By and large, it was not a great year for tax firms. Two of the three biggest tax prep chains, H&R Block and Jackson Hewitt, reported noteworthy declines in revenue, citing problems with refund anticipation loans and sustained unemployment among their core client bases. (That said, the other major chain, Liberty Tax, continued its relentless growth, and surpassed Jackson Hewitt for the first time to become the No. 2 chain in the country.) For firms that provide a wider range of tax services, the results were mixed, a combination of mostly minor declines in revenue and the odd slight uptick — with the notable exception of Texas-based tax services firm Ryan, which managed growth of over 10 percent, aided, in part, by its expertise in international tax issues.
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