"A California court imposed $1.16 million of civil penalties on Liberty Tax Service, saying Liberty engaged in deceptive practices when promoting its refund anticipation loans to tax-return filers." [Source:
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The article also includes, "California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr., who filed the suit against Liberty, reached a similar settlement with H&R Block. Block, the nation's largest preparer of tax returns, agreed in January to pay as much as $2.45 million in restitution to customers who used its refund anticipation loans. It also agreed to pay $500,000 in penalties and $1.9 million in fees and costs."As part of a $5 million settlement in 2007, Jackson Hewitt Tax Service agreed to refund $4 million to customers who used its refund anticipation loans. In their settlements, Block and Jackson Hewitt denied allegations of any wrongdoing."