Key takeaways
- Clean the client list and update the organizer in November and December.
- Send individual organizers in waves through January, not all on one day.
- Watch the January 31 information return deadline separately from the income tax return deadline.
- Keep the clients waiting on a K-1 or a corrected form in a separate list from the clients who have not responded.
November and December: prepare
Start with the prior-year client list. Check the names, filing status, entity type, email addresses and the services each client buys. Remove the clients who left and add the clients who joined during the year.
Update the individual and business organizers for the new tax year. Check the form names, the thresholds and the questions that came up last season.
Pick the send waves for January. A firm that sends a few clients each working day spreads the client questions and the document uploads across the season.
Early January: open the season
Send the first wave of organizers in the first working days of January. Start with the clients who have the simplest returns and the clients who usually send early.
Set the document deadline for each client before the organizer goes out. The deadline should leave the preparer enough time to review the return before the filing date.
Send the business clients their own organizer at the same time. The business return has a different document list and an earlier deadline than the individual return.
January 31: information returns
The 1099-NEC, 1099-MISC and W-2 deadlines fall at the end of January. The 2026 payments are due January 31, 2027, which is a Sunday, so the deadline moves to Monday, February 1, 2027.
This deadline is separate from the income tax return deadline. A firm that is waiting on a client's vendor list in late January is already late, so collect the vendor list and W-9s in November and December.
Check the fourth-quarter Form 941 and the annual Form 940 at the same time. They share the January deadline.
February: brokerage forms and early returns
Brokerages often issue composite 1099s in mid-February, and corrected forms can follow in March. Do not chase a client for a brokerage form before mid-February; the client may send an early version and then a correction.
Use February to prepare the simplest individual returns and the business returns whose records are complete. The preparers get an early win and the clients get an early refund or an early answer.
Send reminders to the clients who have not started. The first reminder should go out before the document deadline, not after it.
March: business returns and K-1s
Calendar-year Forms 1065 and 1120-S are generally due March 15, 2027. The K-1s from those returns are what the individual clients and the other business clients are waiting for.
Keep the clients waiting on a K-1 in a separate list from the clients who have not sent anything. The first group needs a document date; the second group needs a follow-up.
File an extension for a business return when the records or a K-1 will not arrive in time. The extension moves the filing date, not the payment date.
April: individual returns and extensions
Calendar-year Forms 1040 and 1120 are generally due April 15, 2027. The individual return deadline is also the deadline to pay any tax owed, even if the client files an extension.
File Form 4868 for a client who cannot file by the deadline, and tell the client what the extension does and does not do. An extension gives more time to file, not more time to pay.
Keep the extension list with the reason for each extension: a missing K-1, a corrected 1099, a late client or a complex return. The reason decides the follow-up.
May to October: extended returns
The extended individual deadline is October 15, 2027. The extended business deadlines depend on the form: generally September 15 for a partnership or S corporation and October 15 for a C corporation.
Do not let the extended returns become a second season. Work them in the order the documents arrive, and keep the clients who are still waiting on a document in the same missing-items list.
At the end of the season, count the extensions, the missing documents and the clients who never responded. Pick one change for the next year and write it down before the memory fades.