Tax Firms: Close Seasonal Staff Access After the October Deadline

Independent accounting and tax firms in Western North Carolina should treat the October extension deadline as a trigger for an access review, not an automatic account-deletion day. The IRS noted on October 14, 2026, that most taxpayers who requested an extension to file their 2025 federal return face an October 15 deadline. That can mark the end of a seasonal assignment for some preparers, while others may still be handling amended returns, notices, payroll work, or year-round client service. The firm should decide which work has actually ended before changing access.

The owner or office manager should start with the seasonal staff roster and have the person responsible for technology verify each account. Today’s checklist is: confirm the worker’s last active assignment; name the employee taking over unfinished work; list Microsoft 365, tax software, document portal, remote-access, payroll, and practice-management access; identify firm-owned devices or security keys to recover; and record whether the account should remain active, be temporarily blocked, or begin the full departure process.

For a worker whose access is no longer needed, blocking sign-in is only the first step. Microsoft’s current guidance for removing a former employee separates preventing sign-in from preserving mailbox and OneDrive information, managing mobile devices, transferring access, removing licenses, and eventually deleting the account. Microsoft Entra guidance also calls for blocking new sign-ins and revoking existing sessions. That distinction matters because an account can be blocked while the firm makes a careful decision about records, forwarding, ownership, and retention.

Ask four decision questions before deleting anything: Does this person still own files, automations, shared calendars, or client tasks? Does another employee need authorized access to that work? Is the account tied to tax software or another service that has its own session or user list? Has the firm documented when the account, license, and retained data will be reviewed again? A Microsoft 365 sign-in change does not automatically remove a separate login inside every tax application or portal.

Do not reuse a departing preparer’s account for next season, leave it enabled merely for convenience, or place passwords on the closeout checklist. Keep the checklist free of taxpayer information and point authorized administrators to the protected system where credentials and procedures belong. If a preparer is expected to return, give the account a named status, a review date, and a documented reactivation process instead of letting access sit unnoticed for months.

A calm closeout does not require finishing every retention decision today. Pick the seasonal workers whose assignments are clearly complete, block and revoke their access where appropriate, transfer active work, and schedule the remaining license and data decisions. The goal is simple: every account should match a current job, every unfinished task should have an owner, and every delayed decision should have a date.