Instant Tax Service

[http://InstantTaxService.com Instant Tax Service] is the 4th largest tax preparation company in the United States, and operated over 1,200 locations during tax season 2007. The company is based out of Dayton, OH and specializes in tax preparation and refund anticipation loan services. In addition, [http://InstantTaxService.com Instant Tax Service] currently offers insurance services from their flagship “Superstore” just north of downtown Dayton, OH.

Founded in 2000 by Fesum “Fez” Ogbazion, the company is actually the second venture for Ogbazion, who cut his teeth in the tax industry with the founding of Instant Refund Tax Service in 1994. Ogbazion sold Instant Refund Tax Service to Fortune 500 giant Jackson Hewitt in 1999 and used the proceeds from the sale to build the foundations of [http://InstantTaxService.com Instant Tax Service] .

In fiscal year 2007, [http://InstantTaxService.com Instant Tax Service] reported over $40M in system-wide sales. The company was ranked #1 on Entrepreneur Magazine’s Top New Franchises list and #8 on its Fastest-Growing Franchises list.

HISTORY

Fesum “Fez” Ogbazion came to the United States with his family in 1983 from Ethiopia. He opened his first tax office while pursuing a degree in accounting and finance at the University of Cincinnati. He strategically chose a former H&R Block tax office located just down the street from his parents’ home. The office was just 400 sq. ft. He prepared over 600 tax returns his first year, and barely broke even. But things started to take off soon after that, and over the next 5 years, Ogbazion opened 26 additional locations throughout the Cincinnati, OH area.

In 1999, sensing a major competitor in the area, Jackson Hewitt offered to buy the company from Ogbazion for a reported $3M. In accordance with his non-compete agreement, Ogbazion moved to Dayton, OH and rebuilt his business from the ground up. That business was [http://InstantTaxService.com Instant Tax Service] , founded in 2000.

[http://InstantTaxService.com Instant Tax Service] got off to a rocky start, but after they began franchising in 2004, they grew at an accelerated rate. They went from 175 locations in 2006 to 540 in 2007 and 1203 in tax season 2008. Projected growth for 2009 is 2,000 stores.

Controversy

On April 20, 2007, IRS investigated allegations of fraud involving eight franchise-owned Instant Tax Service locations in Missouri [http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=6696 "IRS Raids Local Tax Service Businesses"] Ozarksfirst.com Apr 20, 2007] [http://www.ky3.com/home/related/7124496.html "IRS raids Instant Tax Service offices in Springfield"] KY3.com Apr 20, 2007]

Though no charges were made, and no decision reached, Instant Tax Service chose to terminate its contract with the franchisee. [http://images.bimedia.net/documents/Instant+Tax+Service.pdf "Affadavit of Special Agent Nancy Cummins Internal Revenue Service, Criminal Investigation"] bimedia.net Apr 19, 2007] . Representatives from Instant Tax Service indicated that the franchisee had expanded their business too quickly. The company no longer permits franchisees to operate more than a pre-determined number of storefronts during their first and second year. [http://www.instanttaxservice.com/press.php?date=20080801"Press Release Aug 1, 2008"] Instanttaxservice.com/press August 01, 2008]

References

External links

* [http://www.instanttaxservicefranchise.com Instant Tax Service Franchise]
* [http://1040zone.com 1040Zone]
* [http://www.1040opportunity.com 1040 Opportunity]