federal securities laws and NASDAQ rules,


•	create or expand the roles and duties of our Board of Directors and committees of the Board of Directors,


•	institute more comprehensive financial reporting and disclosure compliance functions,


•	supplement our internal accounting and auditing function,


•	enhance and formalize closing procedures at the end of our accounting periods,

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•	enhance our investor relations function,


•	establish new or enhanced internal policies, including those relating to disclosure controls and procedures, and


•	involve and retain to a greater degree outside counsel and accountants in the activities listed above.

Our management and other personnel have devoted a substantial amount of time to these compliance matters. Also, these rules and regulations have increased our legal and financial compliance costs and have made some activities more time-consuming and costly than would be the case for a private company. For example, these rules and regulations have made it more expensive for us to maintain director and officer liability insurance. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our Board of Directors or as our executive officers.

In addition, as a result of being a public company, we are subject to financial reporting and other requirements including NASDAQ continued listing requirements that are burdensome and costly. Our failure to timely complete our analysis of these reporting requirements could adversely affect investor confidence in our Company and, as a result, the value of our common stock. Further, if we fail to implement these reporting requirements, our ability to report our results of operations on a timely and accurate basis could be impaired. In fact, in connection with restating our previously issued annual and quarterly consolidated financial statements, we recently were delinquent in filing our annual and quarterly reports. Consequently, we received two notices from NASDAQ in connection with the delinquent filings, and we may be subject to NASDAQ delisting procedures if we fail to comply with the NASDAQ continued listing requirements in the future.

We are an "emerging growth company" and our election to delay adoption of new or revised accounting standards applicable to public companies may result in our financial statements not being comparable to those of other public companies. As a result of this and other reduced disclosure and governance requirements applicable to emerging growth companies, our common stock may be less attractive to investors.

We are an "emerging growth company," as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 (the "JOBS Act") enacted in April 2012, and we intend to take advantage of certain exemptions from various reporting requirements that are applicable to other public companies that are not emerging growth companies including, but not limited to, not being required to comply with the auditor attestation requirements of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (the "Sarbanes-Oxley Act"); the same reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements that smaller reporting companies are permitted to provide; and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory stockholder vote on executive compensation, frequency of approval of executive compensation, and of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. In addition, Section 107 of the JOBS Act also provides that an emerging growth company may take advantage of the extended transition period provided in the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the "Exchange Act") for complying with new or revised accounting standards. In other words, an emerging growth company may delay the adoption of certain accounting standards until those standards would otherwise apply to private companies. We are electing to delay such adoption of new or revised accounting standards, and as a result, we may not comply with new or revised accounting standards on the relevant dates on which adoption of such standards is required for non-emerging growth companies. As a result of this election, our financial statements may not be comparable to the financial statements of other public companies. We cannot predict whether investors will find our common stock less attractive because we will rely on these exemptions. We will remain an "emerging growth company" until the earliest of (i) the last day of the fiscal year during which we have total annual gross revenue of $1 billion or more; (ii) the last day of the fiscal year following the fifth anniversary of the sale by us of common equity securities pursuant to an effective registration statement under the Securities Act; (iii) the date on which we have, during the previous three-year period, issued more than $1 billion in non-convertible debt; or (iv) the date on which we are deemed to be a "large accelerated filer," as defined under the Exchange Act.

Although we may desire to continue to pay dividends in the future, our financial condition, debt covenants, or Delaware law may prohibit us from doing so.

Although we initiated the payment of dividends in April 2015 and may continue to pay cash dividends in the future, we have no obligation to do so and the payment of dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend, among other things, on our earnings, capital requirements, and financial condition as well as our ability to dividend funds from our principal subsidiary under the terms of our credit facility. Our ability to pay dividends will be subject to compliance with financial covenants that are contained in our credit facility and may be restricted by any future indebtedness that we incur or issuances of preferred stock. We cannot assure investors that we will continue to pay dividends at any specific level or at all.

Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents, Delaware law, and our credit facility could make an acquisition of us more difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management, and adversely affect the value of our Class A common stock.

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Provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws may have the effect of delaying or preventing a change of control or changes in our management. We have two classes of common stock, one of which is entitled to elect a majority of our Board of Directors and is controlled by our Chairman and CEO as described above. Our second amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws will also include provisions that:


•	authorize our Board of Directors to issue, without further action by the stockholders, up to approximately 3.0 million shares of undesignated preferred stock;


•	specify that special meetings of our stockholders can be called only by our Board of Directors, the Chair of our Board of Directors, or holders of at least 20% of the shares that will be entitled to vote on the matters presented at such special meeting;


•	establish an advance notice procedure for stockholder proposals to be brought before an annual meeting, including proposed nominations of persons for election to our Board of Directors; and


•	do not provide for cumulative voting in the election of directors.

In addition, our credit facility contains covenants that may impede, discourage, or prevent a takeover of us. For instance, upon a change of control, we would default on our credit facility. As a result, a potential takeover may not occur unless sufficient funds are available to repay our outstanding debt.

These provisions may frustrate or prevent any attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management by making it more difficult for stockholders to replace members of our Board of Directors, which is responsible for appointing the members of our management. Any provision of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and bylaws or our debt documents that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change of control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our Class A common stock. Even in the absence of a takeover attempt, the existence of these provisions may adversely affect our stock value if they are viewed as discouraging takeover attempts in the future.

Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.

None.

Item 2. Properties.

We own our corporate headquarters, located in five buildings, totaling approximately 106 thousand square feet. Our principal executive office is located at 1716 Corporate Landing Parkway, Virginia Beach, Virginia 23454. We also own additional properties in Ohio, New York, Tennessee, and Virginia which are used as Company-owned offices or leased to franchisees. The remainder of our Company-owned offices are operated under leases. We believe that our offices are in good repair and sufficient to meet our present and anticipated future needs.

Item 3. Legal Proceedings.

In the ordinary course of operations, we may become a party to legal proceedings. Based upon information currently available, management believes that such legal proceedings, in the aggregate, will not have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, cash flows, or results of operations except as provided below.

ERC class action litigation. We were sued in November 2011 in federal courts in Arkansas, California, Florida, and Illinois, and additional lawsuits were filed in federal courts in January 2012 in Maryland and North Carolina, in February 2012 in Wisconsin, and in May 2012 in New York and Minnesota. In April 2012, a motion to consolidate all of the then-pending cases before a single judge in federal court in the Northern District of Illinois was granted, and in June 2012, the plaintiffs filed a new complaint in the consolidated action. The consolidated complaint alleges that our refund transfer products formerly called electronic refund checks ("ERC") represent a form of refund anticipation loan ("RAL") because the taxpayer is "loaned" the tax preparation fee, and that the refund transfer product is, therefore, subject to federal truth-in-lending disclosure and state law requirements regulating RALs. The plaintiffs also allege disclosure violations related to the ERC fees paid by RAL customers. The plaintiffs, therefore, claim violations of state-specific RAL and other consumer statutes. The lawsuit purports to be a class action, and the plaintiffs allege potential damages in excess of $5.0 million. We appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit a ruling that certain of the plaintiffs’ claims were not subject to arbitration. Following mediation, the parties entered into a settlement agreement in June 2015 pursuant to which we will establish a settlement fund of $5.3 million, inclusive of settlement administration costs and plaintiffs’ counsel fees. The parties are in the process of arranging for the remand of the case to the trial court, which must approve the settlement. We have preserved potential claims against a financial product partner that was responsible for the design of a portion of our ERC programs in the years at issue in the cases. We have also accrued the proposed settlement amount.

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TCPA class action litigation. We were sued in September 2013 in federal court in Illinois in connection with alleged violations of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Plaintiff alleges that we inappropriately made auto dialed telephone calls to cellular telephones, seeks the certification of a nationwide class action, and claims statutory damages of $500-$1,500 per violation. We tendered the defense of this litigation to a third party entity that had contracted with us to solicit potential franchisees, and that third party entity acknowledged its defense and indemnification obligations to us. However, because the third party did not have the financial resources to satisfy its defense and indemnity obligations, we concluded that we could not rely upon the fulfillment of those obligations. In September 2014, the Company and the plaintiffs reached a tentative settlement of this litigation pursuant to which we will establish a settlement fund of $3.0 million, inclusive of settlement administration costs and plaintiffs’ counsel fees. This settlement has received the preliminary approval of the court, but remains subject to other conditions typical in a class action. We have accrued the proposed settlement amount.

We are also party to claims and lawsuits that are considered to be ordinary, routine litigation incidental to the business, including claims and lawsuits concerning the preparation of customers' income tax returns, the fees charged to customers for various products and services, relationships with franchisees, intellectual property disputes, employment matters, and contract disputes. Although we cannot provide assurance that we will ultimately prevail in each instance, we believe the amount, if any, we will be required to pay in the discharge of liabilities or settlements in these claims will not have a material adverse impact on our consolidated results of operations or financial position.

Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures.

Not applicable.

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PART II

Item 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters, and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.

Market and Stock Information

Our Class A common stock has been listed on The NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol "TAX" since July 2, 2012. We traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board from June 14, 2012 until that date. Prior to that time, there was no public market for our Class A common stock. The following table sets forth for the periods indicated the high and low sale prices of our Class A common stock on The NASDAQ Global Market.



	2015				2014
	Sales Price				Sales Price
	High		Low		High		Low
First Quarter	$	35.20	$	26.19	$	19.42	$	15.90
Second Quarter	39.19		31.31		20.99		16.28
Third Quarter	39.60		31.64		26.78		18.93
Fourth Quarter	37.03		25.69		28.00		23.88

As of April 30, 2015, our stockholders' equity consisted of the following: 11,905,156 shares of Class A common stock, 900,000 shares of Class B common stock, and 10 shares of special voting preferred stock. We treat as common stock equivalents exchangeable shares that may be exchanged for 1,000,000 shares of Class A common stock. As of April 30, 2015, options to acquire 1,343,559 shares of Class A common stock were outstanding, 958,143 of which were immediately exercisable.

Holders of Record

As of June 23, 2015, we had approximately 180 registered record holders of our Class A common stock and one holder of our Class B common stock. The reported closing price of our Class A common stock on June 23, 2015 was $24.50. Wells Fargo Shareowner Services is the transfer agent and registrar for our Class A common stock. We have no established public trading market for our Class B common stock.

Dividends

Until our dividend paid in April 2015, we had never declared or paid a cash dividend on our common stock. Although we have now announced a $0.16 per share quarterly cash dividend and may continue to pay cash dividends in the future, the payment of dividends will be at the discretion of our Board of Directors and will depend, among other things, on our earnings, capital requirements, and financial condition. Our ability to pay dividends will also be subject to compliance with financial covenants that are contained in our credit facility and may be restricted by any future indebtedness that we incur or issuances of preferred stock. In addition, applicable law requires our Board of Directors to determine that we have adequate surplus prior to the declaration of dividends. We cannot provide an assurance that we will continue to pay dividends at any specific level or at all.

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Share Repurchases

Our Board of Directors has approved $10.0 million of authorizations for share repurchases. These authorizations have no specific expiration date and cash proceeds from stock option exercises increase the amount of the authorizations. Shares repurchased from option exercises that are net-share settled by us and shares repurchased in privately negotiated transactions are not considered share repurchases under these authorizations. During the three months ended April 30, 2015, we repurchased shares from option exercises that were net-share settled by us as follows (in thousands, except for share and per share amounts):



Period	Total Number of Shares Purchased (1)	Average Price Paid per Share		Total Number of Shares Purchased as Part of Publicly Announced Plan	Remaining Maximum Value of Shares that may be Purchased Under the Plan
February 1 through February 28, 2015	—	$	—	—	$	4,669
March 1 through March 31, 2015	12,817	29.26		—	5,217
April 1 through April 30, 2015	768	29.30		—	6,201
Total	13,585	29.26		—

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(1) During the three months ended April 30, 2015, all of the shares repurchased were associated with the exercise of stock options.

During fiscal 2015, we repurchased 1,284,246 shares of our Class A common stock as shown in the table below:



Period	Total Number of Shares Purchased	Average Price Paid per Share
First quarter	881,172	$	25.67
Second quarter	328,589	33.72
Third quarter	60,900	36.31
Fourth quarter	13,585	29.26
Total	1,284,246	28.27

On June 3, 2014, we repurchased 800,000 shares of our Class A common stock at $25.00 per share in a privately negotiated transaction with an affiliate.

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Stock Performance Graph

The graph below compares the cumulative total return provided stockholders on the Company's Class A common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the Russell 2000 index and the S&P Diversified Commercial & Professional Services index. Returns assume an initial investment of $100 at the market close on June 14, 2012, which was the first day our stock was traded on the over-the-counter bulletin board, and then for the periods ending April 30, 2013, 2014, and 2015. Dividends, if any, are assumed to have been reinvested.

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Item 6. Selected Financial Data.

The following selected consolidated financial data should be read in conjunction with "Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" included in Item 7 below and our Consolidated Financial Statements and related notes included in Item 15. We derived the consolidated statements of income data for the years ended April 30, 2015, 2014, and 2013 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of April 30, 2015 and 2014 from our audited consolidated financial statements included in Item 8. The consolidated statements of income data for the years ended April 30, 2012 and 2011 and the consolidated balance sheet data as of April 30, 2012 and 2011 are derived from our restated unaudited consolidated financial statements not included in this annual report. Our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future.



	Fiscal Years Ended and as of April 30,
	2015			2014			2013			2012			2011
	(amounts in thousands, except per share, franchisees, offices, per franchisee amounts, fee per tax return, and per office amounts)
Consolidated Statements of Income Data:
Revenue:
Franchise fees	$	6,246		$	7,844		$	8,721		$	7,996		$	8,780
AD fees	6,901			6,680			7,699			6,702			6,335
Royalties and advertising fees	80,469			78,426			73,129			70,016			66,182
Financial Products	37,058			34,512			30,345			22,903			16,507
Tax preparation fees, net of discounts	13,877			14,295			10,148			7,026			4,789
Other revenue	17,621			17,939			17,571			16,582			15,343
Total revenue	162,172			159,696			147,613			131,225			117,936
Total operating expenses	(146,780		)	(124,875		)	(116,777		)	(103,245		)	(91,245		)
Income from operations	15,392			34,821			30,836			27,980			26,691
Foreign currency translation gain (loss)	(2		)	(13		)	—			4			75
Gain on sale of available-for-sale securities	—			2,183			—			—			—
Interest expense	(1,889		)	(1,355		)	(2,039		)	(1,854		)	(1,954		)
Income before income taxes	13,501			35,636			28,797			26,130			24,812
Income tax expense	(4,811		)	(13,654		)	(11,170		)	(9,747		)	(10,142		)
Net income	$	8,690		$	21,982		$	17,627		$	16,383		$	14,670
Earnings per share of Class A common stock and Class B common stock
Basic	$	0.63		$	1.57		$	1.26		$	1.17		$	0.85
Diluted	$	0.61		$	1.51		$	1.25		$	1.16		$	0.83



Consolidated Balance Sheet Data:
Amounts due from franchisees and ADs less unrecognized revenue, net of allowances	$	86,680	$	81,480	$	85,658	$	76,493	$	68,196
Property, equipment, and software, net	36,232		38,343		33,037		23,948		18,228
Total assets	184,146		198,763		169,530		152,196		116,093
Long-term debt, including current installments	25,397		28,488		27,683		28,985		4,458
Total stockholders' equity	98,862		110,185		81,836		67,065		52,018

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	Fiscal Years Ended and as of April 30,
	2015		2014		2013		2012		2011
	(amounts in thousands, except per share, franchisees, offices, per franchisee amounts, fee per tax return, and per office amounts)
Other Financial and Operational Data:
Adjusted EBITDA(1)	$	42,787	$	44,734	$	40,424	$	35,331	$	32,205

Number of U.S. offices(2)	4,069		4,175		4,262		3,920		3,590
Number of Canadian offices(2)	259		263		258		263		255
Number of offices(2)	4,328		4,438		4,520		4,183		3,845

Number of U.S. franchisees	1,907		1,959		2,073		1,959		1,810
Number of Canadian franchisees	125		145		138		139		131
Number of franchisees	2,032		2,104		2,211		2,098		1,941

Average number of offices per U.S. franchisee(2)(3)	2.07		2.04		1.94		1.96		1.96
Average number of offices per Canadian franchisee(2)(3)	1.62		1.57		1.67		1.76		1.84
Average number of offices per franchisee(2)(3)	2.04		2.01		1.93		1.95		1.95

Number of tax returns processed in U.S. offices	1,907		1,890		1,805		1,790		1,658
Number of tax returns processed in Canadian offices	340		311		311		285		288
Number of tax returns filed online(4)	167		187		159		109		98
Number of tax returns processed	2,414		2,388		2,275		2,184		2,044

Systemwide revenue from U.S. offices(5)	$	413,200	$	397,300	$	358,000	$	337,000	$	317,000
Systemwide revenue from Canadian offices (CN$)(5)	26,400		23,900		23,200		22,100		21,600
Systemwide revenue from Canadian offices (US$)(5)	21,761		21,789		22,819		22,298		21,895

Systemwide revenue per U.S. office(5)(6)	$	101,548	$	95,162	$	83,998	$	85,969	$	88,301
Systemwide revenue per Canadian office (CN$)(5)(6)	101,931		90,875		89,922		84,030		84,706
Systemwide revenue per Canadian office (US$)(5)(6)	84,021		82,848		88,446		84,783		85,863

Net average fee per U.S. tax return processed(6)	$	217	$	210	$	198	$	188	$	191
Net average fee per Canadian tax return processed (CN$)(6)	78		77		75		78		75
Net average fee per Canadian tax return processed (US$)(6)	64		70		73		78		76

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(1) We define Adjusted EBITDA as net income plus provision for income taxes, interest expense, certain other adjustments, depreciation, amortization, and impairment charges. Please see "Adjusted EBITDA" below for more information and for a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable financial measure calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP.

(2) We measure our number of offices per fiscal year based on franchised and Company-owned offices open at any point during the tax season.

(3) The calculation of the average number of offices per franchisee excludes Company-owned offices.

(4) Previously reported online return counts for fiscal years prior to 2015 have been restated to reflect accepted e-files only. No changes were made to previously reported returns for office counts.

(5) Our systemwide revenue represents the total tax preparation revenue generated by our franchised and Company-owned offices. It does not represent our revenue because our franchise royalties are derived from the operations of our franchisees. Because we maintain an infrastructure to support systemwide operations, we consider growth in systemwide revenue to be an important measurement.

(6) Systemwide revenue per office and the net average fee per tax return prepared reflect amounts for our franchised and Company-owned offices.

Adjusted EBITDA

To provide additional information regarding our financial results, we have disclosed in the table above and within this annual report Adjusted EBITDA. Adjusted EBITDA represents net income, before income taxes, interest expense, depreciation

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and amortization, and certain other items specified below. We have provided a reconciliation below of Adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure.

We have included Adjusted EBITDA in this annual report because we seek to manage our business to achieve higher levels of Adjusted EBITDA and to improve the level of Adjusted EBITDA as a percentage of revenue. In addition, it is a key basis upon which we assess the performance of our operations and management. We also use Adjusted EBITDA for business planning and the evaluation of acquisition opportunities. In particular, the exclusion of certain expenses in calculating Adjusted EBITDA can provide a useful measure for period-to-period comparisons. We believe the presentation of Adjusted EBITDA enhances an overall understanding of the financial performance of and prospects for our business. Adjusted EBITDA is not a recognized financial measure under GAAP and may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies in our industry. Adjusted EBITDA should not be considered in isolation from or as an alternative to net income, operating income (loss), or any other performance measures derived in accordance with GAAP.

The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA for each of the periods indicated.



	Fiscal Years Ended April 30,
	2015		2014			2013		2012		2011
	(dollars in thousands)
Reconciliation of Adjusted EBITDA to Net Income:
Net income	$	8,690	$	21,982		$	17,627	$	16,383	$	14,670
Interest expense	1,889		1,355			2,039		1,854		1,954
Income tax expense	4,811		13,654			11,170		9,747		10,142
Depreciation, amortization, and impairment charges	9,900		9,277			6,538		5,999		5,439
Impairment of online software and acquired customer lists	8,392		—			—		—		—
Net gain on available-for-sale securities	—		(2,183		)	—		—		—
Costs associated with postponed IPO	—		—			—		1,348		—
Executive severance	1,488		614			—		—		—
Restatement costs	—		907			—		—		—
Restructuring charge	—		—			425		—		—
Tentative settlements of class action litigation cases, net of estimated recoveries	7,617		—			—		—		—
Stock-based compensation expense (income) related to liability classified awards	—		(872		)	2,625		—		—
Adjusted EBITDA	$	42,787	$	44,734		$	40,424	$	35,331	$	32,205

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Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.

Overview

We are one of the leading providers of tax preparation services in the United States and Canada. As measured by both the number of returns prepared and the number of retail offices, we are the second largest retail preparer of individual tax returns in the United States and the second largest retail preparer of individual tax returns in Canada. Our tax preparation services and related tax settlement products are offered primarily through franchised locations, although we operate a limited number of Company-owned offices each tax season. All of the offices are operated under the Liberty Tax Service and SiempreTax+ brands.

From 2001 through 2015, we grew our number of tax offices from 508 to 4,328. See Note 1 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for detail of the U.S. office activity and the number of Canadian and Company-owned offices for the years ended April 30, 2015, 2014, and 2013.

Approximately 58% of our revenue for fiscal year 2015 was derived from franchise fees, AD fees, royalties, and advertising fees, and for this reason, continued growth in and seasoning of our franchise locations is viewed by management as the key to our future performance.

Our revenue primarily consists of the following components:


•	Franchise Fees: Our standard franchise fee per territory is $40,000, and we offer our franchisees flexible structures and financing options for franchise fees. Franchise fee revenue is recognized when our obligations to prepare the franchisee for operation are substantially complete and as cash is received.

•

AD Fees: Our fees for AD areas vary based on our assessment of the revenue potential of each AD area, and also depend on the performance of any existing franchisees within the AD area being sold. Our ADs generally receive 50% of franchise fees, royalties, and a portion of the interest income derived from territories located in their area. AD fees received are recognized as revenue on a straight-line basis over the initial contract term of each AD agreement, which has historically been ten years, with the cumulative amount of revenue recognized not to exceed the amount of cash received.


•	Royalties: Our franchise agreements require franchisees to pay us a base royalty typically equal to 14% of the franchisee's tax preparation revenue, subject to certain specified minimums.


•	Advertising Fees: Our franchise agreements require all franchisees to pay us an advertising fee of 5% of the franchisee's tax preparation revenue, which we use primarily to fund collective advertising efforts.


•	Financial Products: We offer two types of tax settlement financial products: refund transfer products, which involve providing a means by which a customer may receive his or her refund more quickly and conveniently, and refund-based loans. We earn fees from the sale of these financial products.

•

Interest Income: We earn interest income from our franchisees and ADs related to both indebtedness for the unpaid portions of their franchise fees and AD territory fees, and for other loans we extend to our franchisees related to the operation of their territories. For franchise fees and AD loans upon which the underlying revenue has not been recognized, we recognize the interest income only to the extent of actual payment.


•	Tax Preparation Fees: We earn tax preparation fees, net of discounts, directly from both the operation of Company-owned offices and providing tax preparation services through our online tax return products.

For purposes of this section and throughout this annual report, all references to "fiscal 2015," "fiscal 2014," and "fiscal 2013" refer to our fiscal years ended April 30, 2015, 2014, and 2013, respectively. For purposes of this section and throughout this annual report, all references to "year" or "years" are the respective fiscal year or years ended April 30 unless otherwise noted in this annual report, and all references to "tax season" refer to the period between January 1 and April 30 of the referenced year.

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	Fiscal Years Ended and as of April 30,
	2015		2014		2013
	(amounts in thousands, except franchisees, per office amounts, and net average fees)
Results of Operations:
Total revenue	$	162,172	$	159,696	$	147,613
Income from operations	$	15,392	$	34,821	$	30,836
Net income	$	8,690	$	21,982	$	17,627
Other Financial and Operational Data:
Number of U.S. offices	4,069		4,175		4,262
Number of Canadian offices	259		263		258
Number of offices	4,328		4,438		4,520

Number of U.S. franchisees	1,907		1,959		2,073
Number of Canadian franchisees	125		145		138
Number of franchisees	2,032		2,104		2,211

Number of tax returns processed in U.S. offices	1,907		1,890		1,805
Number of tax returns processed in Canadian offices	340		311		311
Number of tax returns filed online (1)	167		187		159
Number of tax returns processed	2,414		2,388		2,275

Systemwide revenue from U.S. offices	$	413,200	$	397,300	$	358,000
Systemwide revenue from Canadian offices (CN$)	26,400		23,900		23,200
Systemwide revenue from Canadian offices (US$)	21,761		21,789		22,819

Number of U.S. refund transfer products funded	949		973		868

Net average fee per tax return filed in U.S. offices (1)	$	217	$	210	$	198
Net average fee per tax return filed in Canadian offices (CN$)(1)	78		77		75
Net average fee per tax return filed in Canadian offices (US$)(1)	64		70		73

______________________________________________________________________________

(1) Previously reported online return counts for fiscal years prior to 2015 have been restated to reflect accepted e-files only. No changes were made to previously reported returns for office counts.

(2) Systemwide revenue per office and the net average fee per tax return prepared reflect amounts for our franchised and Company-owned offices.

(3) Our systemwide revenue represents the total tax preparation revenue generated by our franchised and Company-owned offices. It does not represent

our revenue because our franchise royalties are derived from the operations of our franchisees. Because we maintain an infrastructure to support

systemwide operations, we consider growth in systemwide revenue to be an important measurement.

In evaluating our performance, management focuses on several metrics that we believe are key to our continued success:

•

Net growth in permanent office locations. The change in permanent office locations from year to year is a function of the opening of new offices, offset by locations that our franchisees or we close. Opening new permanent offices can be accomplished by the sale of new territories or the opening of permanent offices in previously sold territories. During the 2015 tax season, we stressed the importance of franchisees opening permanent locations in new territories. In fiscal 2015, on a net basis, our franchisees opened 101 permanent new offices in the U.S., compared to closing 153 permanent offices in fiscal 2014. Prior to the 2015 tax season, Walmart substantially changed the way in which it charged rent to our franchisees for Walmart kiosk locations. As a result, our franchisees operated fewer such offices during the 2015 tax season and we have deemphasized seasonal offices such as kiosks as part of our growth plans.

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We utilize our AD program to focus on areas with large underdeveloped groups of territories we believe would benefit from the dedicated sales attention that an AD brings to our franchise sales process. Although we intend to grow our franchise network through the sale of new AD areas, opportunities often arise to acquire underperforming AD areas or AD areas in mature markets at favorable terms, offering us better future profitability from the associated franchise locations.

•

Continued growth of SiempreTax+ brand. During fiscal 2015, we launched our second brand, SiempreTax+. Given the demographic trends in the United States, the growing consumer purchasing power of the Hispanic community, and the prospect of immigration reform, whether through Congressional legislation or executive action, we believe serving the Hispanic community through a separate brand that engages with customers in their preferred language and provides ancillary services unique to their needs presents a significant office growth opportunity. For this reason, although we had a successful launch of this brand in fiscal 2015, our ability to grow this brand further should substantially contribute to our future ability to meet our growth goals.

•

Growth in the number of returns prepared. We strive to provide our franchisees with the resources and training needed to grow their own revenue. One of the principal factors in that growth is growth in the number of returns prepared. We and our franchisees prepared a total of approximately 1.9 million returns in our U.S. offices in fiscal 2015, which was an increase of 0.9% from fiscal 2014. Our new retail offices typically experience their most rapid growth during the first five years as they develop customer loyalty, operational experience and a referral base within their community. The seasoning of our U.S. offices shown in the following table highlights the relatively young age of our offices, with 1,789 offices of 4,069 operated during tax season 2015 having been operated for five or fewer years, including the 2015 tax season.



	Tax Season 2015 Office Age in Years
	1	2	3	4	5	6+	Total
United States:
Franchised permanent	388	232	257	339	272	2,158	3,646
Franchised seasonal	115	77	33	2	2	26	255
Total U.S. franchised offices	503	309	290	341	274	2,184	3,901

Company-owned permanent	9	1	5	9	5	89	118
Company-owned seasonal	3	2	—	—	—	2	7
Total U.S. Company-owned offices	12	3	5	9	5	91	125

Processing centers	17	8	3	8	2	5	43

Total U.S. offices	532	320	298	358	281	2,280	4,069

Canada:
Franchised permanent	1	11	8	11	12	130	173
Franchised seasonal	3	1	1	1	1	22	29
Total Canadian franchised offices	4	12	9	12	13	152	202

Company-owned permanent	2	—	—	—	1	44	47
Company-owned seasonal	4	1	—	—	1	4	10
Total Canadian Company-owned offices	6	1	—	—	2	48	57

Total Canadian offices	10	13	9	12	15	200	259

Total offices	542	333	307	370	296	2,480	4,328


•	Growth in systemwide revenue. Systemwide revenue, a non-GAAP financial measure, includes sales by both Company-owned and franchised offices. We believe systemwide revenue data is useful in assessing consumer

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demand for our services and products, the overall success of the Liberty Tax brand and, ultimately, the performance of the Company. Our royalty revenue is computed as a percentage of sales made by our franchised offices, less certain deductions. Accordingly, sales by our franchisees have a direct effect on the Company's royalty revenue and profitability. In addition, our systemwide revenue reflects the size of the Liberty Tax system, and because the size of our franchise system drives our management and infrastructure needs, systemwide revenue data helps us assess those needs in comparison to other companies in our industry and other franchise operators.

•

Our systemwide revenue in the U.S. grew by 4.0% from fiscal 2014 to 2015 and 11.0% from fiscal 2013 to fiscal 2014. This increase in both years was the result of the continued seasoning of our offices. We experienced a 3.1% increase in average net fee per return filed in the U.S. from $210 in fiscal 2014 to $217 in fiscal 2015 as well as a 0.9% increase in number of tax returns filed in the U.S. processed from 1,890,000 in fiscal 2014 to 1,907,000 in fiscal 2015.

•

Number of Company-owned offices. For the 2015 and 2014 tax seasons, respectively, we operated a total of 182 and 216 Company-owned offices. Our Company-owned offices, including Walmart kiosks, tend to be less successful than franchised offices. For this reason, we continue to seek to minimize the number of Company-owned offices we operate each tax season. To the extent we succeed in this effort, we would expect tax preparation fees to decrease, but royalties and advertising fees to be favorably affected.

•

Growth in the number of tax settlement products obtained by U.S. customers. The total percentage of our U.S. customers obtaining a refund transfer product decreased to 49.7% during fiscal 2015 compared to 51.5% during fiscal 2014. During fiscal 2015, the share of refund transfer products funded through JTH Financial was 73.4% of the total refund transfer products utilized by our customers, compared to 48.0% in fiscal 2014. As we have demonstrated our ability to offer products through JTH Financial, we have been successful in obtaining more favorable terms from outside vendors. Each year we analyze available tax settlement product solutions to balance risk and maximize profit per product.

However, having grown the share of products funded through JTH Financial to more than 73% of our total financial products last year, we recognize that the prospects for continued growth through shifting away from externally-originated products may be limited, and that future growth of financial products revenue will largely depend on increasing the attachment rate, increasing the number of customers served and possible future fee increases.

Results of Operations

Fiscal year 2015 compared to fiscal year 2014

Revenues. The table below sets forth the components and changes in our revenue for the years ended April 30, 2015 and 2014.



	Fiscal Years Ended April 30,
					Change
	2015		2014		$			%
	(dollars in thousands)
Franchise fees	$	6,246	$	7,844	$	(1,598	)	(20	)%
AD fees	6,901		6,680		221			3	%
Royalties and advertising fees	80,469		78,426		2,043			3	%
Financial products	37,058		34,512		2,546			7	%
Interest income	14,707		14,231		476			3	%
Tax preparation fees, net of discounts	13,877		14,295		(418		)	(3	)%
Other	2,914		3,708		(794		)	(21	)%
Total revenue	$	162,172	$	159,696	$	2,476		2	%

Our total revenue increased by $2.5 million, or 1.6%, in fiscal 2015 over fiscal 2014. This increase was primarily due to the following:


•	A $2.5 million increase in financial products, due to our decision to originate a larger portion of financial products through our in-house financial subsidiary, JTH Financial. In fiscal 2015 we processed 73% of our

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financial products in-house, versus 48% in fiscal 2014. We receive more revenue on financial products that are originated in-house than we do on those originated by third parties. This increase in revenue was partially offset by a lower attachment rate. Our attachment rate was 49.7% of funded returns in fiscal 2015 compared to 51.5% in fiscal 2014, partially because a lower percentage of customers received refunds this year.


•	A $2.0 million, or 2.6% increase in royalties and advertising fees driven by a 3.1% increase in the average net fee and a 0.9% increase in the number of returns filed by our franchised offices. This was partially offset by a decline in Canadian royalties because 20 previously franchised Canadian locations were operated as Company-owned offices.

These increases in revenue were partially offset by:

•

A $1.6 million decrease in franchise fees primarily attributable to receiving lower cash payments on notes from our franchisees in fiscal 2015. Franchise fee revenue is recognized when our obligations to prepare the franchisee for operations are substantially complete and as cash is received. We believe the reason we received less cash payments was largely due to franchisees borrowing more during the offseason to fund their preparations for the Affordable Care Act, which impacted their ability to make franchise note payments.

•

A $0.8 million decrease in other revenue due to lower gains on the sale of assets to franchisees. The largest portion of the gains on the sale of assets to franchisees are deferred and recognized as cash is received on notes. Because our franchisees incurred higher operating expenses during tax season, this impacted their ability to make these note payments. Since we received lower note payments on these notes in fiscal 2015 than we did in fiscal 2014, the deferred gains recognized were less.

•

A $0.4 million decrease in tax preparation fees primarily driven by a $1.3 million decrease in online revenue caused by increased competition in the online market. This was partially offset by a $0.9 million increase in Canadian tax preparation revenue because we operated a larger number of Company-owned offices in Canada, which would have resulted in a larger offset but for a negative impact of the exchange rate of $0.3 million.

Operating expenses. The following table details the amounts and changes in our operating expenses in and from fiscal 2015 and fiscal 2014.



	Fiscal Years Ended April 30,
					Change
	2015		2014		$		%
	(dollars in thousands)
Employee compensation and benefits	$	41,079	$	38,399	$	2,680	7	%
Selling, general, and administrative	40,604		34,756		5,848		17	%
AD expense	28,497		27,319		1,178		4	%
Advertising	18,308		15,124		3,184		21	%
Depreciation, amortization, and impairment charges	9,900		9,277		623		7	%
Impairment of online software and acquired customer lists	8,392		—		8,392		NA
Total operating expenses	$	146,780	$	124,875	$	21,905	18	%

Our total operating expenses increased by $21.9 million, or 18%, in fiscal 2015 compared to fiscal 2014. The largest components of this increase were as follows:


•	A $2.7 million increase in employee compensation and benefit expenses during fiscal 2015 over fiscal 2014 caused primarily by the following:


◦	A $2.1 million increase in salary and related expenses to support growth initiatives.


◦	A $0.9 million increase in executive severance costs.


◦	A $0.9 million reduction in stock compensation expense in fiscal 2014 related to a change from liability classified awards to equity classified awards that did not recur in fiscal 2015.

These increases were partially offset by a $1.2 million decrease in bonus expense because, due to the Company's performance, we did not pay employee bonuses for fiscal 2015.

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◦	A $5.8 million increase in selling, general, and administrative expenses during fiscal 2015 over fiscal 2014, caused primarily by the following:


◦	An increase of $7.6 million related to the tentative settlements of our class action litigation cases, net of estimated recoveries.


◦	An increase of $1.4 million in expenses related to our investment in SiempreTax+ and our ACA initiatives.


◦	An increase of $1.1 million in bank fees due to our decision to originate a larger portion of financial products through our in-house financial subsidiary.

The increases were partially offset by the following:


◦	A $2.9 million reduction in bad debt expense due to fewer franchisee terminations occurring in fiscal 2015 compared to fiscal 2014.


◦	A reduction of $0.9 million in restatement costs that occurred in fiscal 2014, but not in fiscal 2015.


◦	A reduction in professional fees of $0.9 million for advertising-related expenses that occurred in fiscal 2014, but not in fiscal 2015.


•	A $3.2 million increase in advertising expense caused primarily by the following:


◦	A $1.0 million in spending on advertising above the amount required to utilize the advertising fund established by franchisee advertising fees.


◦	A $1.0 million increase related to launching the SiempreTax+ brand and advertising designed to attract new franchisees.


◦	A $0.9 million increase in expenses that were spent in professional fees in fiscal 2014 but that were spent in advertising in fiscal 2015.


•	An increase of $0.6 million in depreciation and amortization consisting of a $2.1 million depreciation expense related to placing a portion of LibPro software program into service, offset by a decrease in amortization expense on Company-owned offices, which is now recorded as assets held for sale and no longer amortized.

•

An $8.4 million impairment charge related to our online software and acquired customer lists. The online market is increasingly competitive due to aggressive pricing actions and increased advertising by significantly larger competitors. These factors have adversely affected our ability to recover the carrying value of our online software and acquired customer lists. The impairment charge was measured by the amount in which the carrying value exceeded the estimated fair value of the online software and acquired customer lists. See Note 5 of the Notes to our Consolidated Financial Statements for a description of the impairment related to the Company's online software and acquired online customer lists.

Income Taxes. The following table sets forth certain information regarding our income taxes for the fiscal years ended April 30, 2015 and 2014.



	Fiscal Years Ended April 30,
							Change
	2015			2014			$			%
	(dollars in thousands)
Income before income taxes	$	13,501		$	35,636		$	(22,135	)	(62	)%
Income tax expense	4,811			13,654			(8,843		)	(65	)%
Effective tax rate	35.6		%	38.3		%

The decrease in our income tax rate from fiscal 2014 to fiscal 2015 relates primarily to higher tax deductions for stock option expense coupled with the decline in income before income taxes.

Net income. Our net income decreased by 60% in fiscal 2015 over fiscal 2014, primarily as a result of higher operating expenses associated with our growth initiatives, an $8.4 million impairment charge related to our online software and acquired customer lists, and $7.6 million in tentative settlements of our class action litigation cases, net of estimated recoveries.

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Fiscal year 2014 compared to fiscal year 2013

Revenues. The table below sets forth the components and changes in our revenue for the years ended April 30, 2014 and 2013.



	Fiscal Years Ended April 30,
					Change
	2014		2013		$			%
	(dollars in thousands)
Franchise fees	$	7,844	$	8,721	$	(877	)	(10	)%
AD fees	6,680		7,699		(1,019		)	(13	)%
Royalties and advertising fees	78,426		73,129		5,297			7	%
Financial products	34,512		30,345		4,167			14	%
Interest income	14,231		13,848		383			3	%
Tax preparation fees, net of discounts	14,295		10,148		4,147			41	%
Other	3,708		3,723		(15		)	—	%
Total revenue	$	159,696	$	147,613	$	12,083		8	%

Our total revenue increased by $12.1 million, or 8%, in fiscal 2014 over fiscal 2013. This increase was primarily due to the following:


•	The $5.3 million increase in royalties and advertising fees driven by both a 5.9% increase in the average net fee per U.S. tax return filed and a 4.7% increase in the number of U.S. returns filed by our franchised offices.


•	The $4.2 million increase in financial products, reflecting the favorable terms we were able to negotiate with third party financial product vendors. Our attachment rate was 51.5% of funded returns in fiscal 2014 compared to 48.1% in fiscal 2013, which had an impact on the increase.

•

The $4.1 million increase in tax preparation fees, net of discounts, during fiscal 2014 over fiscal 2013 due to an increase in the number of returns filed though our Company-owned offices as well as an increase in the number of online returns filed. The acquisition of certain assets of an online tax preparation software provider in the third quarter of fiscal 2014 favorably impacted the number of online returns filed.

These increases in revenue were partially offset by:


•	A $1.0 million decrease from fiscal 2013 to fiscal 2014 in AD fees. This decrease resulted primarily from the repurchase of several areas during fiscal 2014 and a decrease in cash received from the remaining ADs.


•	A $0.9 million decrease in franchise fees primarily attributable to a decrease in the number of franchise sales because we were unable to sell franchises for a portion of the second quarter of fiscal 2014. However, our fourth quarter franchise sales were up for fiscal 2014 over fourth quarter fiscal 2013 due to a large number of existing franchisee expansions during our spring selling season.

Operating expenses. The following table details the amounts and changes in our operating expenses in and from fiscal 2014 and fiscal 2013.



Fiscal Years Ended April 30,
		Change
2014	2013	$	%
(dollars in thousands)

Franchise Group, Inc. - FORM 10-K - July 1, 2015

Attached files