Engage IQ · IRS Fast Connect
Keep your team focused on client work while the shared swarm dials and holds. IRS Fast Connect dials the Practitioner Priority Service, works the menus and sits through the hold for you. $0.20 a minute while you talk, half of enQ’s published example rate, no credits.
Watch: how it works and what it costs · 2:24
Rates
Engage IQ IRS Fast Connect is a service for tax professionals that puts a live IRS Practitioner Priority Service (PPS) agent on your line. All Access Numbers use the firm’s purchased swarm collectively. The console estimates a target wait, fifteen minutes by default; actual waits depend on IRS availability and purchased capacity. Connected talk is $0.20/minute, active holding is $0.005/leg-minute, Access Numbers and PINs are $2/month each, and shared swarm lines are $4/month each. There is no per-seat fee. enQ, the best-known alternative, publishes an example rate of 40 credits per minute ($0.40) on a $300-per-month plan.
Billed only while an IRS agent is live on your line, in 6-second increments. Half of enQ’s published 40-credit ($0.40) example.
Every active swarm leg serving your firm is billed while holding, including legs that never connect. Holding stops when customer talk begins. One leg holding for 20 minutes costs $0.10; all active legs are added together.
$2.00/month per Access Number + PIN, plus $4.00/month per shared swarm line. All Access Numbers use the firm’s purchased swarm collectively. No per-seat fee. First month prorated.
| Talk 10 min × $0.20 | $2.00 |
| Hold 20 min × $0.005 | $0.10 |
| Monthly subscriptions 1 Access Number + 1 swarm line | $6 / mo |
| Call usage | $2.10 |
Plus $2.00/month per Access Number and PIN and $4.00/month per shared swarm line. This usage example includes one active leg; other active or unsuccessful legs add hold usage. You see this rate and the estimated wait in the console before you accept the line.
| Talk 10 min × 40 credits × $0.01 | $4.00 |
| Hold | $0 |
| Plan required 30,000 credits / month | $300 / mo |
| Credit usage | $4.00 |
The $4.00 consumes included credits; it is not added again to the plan allowance. enQ’s $300/month plan includes 30,000 credits. Rates vary by department and time of day; additional usage beyond the allowance is billed at $0.01/credit.
enQ figures are as published at callenq.com/pricing, checked October 21, 2026: $300/month for 30,000 credits, $0.01 per credit, credits per minute set by department and time of day, their own example of 40 credits per minute, billed from the moment an IRS agent is connected. Rates can change; check their page before you compare. Taxes are extra on both.
How it works
Five screens from the product demo, in the order your team uses them. The quote shows the estimated wait and connected-minute rate. Monthly subscriptions and active holding usage are separate.
01 · Get a line
A conference line is a number your team calls into. Behind it, AI agents dial the IRS, work the menus and hold. Set how many IRS lines at once it keeps waiting; more lines reach an agent sooner, and each one is billed while it waits.
$2.00 a month per Access Number and PIN plus $4.00 a month per shared swarm line, prorated. Stop a line or give it up any time.
02 · Join from anywhere
Dial the access number from any phone, enter the PIN, press 1 to accept the quote, and hold until an agent is live. Or click Call from this browser: no PIN, you are signed in.
Phone and browser callers share the same line. Lines are handed out in the order callers accepted.
03 · Accept the quote first
The estimated wait comes from recent IRS hold times. The rate is in dollars per minute, billed when the IRS agent is live. Monthly subscriptions and active swarm holding are billed separately, including before you accept a call.
Then pick how you will join: workspace, callback to your phone, or dial-in from a desk phone.
04 · Claim when the agent is live
When a human picks up, the AI agent recognizes it and the line turns ready. You see the IRS agent’s first words before you take the call.
Claim it, decline it, or assign it to a colleague. Talk billing starts when you are talking.
05 · Receipt, disposition, done
Each call ends with a receipt: connected minutes at $0.20 and hold minutes at $0.005, in dollars. Record the outcome and add your notes.
IRS departments
Pick the department when you reserve a line. The console shows each one as open or closed in IRS local time, so nobody holds for a department that closed an hour ago.
| IRS department | IRS number | Hours (IRS local time) |
|---|---|---|
| PPS Individual | 866-860-4259 | 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
| PPS Business | 866-860-4259 | 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
| AUR Individual | 800-829-8310 | 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
| Collections Individual | 800-829-7650 | 8 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
| e-Help Desk | 866-255-0654 | 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
| International | 267-941-1000 | 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
| Tax Exempt / Government Entities | 877-829-5500 | 8 a.m. – 8 p.m. |
| Business and Specialty Tax | 800-829-4933 | 7 a.m. – 7 p.m. |
Public IRS numbers. Practitioner Priority Service is for tax professionals with valid third-party authorization on file (Forms 2848, 8821 or 8655). The console shows each department as open or closed before you join, and your firm can set its own calling window on top of IRS hours.
Built for firms
Set a target wait and choose shared swarm capacity. The console estimates the wait; IRS availability still applies.
Each held line is an AI agent that dials, navigates the IRS menus, sits through the hold music and recognizes the instant a human answers. Your team can prepare the case while the swarm waits for a live agent.
Set the wait you will accept in Settings. The console estimates the lines needed and staggers dialing within your purchased shared capacity. The target is not a guaranteed connection time.
Set your calling hours and time zone. Dialing starts before your start time, timed from recent IRS holds, to prepare capacity for the day. Actual waits depend on IRS availability.
Every holding and ready line is visible to the firm. The first ready practitioner claims it, or assigns it to a colleague by name.
Lines are handed out in the order callers accepted. Your purchased swarm capacity is shared across the firm’s Access Numbers.
Recording stays off unless your administrator enables it. Practitioner Priority Service still requires your valid Forms 2848, 8821 or 8655; we do not replace them.
Engage IQ vs enQ
enQ (callenq.com) proved that tax professionals will pay to stop waiting on the IRS. Here is how IRS Fast Connect compares on what you pay and how you work.
| What you pay or do | Engage IQ IRS Fast Connect | enQ / CallEnQ (as published) |
|---|---|---|
| Talk rate | $0.20 per minute while an IRS agent is live | Dynamic credits per minute by department and time of day. Their example: 40 credits per minute, which is $0.40 |
| Hold | $0.005 per minute per line, shown on the receipt | Not billed |
| Monthly subscriptions | $2.00/month per Access Number + PIN and $4.00/month per firm-shared swarm line. No per-seat fee | $300 a month for 30,000 credits, or $3,000 a year |
| Currency | US dollars, quoted before you accept | Credits at $0.01 each. Overage at $0.01 per credit |
| Billing increment | 6-second increments | Per second |
| How you join | Browser softphone, callback to your phone, or any desk phone with a number and PIN | Access numbers and a PIN |
| How the wait is managed | You set a target wait (15 min by default); the console estimates capacity within your purchased shared swarm. Waits are not guaranteed | Dynamic credit pricing steers demand to off-peak hours |
| Team | Firm-wide view of holding and ready lines. Claim it or assign it to a colleague | Per-account access |
| Departments | Eight IRS lines with IRS hours shown | Broad federal and state list |
| Best when | You want the IRS call inside your workspace at a fixed dollar rate | You need their department breadth today and prefer a standalone tool |
enQ figures are as published at callenq.com/pricing, checked October 21, 2026: $300/month for 30,000 credits, $0.01 per credit, credits per minute set by department and time of day, their own example of 40 credits per minute, billed from the moment an IRS agent is connected. Rates can change; check their page before you compare. Taxes are extra on both.
Who it’s for
A fixed dollar rate you can put in a budget, a receipt per call, and one view of every IRS line the firm is holding. No credit balance to top up in March.
Accept the quote, work the file while the line holds, and claim the call with the case already on screen when the agent is live.
Queue the IRS work in the morning from any phone, prepare returns while lines hold, and hand a ready line to whoever owns the case.
$0.20 per connected IRS-agent minute, $0.005 per active holding-leg minute, $2.00/month per Access Number + PIN, and $4.00/month per shared swarm line. There is no per-seat fee. All Access Numbers use the firm’s purchased swarm collectively. Holding includes unsuccessful legs and stops when customer talk begins. Connected time is billed in 6-second increments. Monthly subscriptions are prorated in the first month. See the full rate comparison.
An Engage IQ account set up for IRS Fast Connect only: the console, Settings, Billing and Users. The rest of the Engage IQ platform, the dialer, campaigns and SMS, stays out of your way. You verify your email, add a payment method, and log in straight to the console. If you later want the outbound platform too, ask us and we switch the account over.
At enQ’s published example of 40 credits/minute, a ten-minute conversation consumes 400 credits ($4.00) from the included balance of its $300/month plan. IRS Fast Connect charges $2.10 in usage for ten connected minutes plus twenty aggregate holding-leg minutes, before monthly subscriptions and taxes. With one Access Number and one swarm line for a full month, fifty such calls total $111 and one hundred total $216. At the same enQ example rate, with no rollover, those months cost $300 and $400. Extra holding legs increase Engage IQ usage; enQ rates vary by department and time of day. Checked October 21, 2026.
Set a target wait in Settings; fifteen minutes is the default. The console estimates the capacity needed using recent IRS hold times and staggers dialing within your purchased shared swarm capacity. The target is not a guarantee: IRS hours, availability and your capacity limit still apply.
No. Every active swarm leg serving your firm costs $0.005 per minute while holding, including unsuccessful legs. All legs are added together. Twenty aggregate holding-leg minutes cost $0.10; two legs holding for twenty minutes each cost $0.20. Holding stops when customer talk begins. Connected talk is billed separately at $0.20 per minute.
Yes. Practitioner Priority Service is for tax professionals with valid third-party authorization for the taxpayer. IRS Fast Connect is a workflow and billing tool for authorized practitioners; it does not replace authorization and it does not give you any special access to the IRS.
PPS Individual, PPS Business, AUR Individual, Collections Individual, the e-Help Desk, International, Tax Exempt / Government Entities, and Business and Specialty Tax, each with its IRS hours shown in the console.
Yes. Every conference line has a phone number and a PIN. Dial it from any phone, enter the PIN, press 1 to accept the quoted wait and rate, and stay on the line until an IRS agent is live. Browser callers and phone callers share the same line, handed out in the order they accepted.
The swarm redials and your place carries over to the replacement line, so you do not start from zero. Talk minutes are billed only while an IRS agent is live on your line.
Recording is off by default. Your administrator can enable compliant recording on the campaign.
During the IRS department’s hours, shown in local time in the console; Practitioner Priority Service runs weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Your firm can set a narrower calling window of its own.
Yes. Tax resolution and prep firms can add the dialer, lead scoring and compliance products on Engage IQ when they are ready. Start with Platform.
Reserve a PPS line, accept the quote, and talk to the IRS at $0.20 a minute when the agent is live.
