· Tax season

Will this season's return list fit the hours you actually have?

Enter your preparers, reviewers, season weeks, and return mix. The sheet compares hours needed with hours available. Hours per return are yours to set. The starter numbers are placeholders, not benchmarks.

Placeholders, not benchmarks

Hours per return start with example numbers so the form is not empty. They are not industry averages, not IRS figures, and not a recommendation. Replace every hours field with times from your own last season before you trust the result.

Staffing and season

Preparers

People whose main season job is drafting returns.

Reviewers

People who review and sign, including owner CPAs.

Hours per week per preparer

Tax work only. Subtract meetings, PTO, and other clients.

hrs

Hours per week per reviewer

Hours that will actually go to review, not the whole week.

hrs

Season weeks

Example placeholder of 12. Use the weeks your shop is in season.

Return mix and hours per return

Counts are example placeholders too. Put in the list you expect to finish this season. Hours per return should include preparer time and reviewer time for that type. Admin time has its own field below.

1040 simple

Whatever your shop treats as a short individual return.

1040 simple count

Hours per 1040 simple return

Example placeholder 2. Change this.

hrs

1040 complex

Whatever your shop treats as a long individual return.

1040 complex count

Hours per 1040 complex return

Example placeholder 4. Change this.

hrs

1065 / 1120-S

Partnership and S corporation returns in one combined count.

1065 / 1120-S count

Hours per 1065 / 1120-S return

Example placeholder 6. Change this.

hrs

1120

C corporation returns.

1120 count

Hours per 1120 return

Example placeholder 8. Change this.

hrs

Extensions

Forms such as 4868 or 7004, counted as their own jobs.

Extension count

Hours per extension

Example placeholder 1. Change this.

hrs

Admin time

Admin hours per return

Document chasing, scheduling, and follow up. Example placeholder 1.5. Change this.

hrs

If admin hours per return drop by

A what if, not a promise. Try a cut you think your shop could make.

hrs

Admin time is treated as work that still has to fit inside the preparer and reviewer hours you entered. If you have dedicated admin whose hours are extra, set admin hours per return to 0 and keep that work off this sheet.

Results

Hours needed versus hours available

700 hours needed, 1,560 hours available, 44.9% utilization. Spare 860 hours.

Hours needed

700

Hours available

1,560

Utilization

44.9%

Hours spare

860

Spare capacity in returns

199

At this mix, that many extra returns would fit the spare hours.

If admin hours drop

Drop of 0.5 hours per return, down to 1 admin hours per return. That frees 81 hours across 162 returns.

No shortfall now. The drop adds 81 spare hours.

This sheet adds preparer hours and reviewer hours into one pool. If review is the real gate, lower reviewer hours until they match review time only, or cut the list until review fits.

See results

Hours by return type
Type	Count	Hours each	Subtotal
1040 simple	80	2	160
1040 complex	40	4	160
1065 / 1120-S	12	6	72
1120	5	8	40
Extensions	25	1	25
Admin on every return	162	1.5	243
Total	162	4.3	700

How to estimate your own hours from last season

The calculator only multiplies what you type. The quality of the answer is the quality of last season's timesheets, not the example numbers in the form.

Pull last season's completed returns by type from your practice software. Split 1040s the way your shop already splits them. Do not copy a public definition of simple and complex.
For each type, open a sample of files and add preparer time plus reviewer time. Ten files per type is enough if your mix is consistent. Use the middle of the sample, not the one disaster file and not the cleanest W-2.
Admin time is the rest: missing lists, reminder email, scheduling, portal nudges, and did you get this. Time a week of that work and divide by the returns that moved that week.
Available hours are not 40 times headcount. Subtract standing meetings, PTO, sick days, bookkeeping clients who still close in March, and any other work that does not stop.
If last season overtime was a habit, decide whether this plan includes it. If it does not, use the hours people can work without weekends as the default.

How the math works

Hours available equals preparers times hours per week per preparer, plus reviewers times hours per week per reviewer, times season weeks.

Hours needed equals, for each return type, count times hours per return, then plus every return times admin hours per return.

Utilization is hours needed divided by hours available. If hours needed is higher, the gap is the shortfall. Divide that gap by the average hours per return on your mix to see how many returns do not fit.

If you cut admin hours per return, hours needed falls by that cut times the number of returns. The shortfall shrinks by the same amount until it hits zero. Nothing in that test is a claim about how much chasing you can remove. It only shows the arithmetic.

What this sheet will not do

It will not tell you the right hours per return. It will not compare you to other firms. It will not model review as a separate queue, extensions as a second season, or work that arrives after your document date. For the pipeline that sits under the hours, see the tax season workflow guide.

If document chasing is the part of the gap you want off your preparers, there is a short note on the tax season operator.