Liberty Tax Service Scores Again by Obtaining College Credits for Its Training Courses

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Liberty Tax Service, the fastest growing international retail tax preparation company, strengthened its position as the industry innovator leading the industry with one-of-a-kind opportunities for its franchisees and employees, as well as strengthening its commitment to the Hispanic community. In June of this year, Liberty Tax Service kicked off its new Hispanic Initiative program – Una Familia Sin Fronteras [A Family Without Boundaries] that focuses on educational services internally and to the Hispanic community at large. As a result, all students who successfully complete Liberty’s courses can now earn college credits for their efforts through this special alliance. Best of all, Liberty offers the entire curriculum free.

This alliance is yet another element of Liberty’s dynamic corporate Hispanic initiative which offers the Hispanic community a wide range of services through Liberty’s many alliances with national and local non-profit organizations. With the Una Familia Sin Fronteras initiative, Liberty offers all of its associates, Hispanic and non-Hispanic alike, an opportunity to pursue their education, or at the very least, to lift their self-esteem by realizing that they have qualified for college credits from a reputable institution such as University of Phoenix.

The college credit component of the Una Familia Sin Fronteras initiative consists of three key courses that make-up the Liberty Tax training curriculum: a 10-week tax preparation course, a 15-hour Hispanic culture and services webcast series that includes training on the proper completion of tax forms frequently needed by Hispanic clientele, as well as a series of lectures by well-known Hispanic services experts, attorneys, lecturers, authors and advocates, and a 15-hour interpreter’s program taught by a highly credentialed university professor who owns a successful translating and interpreting firm and who is also certified as a translator by the Virginia Supreme Court. All courses are provided live via webcasts and then archived for convenient access by anyone with Liberty Tax who would like to take advantage of the curriculum series at their convenience.

Liberty Tax Service is the first tax service to create a training curriculum of this kind that meets college credit standards, and the first Company to make these types courses available to its franchisees and associates. Additionally, by offering a free Interpreter Course to its Hispanic associates, Liberty Tax has taken educational opportunities for the Hispanic community to another level.

“We believe that education is key to helping our world, and more specifically, a primary factor in the growth of our local communities. It also provides our more struggling communities with options that they perhaps did not realize existed,” explains John Hewitt, founder and CEO of Liberty Tax Service. “Una Familia Sin Fronteras was created to focus on education and service. Through these training courses, we can teach our franchisees how best to provide the Hispanic client with superior service, while providing our Hispanic neighbors with more than just job opportunities. Essentially, we want to provide all of our associates, regardless of their ethnicity, the opportunity to further their careers and education, and therefore, to make a positive impact on their future. That’s why we’ve gone to great lengths to secure credentialed instructors to lead these courses and why we make them available for free to everyone who joins our team. We are so pleased that the University of Phoenix has seen value in our curriculum program and that they are supporting our educational efforts. We anticipate that by year’s end, approximately 1200 of our Franchisees and associates will have participated in our training curriculum.”

According to Dr. William Pepicello, President of University of Phoenix, “We have reviewed the Liberty Tax Service coursework to ensure the classes meet our high standards for providing quality education and determined the appropriate number of transfer credits to be applied. Furthermore, we commend them for making this curriculum so accessible. Our mission is to offer working students a quality education path that is accessible and convenient to their lifestyles. Furthermore, the University is proud of its record as one of the premiere institutions in serving minority student populations nationally.”

About Liberty Tax Service:

Liberty Tax Service is the fastest growing retail tax preparation company in the industry’s history. Founded in 1997 by CEO John T. Hewitt, a pioneer in the tax industry, Liberty Tax Service (www.libertytax.com) has prepared over 6,000,000 individual income tax returns and currently operates over 2,700 offices throughout the United States and Canada.

Liberty Tax Service provides computerized income tax preparation, electronic filing and refund loans. With an emphasis on customer service including audit assistance, a money back guarantee, free ITIN’s for all immigrants and free tax return checking, Liberty Tax Service is well known for its strong commitment to its client base and now provides an Hispanic Services Seal of Excellence Certification program that ensures its offices provide bilingual assistance and are knowledgeable about how to properly service the Hispanic community.

With 39 years of tax industry experience, Hewitt stands as the most experienced CEO in the tax preparation business, having also founded Jackson Hewitt Tax Service (NYSE: JTX).

About University Of Phoenix:

University of Phoenix is constantly innovating to help students balance education and life in a rapidly changing world. Through flexible schedules, challenging courses and interactive learning, students achieve personal and career aspirations without putting their lives on hold. As of August 31, 2008, 362,100 students were enrolled at University of Phoenix, the largest private university in North America. University of Phoenix serves a diverse student population, offering associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral degree programs from campuses and learning centers across the U.S. as well as online throughout the world.