The October 15 Capacity Planning Kit

Think you’re on track because you have 200 returns and 50 days left? Think again.

At first glance, that sounds manageable.

200 returns. 50 working days. That’s just 4 returns a day.

But that’s not the number you should be planning around.

Once you factor in review cycles, client delays, partner sign-offs, and the new returns that arrive before October 15, your real daily workload can look very different. This guide helps you uncover your true capacity requirement, before hidden bottlenecks turn into missed deadlines.

Extension work has evolved into a compressed filing season of its own. Firms enter September with fewer people available, more complex returns waiting to be completed, and teams that are already stretched from April.

The challenge isn’t about working harder, it’s about knowing whether your current capacity is actually enough.

Most firms don’t discover they’re behind until reviews start piling up, clients respond late, and partner approvals become the bottleneck. By then, there’s very little time left to recover.

What this kit will cover:

• Why extension volume has shifted structurally into October, and why it will not reverse on its own
• The four pressure points where October capacity actually breaks, starting with review rather than preparation
• A four-number capacity check that requires no software or workforce planning tool
• A worked example showing how hours required, hours available, and the resulting gap are calculated
• A week-by-week checklist counting backwards from October 15, including how to ring-fence the September 15 collision
• How firms with controlled Octobers add capacity, separate preparation from review, and set a hard information cutoff

Run the numbers now, while a capacity gap is still a planning problem rather than a filing-season crisis.