Practitioner Priority Service® — Your First Point of Contact
Tax practitioners have long served an important role in our nation's tax collection system as a conduit between taxpayers and the IRS. The Practitioner Priority Service® (PPS) is your first point of contact for account-related issues. Our Practitioner Priority Service® is a professional support line that staffed by IRS customer service representatives specially trained to handle practitioners' accounts questions. You may contact PPS at (866-860-4259). PPS is available to all tax professionals with valid third party authorizations, i.e., Forms 2848, 8821 and/or 8655.
PPS service hours are weekdays:
- 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. local time (Alaska and Hawaii follow Pacific time)
- 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. local time for Puerto Rico
If you are registered for e-Services and have a valid third party authorization recorded on the Centralized Authorization File (CAF), you do not need to contact PPS to obtain a transcript. You can get the transcript thru e-Services. It is only through an approved e-file application that tax professionals, who are Electronic Return Originators (EROs), Circular 230 Practitioners, or Reporting Agents (RAs), can gain access to the Transcript Delivery System. ERO’s must e-file five or more returns in a tax season to be eligible. Circular 230 Practitioners need only apply and be approved. If you have specific questions related to e-Services registration, please contact the e-Services help desk at (866) 255-0654.
If your inquiry concerns an International account, PPS assistors will be unable to assist you or transfer your call. Please call the International line at (267) 941-1000.
When calling PPS at (866) 860-4259, you will hear the following:
Please listen carefully to each option before making a selection.
For general tax law questions, including filing a return or tax rules and regulations, press or say 1.
- For questions related to Filing, Dependents, Income and Credits for Form 1040, press 1.
- For questions related to Schedule D, Self-Employment, or Pensions/IRAs, press 2.
- For questions related to the Affordable Care Act, press 3.
- All others, press 4.
- To repeat these options, press 9.
For questions about individual accounts that are not in collection or examination status, press or say 2.
- PPS Account Service is available to tax practitioners who provide tax advice, prepare income taxes or act on an individual taxpayer’s behalf and are calling in regards to an account related issue before the IRS.
- The following account related services are offered:
- Locating and applying payments,
- Explaining IRS communications (i.e., notices and letters),
- Providing general procedural guidance and timeframes,
- Making account adjustments,
- Securing taxpayer income verification,
- Providing transcripts of taxpayer accounts, and
- Providing forgotten/lost CAF number.
- There are a few service limitations when calling PPS.
- PPS limits the number of clients per call to 5 clients per call.
- If you are calling for transcripts, transcript requests are limited to 10 per call. If more than ten transcripts is needed, you may use Form 4506-T or Transcript Delivery System (TDS).
For questions about business accounts that are not in collection or examination status, press or say 3.
- PPS Account Service is available to tax practitioners who provide tax advice, prepare income taxes or act on a business taxpayer’s behalf and are calling in regards to an account related issue before the IRS.
- The following account related services are offered:
- Locating and applying payments,
- Explaining IRS communications (i.e., notices and letters),
- Providing general procedural guidance and timeframes,
- Making account adjustments,
- Securing taxpayer income verification,
- Providing transcripts of taxpayer accounts,
- Employer Identification Number (EIN) verification, and
- Providing forgotten/lost CAF number.
- There are a few service limitations when calling PPS.
- PPS limits the number of clients per call to 5 clients per call.
- If you are calling for transcripts, transcript requests are limited to 5 clients per call. You may use Form 4506-T or Transcript Delivery System (TDS) as alternative options to obtain transcripts.
If your client's account is in Automated Collection System status, ACS, press or say 4.
For questions about an Automated UnderReporter Notice, AUR, that your client received, press or say 5.
- Please look at the top right hand corner of the Notice's front page.
- If the phone number is (800) 829-8310 Press or say 1.
- If the phone number is (800) 829-3009 Press or say 2.
- If the phone number is (877) 571-4712 press or say 3.
If your client's account is under Correspondence Examination, press or say 6.
- If the number on the letter is (866) 897-0161, press or say 1 for the Small Business, Self-Employment Examination toll-free line.
- If the number on the letter is (866) 897-0177, press or say 2 for the Wage and Investment Examination toll-free line.
To hear these options again, press or say 9.
There are other avenues to obtain taxpayer transcripts:
- Submit paper Form 4506-T, Request for Transcript of Tax Return. Expected processing timeframe is 10 days from receipt. There is no charge associated with this service.
- Register with e-services to enroll in the Income Verification Express Services (IVES) program. IVES provides expedited service for bulk requests. There is a $2.00 fee for each transcript requested. IVES is a program that allows third and fourth party assistors to request transcripts and receive them electronically within 2 business days from receipt. More information is available at Income Verification Express Service.
- Eligible tax professionals may use Transcript Delivery System (TDS) to request and receive account transcripts, wage and income documents, tax return transcripts, and verification of non-filing letters. Tax Professionals can request the products for both individual and business taxpayers and must have a Power of Attorney authorization on file with the IRS before accessing a client's account. More information is available at the Online Tools for Tax Professionals page.
Issues outside the scope of the PPS employees' authority are transferred or referred to the appropriate IRS functions such as accounts assigned to a Revenue Officer or Revenue Agent.
- If the PPS assistor cannot transfer the call, the assistor will provide the caller with the appropriate contact telephone number.