Dear IRS, Give Us the Practitioner Party Line NOW
•January 27, 2026
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Why It Matters
Reducing hold frustration can increase practitioner efficiency and compliance support, benefiting both the IRS and taxpayers.
Key Takeaways
- •IRS hold times frustrate tax practitioners.
- •Proposed "practitioner party line" enables peer conversation.
- •Party lines historically offered communal phone chats.
- •Modern tech could replace with virtual networking.
- •Improved morale may boost compliance assistance.
Pulse Analysis
The Internal Revenue Service’s dedicated practitioner hotline often leaves accountants waiting on endless hold music, a pain point that slows down tax‑season workflows. While the agency provides specialized numbers for CPAs, the lack of interaction during wait periods isolates professionals who could otherwise exchange insights about complex filings. A “practitioner party line” would transform idle minutes into a collaborative space, allowing real‑time peer support and reducing the mental fatigue associated with long queues. In an industry where time equals money, even modest efficiency gains have measurable financial impact.
The suggestion draws on the cultural memory of mid‑20th‑century party lines, shared telephone channels where strangers conversed while waiting for a connection. Those analog chat rooms fostered community, humor, and information exchange despite limited technology. By invoking that nostalgia, the article underscores how a simple, low‑cost communication model can still deliver value in a digital age. Modern equivalents—conference bridges, Slack channels, or AI‑mediated chatrooms—can replicate the communal feel while complying with security and privacy regulations required for tax matters.
Implementing a practitioner party line today would likely involve a secure, encrypted conference bridge accessible after the initial hold, possibly integrated with existing IRS portal authentication. Such a platform could feature moderated discussion topics, quick polls, and links to official guidance, turning a traditionally wasted interval into a knowledge‑sharing session. Beyond morale, the IRS could benefit from real‑time feedback on procedural bottlenecks, informing future service improvements. As tax professionals adopt the tool, the broader market may see faster filing cycles and reduced error rates, reinforcing overall tax compliance.
Dear IRS, Give Us the Practitioner Party Line NOW
Sabrina necro’d this 2020 tweet of hers today and it’s such a good idea we’re signal boosting it further:
When you call the Paid Practitioner line with the IRS and they put you on hold, you should be able to talk to the other practitioners on hold.
— Sabrina the SALTy CPA (@IraGilligan) November 24, 2020
I realize some of you reading this weren’t alive for the good old days so let me, an old person who was, explain. In the ancient era before the internet we had only two options for human contact: going outside or the phone. The party line was a local or 800/900 number that you would call to get in a chat room of sorts with a bunch of people.
Much like current day, you’d get a wide range of people in the chat from weirdo proto-gooners to straight up lonely people just wanting to shoot the breeze with randos. Then your mom would eventually get the phone bill and yank your see-through neon phone right out of the wall. Good times.
I wasn’t alive for the “party lines” that existed before these so those of you older than me are encouraged to school these children in the comments.
The post Dear IRS, Give Us the Practitioner Party Line NOW appeared first on Going Concern.
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