IRS app accessibility guide

Get help accessing features in the IRS app (formerly IRS2Go) with assistive technologies on iOS and Android. These include built-in screen readers and supported mobile keyboards.

On this page

• Application overview
• Assistive technologies supported
• iOS guidance and known issues
• Android guidance and known issues

Application overview

IRS app is a mobile application for iOS and Android devices. It lets you check your tax refund status and link to payment options, free tax filing assistance and resources on IRS.gov. You can also sign in or create an IRS account from the app to check you balance, make a payment, and more. 

Both iOS and Android applications have the same features and functionality.

To download the app, select your app store link at the IRS app. Or search for “the IRS app” in your device’s official app store. 

Assistive technologies supported

You can use the IRS app with built-in mobile screen readers, including VoiceOver on iOS and TalkBack on Android. The application works best with the native, built-in mobile keyboards.

iOS guidance and known issues

Guidance for iOS

You can use VoiceOver to navigate and interact with the IRS App on iPhone.

VoiceOver lets you move through screen content, hear text and control labels, activate buttons and links, and interact with form fields. You can use standard VoiceOver gestures or supported keyboard commands when an external keyboard is connected.

For information about configuring and using VoiceOver, refer to the accessibility settings available on your Apple device.

Choose the VoiceOver modifier

The modifier is a key or set of keys you press with one or more other keys to enter VoiceOver commands. You can set the modifier to be the Caps Lock key or the Control and Option keys pressed at the same time.

1. Go to Settings > Accessibility > VoiceOver > Typing > Modifier Keys.
2. Choose the modifier for VoiceOver commands: the Caps Lock key or the Control and Option keys.

This modifier is abbreviated as “VO” in the following tables.

VoiceOver Actions and Commands for iOS and iPadOS with external keyboard:

Quick Nav using the arrow keys

Turn on Quick Nav to control VoiceOver using the arrow keys.

The IRS app has the following known accessibility issues when using VoiceOver on iOS.

Navigation and page context:

• Screen titles are announced the first time the user is interacting with the screen. After the initial interaction, the user needs to swipe backwards to get to the page content as the focus is set to the bottom of the screen.
• In iOS version 13, the Back and Right arrows of the numeric keyboard are announced as "possibly."
• Placeholder text disappears for input fields when data is entered. It may make it difficult to determine the purpose of the input field if the onscreen label is not present. To identify the field, delete the data entered to see the field label.
• After making or cancelling a phone call from the IRS app, focus returns to the top of the screen, rather than to the Call button that was in focus.
• VoiceOver users may be unable to select an item from a drop-down (picker) menu on webpages loaded within the IRS app. The workaround for this is to select the “Open in Safari” button from the Safari in-app browser toolbar, which is the last option at the very bottom of the in-app browser. Once the webpage has loaded in Safari, VoiceOver users will be able to select an item again.
• Opening a link in an external browser may reset the screen reader focus to the top of the screen on returning to the app, rather than the activated link (version 6.0).
• Some page headings are not announced when a new screen opens. On certain screens, including Balance details and Trump Account, VoiceOver initially places focus on the Back button instead of announcing the page heading. Users may need to swipe forward to locate and hear the page heading and other screen content (version 2026.9.16). 
• Because focus may begin on the Back button when some pages open, VoiceOver users may not immediately receive confirmation of the page they navigated to. Continue navigating through the screen to locate the page heading and content (version 2026.9.16). 

Announcing text in unexpected ways:

• Abbreviations for days and months may be read as it is written rather than announcing it as the whole day or month that it is abbreviating.
• The hyphen or dash separator in a phone number or Social Security number may be announced as "minus", indicating it is a mathematical minus sign when it is not.
• The screen reader may announce the IRS website incorrectly as “IRS (dot) governor” instead of “IRS (dot) gov.”
• On the Profile page, VoiceOver may announce portions of a mailing address in an unexpected format. Street numbers and ZIP Codes may be spoken as whole numbers, and state abbreviations may be announced letter by letter (version 2026.9.16). 
• On the Tax Record page, VoiceOver may announce “W-2s” as “negative two s” instead of identifying the tax form as W-2s (version 2026.9.16). 
• On the Make a payment page, the text “Processing fees apply” may be announced by VoiceOver in a language different from the English text displayed on the screen (version 2026.9.16). 

Refund status screen:

• Only one telephone number can be accessed by tapping the paragraph that contains multiple phone numbers. 

Free tax prep site locator results screen:

• The screen title is not announced when the Free Tax Prep Site Locator opens. The focus is instead set to the “current location” button, which can be double tapped to search for free tax preparation sites near the user’s current location.
• On the Free Tax Prep Site Locator, the “X” button to clear the ZIP Code input field is not accessible using a keyboard or VoiceOver. The workaround for this is to select the input field and press the delete key to remove the numbers in the field.
• On the Results screen, the hours in some locations are left blank and the Service Detail section is not formatted with a bulleted list to increase readability.
• The phone number contained in the Service Detail section is not selectable with a tap.

Search and status messages:

• When a search returns no results, the “No results” message appears visually but is not automatically announced by VoiceOver. Users may need to navigate through the screen to locate the status message (version 2026.9.16). 

On the Balance details page, dynamic information such as the date through which a balance was calculated may appear visually without being automatically announced by VoiceOver. Users may need to navigate to the displayed status information to hear it (version 2026.9.16). Forms and required fields:

Required form fields that are identified visually with an asterisk (*) may be announced by VoiceOver as “star” instead of “required.” Users should be aware that fields marked with an asterisk are required even when VoiceOver does not announce the required state (version 2026.9.16). Display and content:

• On the View payment options – Full balance page, some content may overlap other text or interface elements. This may make affected information more difficult to read or interact with (version 2026.9.16). 

Android guidance and known issues

Guidance for Android

You can use TalkBack to navigate and interact with the IRS App on Android devices.

TalkBack lets you move between screen elements, hear text and control labels, activate buttons and links, and interact with form fields. Standard TalkBack gestures and supported external-keyboard commands can be used to navigate application content.

For information about configuring TalkBack, refer to the accessibility settings available on your Android device.

Global actions

Navigation

Known issues for Android

Navigation and continuous reading:

• When navigating with an external keyboard, there is a loss of focus on all screens before the Refunds tab and after Security tab. Users need to tab multiple times before the focus is visible. With TalkBack on, the users need to tab only once before the Refunds tab and after Security tab.
• On some screens, focus may go to the top of the screen instead of the previously selected control when navigating backwards such as the Get Status button.
• On the Refund Status page, the Navigate Up button visible focus is very hard to see.  Once the text is scrolled, it is not possible to go back to the Navigate Up button with a keyboard. Use Alt + ctrl + backspace to go back to the refunds screen. Use Tab to navigate the text
• On the Privacy Notice/Get Status/ screens, it is not possible to select the Navigate Up button with a keyboard. Use Alt + ctrl + backspace to go back to the refunds screen.
• When you open the Accessibility page, and other screens displaying external web pages, the close button (X) is not easily accessible with a keyboard and for TalkBack users it could use a description as to what it does. Use Alt + ctrl + backspace to go back to the previous screens.
• Tabbing through the Tabs with Talkback on, Talkback announces the label of each Tab correctly, and when navigating the Tabs again it announces Unlabeled.
• Navigation tabs and buttons are missing a Role that is programmatically determinable. The workaround for the missing bottom navigation Role is provided in the form of the hints that are given to the user to double tap on a tab to go to the screen content.
• Placeholder text disappears for input fields when data is entered. It may make it difficult to determine the purpose of the input field if the onscreen label is not present. To identify the field, delete the data entered to see the field label.
• When navigating with controls menu by swiping the screen with 3 fingers and then swiping down to the Tabs, TalkBack announces “Unlabeled” rather than the Tabs labels.
• TalkBack doesn’t announce links when navigating with the Links Menu. The workaround is to swipe through the page content and identify links via hints that are announced by TalkBack.
• On the On the Payments and Tax Help screens, there are 3 elements (containing the heading and text) that are in the tabbing order and are not announced by Talkback. Continue tabbing to the heading to select.
• On some screens, TalkBack does not consistently read all page content continuously. TalkBack may read only the currently selected text, link or control instead of continuing through the entire page (version 2026.9.16). 
• On some pages that contain blank space near the bottom of the screen, selecting the blank area may allow TalkBack to read additional or complete page content. This behavior is not consistent across all screens (version 2026.9.16). 
• Users may need to navigate through individual elements by swiping through the page to hear all available content (version 2026.9.16). 

Refund status screen:

• The page title is announced by Talkback as the IRS app instead of Refunds.
• Middle and last 4 digits SSN fields are announced as unlabeled and then Talkback announces each field’s correct label.
• The screen reader may announce repetitive messages, such as “1 replaces 1” instead of the digit, when entering or deleting a number in the SSN, ITIN, or Refund Amount fields (version 6.0).

File for free screen:

• The screen reader may incorrectly announce the bullet points by failing to indicate the item positions in the list such as “1 of 3," “2 of 3,” and so on (version 6.0).

Free tax prep site locator results screen:

• When viewing results, TalkBack announces the telephone number after swiping from the provider name’s heading but does not indicate that the number announced is a phone number.

IRS phone numbers screen:

• After the screen title is announced, the next swipe selects the “navigate up” back button instead of selecting the screen content. The workaround is to swipe again to begin reading the content.
• The screen reader may incorrectly announce a 1-800 phone number as a whole number, in hundreds and thousands, instead of reading the phone number digit by digit (version 6.0).

Announcing text and accessibility information:

Testing with TalkBack version 16.0.01.0 identified several announcement issues that were not reproduced during testing with TalkBack version 13.5.02.3.

• TalkBack may announce visual or formatting information, such as pixel dimensions, font information or color information, before announcing the actual field or item content (version 2026.9.16). 
• Dollar amounts may not always be announced correctly, particularly when an amount includes cents or when other text or characters follow the amount (version 2026.9.16). 
• When entering a dollar amount, TalkBack may repeat the entered value or include additional wording. For example, an entered value may be announced as “133, replace 133” (version 2026.9.16).  

Users should review the visible value or navigate back to the field when additional confirmation of an entered amount is needed.

Related

• Accessibility guide for IRS.gov
• Accessibility guides for IRS applications
• Accessible IRS tax products
• American Sign Language (ASL) videos