Contents
About this guide
This guide is intended to assist individuals with disabilities in their use of the online account application. The guide will provide direction in accessing the features available in online account using specific technologies, including screen readers, screen magnifiers and speech recognition software.
Application overview
Online account is a mobile-friendly digital tool focusing on providing on-demand tax account status and payment functionality to taxpayers. Taxpayers can access the following features from online account:
- Their account status including total amount owed
- Their balance due broken down by tax year and type
- Payment options, including the ability to pay by bank account, credit card, or money order
- Create or modify a payment plan
- Recent payments made to their account
- Summary of their most recent tax return
If there is an alert associated with your account, it will be presented at the top of the account home page. Screen reader users can access alerts using the "skip to main content" link in the application header. Each section of the application is labeled with a heading. These headings can be used to navigate the application. All buttons and links can be identified and accessed.
Information for specific technologies, issues and guidance
Desktop screen readers
- You may encounter a survey prompt requesting your feedback while using this site. We’re actively working to fix these known accessibility issues:
- Redundant, complex information due to almost twice the number of form elements that are programmatically presented.
- Headings without a predictable hierarchy.
- The IRS logo and other graphics don’t have alt text.
- The “Powered by Medallia” link doesn’t indicate it will open in a new window.
- When generating a PDF for Identity Protection PIN, an IRS logo is not detected or announced by screen readers.
- When making a payment, messages resulting from input errors may occur. In the event the associated heading identifying the errors does not receive automatic programmatic focus on page load, the heading is immediately following the ’Make a Payment’ heading level 2.
JAWS
- There are tabs on Withholding Compliance page that are inaccessible to two of three JAWS modes of operation. Tabs are identifiable and operable when using TAB and JAWS commands, but are not identifiable or operable when using by line navigation or Virtual HTML features.
| Action | Commands |
|---|---|
| Virtual HTML Features | INSERT + F3 |
| List Links | INSERT + F7 |
| Next Link | TAB |
| Prior Link | SHIFT + TAB |
| List Headings | INSERT + F6 |
| List of Form Fields | INSERT + F5 |
| List Buttons | INSERT + CTRL + B |
| List Combo Boxes | INSERT + CTRL + C |
| List Edit Boxes | INSERT + CTRL + E |
| List Radio Buttons | INSERT + CTRL + A |
| List Check Boxes | INSERT + CTRL + X |
| List Tables | INSERT + CTRL + T |
| Read from Beginning of Row to Current Cell | INSERT + SHIFT + HOME |
| Read from Current Cell to End of Row | INSERT + SHIFT + PAGE UP |
| Read the current row | SHIFT + UP ARROW |
| Read the current column | SHIFT + NUMPAD 5 |
| List Frames | INSERT + F9 |
| List All Ordered, Unordered, and Definition Lists | INSERT + CTRL + L |
macOS VoiceOver (VO)
| Action | Commands |
|---|---|
| Find the next heading | VO - Command - H |
| Find the previous heading | VO - Command - Shift - H |
| Find the next control | VO - Command - J |
| Find the previous control | SHIFT + TAB |
| Find the next Table | VO - Command - T |
| Find the previous Table | VO - Command - Shift - T |
| Find the next Link | VO - Command - L |
| Find the previous Link | VO - Command - Shift - L |
| Find the next Paragraph | VO - Shift - Page Down |
| Find the previous Paragraph | VO - Shift - Page Up |
| Read the next Sentence | VO - Command - Page Down |
| Read the next Line | VO - Down Arrow |
| Read the previous Line | VO - Up Arrow |
| Read everything visible in the window or the Dock, or on your desktop, depending on your location | VO - Shift - W |
- No known issues at this time.
Mobile screen readers
Android TalkBack (TB)
- TalkBack keyboard commands for Android 4.1 or higher
- Navigation
- Move to next item: Alt + Shift + Right arrow
- Move to previous item: Alt + Shift + Left arrow
- Move to first item: Alt + Shift + Up arrow
- Move to last item: Alt + Shift + Down arrow
- Click focused element: Alt + Shift + Enter
- Global actions
- Back: Alt + Shift + Backspace
- Home: Alt + Shift + h
- Recent apps/Overview: Alt + Shift + r
- Notifications: Alt + Shift + n
- Search the screen: Alt + Shift + / (forward slash)
- Next navigation setting: Alt + Shift + Equals (=)
- Previous navigation setting: Alt + Shift + Minus (-)
- Open global context menu: Alt + Shift + g
- Open local context menu: Alt + Shift + L
- Stop TalkBack speech: Control
- Pause or resume TalkBack: Alt + Shift + z
- Navigation
iOS VoiceOver (VO)
- There are known issues where the following behaviors may occur:
- VO does not announce the first column name for the first row of the table. In some instances, VO announces column names twice for some cells.
Screen magnifiers
ZoomText (ZT)
| Action | Commands |
|---|---|
| Virtual HTML Features | INSERT + F3 |
| Increase magnification | ALT + NUMPAD PLUS |
| Decrease magnification | ALT + NUMPAD MINUS |
| Turn color enhancements on and off | CTRL + SHIFT + C |
| Font Enhancements (xFont, Standard and None) | CTRL + SHIFT + F |
- No known issues at this time.
Speech recognition software
Dragon Naturally Speaking (DNS)
| Action | Commands |
|---|---|
| Turn the microphone on or off | Plus key (+) on the numeric keypad |
| Open the Correction menu | Minus key (-) on the numeric keypad |
| Force words to be recognized as commands | Press and hold down the CTRL key |
| Force words to be recognized as dictation | Press and hold down the SHIFT key |
| Open the Naturally Speaking menu | Asterisk key (*) on the numeric keypad |
| Put the microphone to sleep or wake it up | Slash key (/) on the numeric keypad |
| Press-to-talk | Zero key (0) on the numeric keypad |
- No known issues at this time.