Illinois is considered to have some of the strictest firearms control laws in the United States. Yet, it seems your NOL clients are holding a gun to your head, demanding that you complete their returns PDQ.  Instead of retirement, have you considered just dropping your NOL clients?  Consider the Matthew 5:30 approach to tax practice management:  "And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into h*ll."