Accessibility Features for People with Disabilities  

The IRS and SBA have taken steps to improve the accessibility of this CD-ROM for users with disabilities. Once again, this edition of the Small Business Resource Guide CD will meet the Section 508 Rehabilitation Act Amendments of 1998 concerning product accessibility. In addition, we hope you will share with us any comments you have for further improvement of this product by e-mail to irssbacd@Fedworld.gov or by phone to (703) 487-4608.

Our efforts to ensure accessibility include:

• Upgrade to Adobe Reader 7
• Use of "Alt" tags to describe all links
• Text options for areas which rely heavily on graphics or video
• Minimal use of JavaScript
• No frames

PDF is now a more accessible format with Reader 7. If you do not have a version of Acrobat reader, you may install Adobe Reader from this CD.

Tax Forms and Document Accessibility

The IRS is committed to making documents accessible to the widest possible audience.  Tax forms, instructions, and publications contained on this CD are provided in Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF). The IRS uses PDF as a format in distributing federal government forms and documents. There are also a number of IRS Publications are provided in HyperText Markup Language (HTML) and are available in the Tax Map application on this CD. Properly formatted HTML files are considered accessible for persons using screen-reading devices and refreshable Braille displays.

Tax products in PDF format are electronic images of the IRS printed products, and these image files sometimes do not lend themselves well to non-graphical presentation. However, the IRS Alternative Media Center (AMC) is preparing the most popular tax forms, instructions, and tax publications using full text descriptions where appropriate for accessibility. These files are available for download through the IRS web site under Accessible IRS Tax Products. The IRS Alternative Media Center also prepares files in ASCII text format, HTML, enhanced PDF, and/or transcribed files for Braille.

Adobe Systems, Inc. provides a free translation service through their "Access" web page that translates PDF files to HTML. Send an e-mail message to the Access server with the document to be translated attached. Adobe Systems, Inc. provides additional information and accessibility guidelines on their web site. The IRS Alternative Media Center (AMC) has produced many forms as “talking PDF forms.” All IRS tax forms are available in this format and can be completed using screen reading software and refreshable Braille displays. In addition, they may be completed using Dragon Naturally Speaking voice recognition software.