PTIN system accessibility guide

About this guide

The Tax Professional PTIN System (TPPS) has implemented numerous accessibility features in compliance with federal regulations. This guide is intended to assist people using assistive technologies to navigate TPPS. The guide provides direction in accessing the site’s features using specific technologies, including screen readers, screen magnifiers, and speech recognition software.

Application overview

TPPS allows you to sign-up and renew your preparer tax identification number (PTIN), keep your account information current, view continuing education credits, and receive communications from the IRS Return Preparer Office.

Technologies, issues and guidance

Elements not visible in high contrast

If you enter TPPS with the high contrast settings on, some elements will not be visible. These elements include:

• Header - IRS logo (not visible with white contrast display)
• Actions & Requests table – actions links (not visible with blue contrast display)

General public portal behavior & guidance

The following TPPS public portal behavior and guidance is relevant to all users, including users navigating the portal with accessibility tools.

• Field labels defined within the data entry box: Please wait for your accessibility tool to read the entire field name before you begin entering data in order to confirm which field you are entering information into.
• Field formatting requirements: Please wait for your accessibility tool to read the entire field name before you begin entering data, as the format of the field may be listed in the field name. Alternately, some fields will display their required format in an error message if the data you entered does not meet the specifications for that field.
• Popups/Modal: The focus on popup modals might get lost. Depending on the desired user action, users can either continue tabbing through the popup to navigate to the link of interest or select the esc key on their keyboard to dismiss the popup.
• Tabbing order: On some pages, users will need to tab through the content more than once to reach their desired location within the page. This primarily impacts pages within the registration flow that contain tiles, as well as pages where the calendar picker is present, the Secure Mailbox, and Professional Credential pages.
• Zoom: While zoomed in at over 200%, users might not have access to the entire application. In these instances, users can use mouse keys to navigate to their desired location within the application. Follow these steps to use mouse keys:
  1. Go to Ease of Access
  2. Click on the mouse section
  3. Turn on mouse keys
  4. Check the Only use Mouse Keys when Num Lock is on
  5. Turn on NumLock
  6. Use numbers 2, 4, 8, and 6 to move the mouse and use number 5 to click page objects
• Focus: Users should use shift or tab keys on their keyboard to get focus on the desired page element or field.
• Links: Users should be aware that URLs on the Inbox page (to IRS.gov) will open in a new window.

Show numbers command

1. When using "show numbers" command on a page with a modal, elements behind the modal are also recognized.
2. When using "show numbers" command on the calendar date picker, user is unable to navigate calendar with those same commands
3. Focus is lost when "show numbers" command is in use

For all these cases, users should use the ‘show grid’ command to fine tune page selections. Alternatively, users can select the number associated with the date field for the calendar date picker and dictate the date as opposed to using the calendar picker.