Tax Season Comes With a Deadline. For People With Disabilities, It Can Also Come With Major Roadblocks.

Every year, millions of Americans sit down to file their taxes online. It's become the default, with roughly 94% of returns now filed electronically according to a federal review(opens in a new tab) of the 2025 filing season, which means for most people, tax season looks something like this: pull up a website, enter some information, hit submit. It's not anyone's favorite task, but it gets done.

For the roughly 70 million Americans living with a disability, it's often not that simple.

Think about what it actually takes to do almost anything online. You navigate menus, fill out forms, read instructions, respond to error messages, and confirm everything went through. Most of the time, it works. Now think about doing all of that on a website that wasn't designed to work with a screen reader, requires a mouse to get around, or has text that's too low-contrast to read clearly. 

Tax filing is just one example, but it's a particularly high-stakes one. These aren't hypothetical problems, and they show up on the very websites people are required to use every year.

Where things stand

A GOBankingRates survey(opens in a new tab) found that 14% of Americans would rather report for jury duty than file their taxes, which, when you think about it, says a lot about how the process feels even when everything works. For people who also have to navigate websites that weren't built with them in mind, that number makes even more sense. 

According to AudioEye's Digital Accessibility Index(opens in a new tab), the average government webpage contains 307 accessibility issues, one of the highest rates of any industry analyzed. When people with disabilities are navigating these sites, they may not be able to find the right form, finish a payment, or even confirm their submission went through. Government sites also ranked last on keyboard accessibility across all sectors, and 77% of pages had unclear links, making basic navigation a challenge for anyone using assistive technology.

Financial services sites have similar gaps. After filing, people still need to check refund status, confirm banking details, and manage their accounts, and AudioEye found that finance sites had one of the highest rates of inaccessible forms across all industries. That matters especially right now, because the IRS is phasing out paper refund checks and pushing everyone toward electronic payments. According to CNBC(opens in a new tab), about 1.4 million filers are already experiencing delays as a result. 

What an accessible experience actually look like

Most of these issues are fixable, and accessibility isn't about overhauling everything from scratch. It comes down to a few core features that, when done right, make a meaningful difference for a lot of people. In practice, this means:

• The entire page can be navigated using only a keyboard. Every form field, button, and link can be reached and activated without a mouse.

• Every image and chart has a text description. Screen readers can't interpret visuals on their own, so alt text ensures people with visual disabilities can access the same information as everyone else.

• Text is readable for people with low vision. Sufficient contrast between text and background means someone can actually read what's on the page without straining or guessing.

• Links and buttons clearly describe where they go or what they do. Rather than generic labels like "click here" or "learn more," descriptive text tells users exactly what to expect, which is critical when navigating an unfamiliar government portal or financial platform.

This isn't just a tax problem

Tax season makes the stakes obvious because filing is mandatory and the deadline is fixed. There's no option to just skip it if a website doesn't work for you. But the same issues exist across the web, on retail sites, healthcare portals, and banking apps, and any organization with a digital presence has users who rely on assistive technology to get around.

Accessibility standards like WCAG(opens in a new tab) exist because tools that serve the public should work for everyone who uses them, and the Department of Justice has been reinforcing that through updates to Title II of the ADA and stronger Section 508 compliance rules. For businesses, it's becoming less of a best practice and more of a baseline expectation.

The organizations getting this right aren't waiting to be told to. They're building products that more people can actually use, and it turns out that's good for everyone.