Foundation
Jackson Hewitt was founded in 1982 by John Hewitt with a variety of investors who purchased the six-location, Norfolk, Virginia-based Mel Jackson's Tax Service and renamed it Jackson Hewitt.[6] For the next few years, the company grew slowly, adding a handful of additional outlets.
Expansion
In 1986, the same year the Internal Revenue Service first began to experiment with computerized tax filing, the company began selling franchises.[7] By the following tax season there were 22 offices.
In October 1989, the Montgomery Ward department-store chain contracted with Jackson Hewitt to open offices in 169 stores across the United States. For years, Sears – a competitor of Montgomery Ward – had been host to H&R Block in its stores. The sudden growth was too much for the company and to avoid entering bankruptcy during tax season, Jackson Hewitt closed 67 of those offices. However, by the end of 1990, the company had returned to profitability and opened more locations in Montgomery Ward stores.
By 1992, Jackson Hewitt had 515 offices in almost 30 states and was preparing 311,000 returns for taxpayers per year, making it second-largest tax preparation chain in the United States. During the following year, the company raised funds for expansion and moved into new headquarters in Virginia Beach, Virginia. By 1993, the company had 900 offices in 37 states.
In January 1994, the company went public but no new stock was issued; the company's 700 investors' private shares simply converted into public ones. During that same year, the company made a deal to set up offices in Sam's Club stores on a trial basis. The trial was a success, and later that year the company launched plans to establish eighteen offices in Walmart stores, leasing space for use as combined tax preparation and business mail service sites.
Cendant
In December 1997, Jackson Hewitt announced that it was being acquired by HFS Inc. for $480 million. Before the sale was complete, HFS merged with another firm and changed its name to Cendant Corporation. Cendant owned a number of franchise operations, ranging from Ramada Inn, Days Inn and Avis Car Rental to chains including Coldwell Banker and Century 21.
Under Cendant, Jackson Hewitt opened a total of 1,000 new offices, and started experimenting with kiosk locations in shopping malls and offices at Century 21 real estate agencies.
Following the 1999 tax season, Jackson Hewitt moved its headquarters to Cendant's headquarters in Parsippany, New Jersey, and started acquiring of independent tax preparation offices through its largest franchisee, Tax Services of America.
Starting in 2001, Jackson Hewitt began opening offices in Kmart stores. During that year, the company also introduced the issuance of MasterCard cash cards – so that their customers would have easier access to accelerated refund accounts – as well as the creation of a Premier Tax Service for complex returns. Some Jackson Hewitt locations began to offer ATMs where clients could cash their refund checks on-site. Independent tax-service acquisitions continued throughout the year, with more than 3,300 offices, owned by 600 franchisees.
