Accessibility statement

1. Conformance status

OpenCT is partially conformant with WCAG 2.1 Level AA. "Partially conformant" means parts of the content do not fully conform to the accessibility standard. The "Non-accessible content" section below lists every known exception.

Conformance methodology: WCAG-EM self-audit. Full per-criterion evidence is in the WCAG-EM report at docs/06-testing/accessibility/wcag_em_self_audit_v1_4_13.md in our public source repository.

2. Scope

This statement covers every page on https://tax.openli.ai including:

• Public marketing pages: /, /pricing, /for-accountants, /accessibility
• Authentication: /login, /register
• Application pages (authenticated): /dashboard, /books, /accounts, /ct600, /submit, /submissions, /companies/[id]/edit, /admin/audit-log, /admin/settings, /rd-relief, /cis-deductions, /charity, /adjustments, /team

Out of scope: third-party-hosted dashboards we link out to (HMRC Transaction Engine, Companies House); the public source repository's GitHub Issues UI; downloaded XML/iXBRL files (these are HMRC technical artefacts, not user-facing content).

3. How we test

• Automated. axe-core sweep across all 17 routes × 2 themes (light + dark) runs on every pull request and blocks the build on any critical or serious violation (CI Gate 4).
• Lighthouse Accessibility. Score ≥ 95 on every top-level route, measured per release.
• Keyboard-only walkthrough. Full lifecycle (login → company select → TB upload → 4-step wizard → /accounts → /ct600 → /submit) reachable using only Tab, Shift+Tab, Enter, Space, Esc, arrow keys. Recording committed to the source repository.
• Screen reader. NVDA on Windows tested against the same lifecycle; walkthrough log committed to the source repository.
• Contrast. Every text colour against its surface has been measured at WCAG 2.1 AA (≥ 4.5:1 for normal text, ≥ 3:1 for large text) in both light and dark themes via axe-core's color-contrast rule.

4. Non-accessible content

At v1.4.13 ship (2026-05-26):

• No critical or serious WCAG 2.1 AA failures known. Gate 4 in our CI prevents these from regressing.
• Moderate findings deferred: a small number of pages still rely on visible heading order (h1 → h3 skip) for visual rhythm; we will land per-page heading-order fixes incrementally as routes are touched. None of these block the use of the site with a keyboard or screen reader.
• No third-party accessibility certificate. v1.4.13 ships a WCAG-EM self-audit. A third-party certified audit by AbilityNet or AccessibilityOz is on the v1.5.x roadmap.
• Downloaded artefacts. The CT600 XML, iXBRL accounts, and iXBRL computation files we generate are technical artefacts intended for the HMRC Transaction Engine, not human-readable content. We do not claim WCAG conformance for these files.

5. Found a barrier? Tell us

If anything blocks you from using OpenCT, please reach out so we can fix it as a priority. We respond to accessibility-blocker reports within 5 business days.

• Email: accessibility@openli.ai
• GitHub Issues: github.com/zhongli1990/opentax/issues

6. Enforcement

If you contact us about an accessibility barrier and are not happy with our response, you can contact the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) who are responsible for enforcing the Equality Act 2010 in the UK, including accessibility of digital services.

7. Technical specification

OpenCT is a web application tested on:

• Modern Chromium-based browsers (Chrome 120+, Edge 120+, Brave 1.65+)
• Firefox 115 ESR or later
• Safari 17 or later (macOS + iOS)

Assistive technologies tested:

• NVDA 2024.x on Windows 10/11
• VoiceOver on macOS 14+ and iOS 17+ (smoke only — primary SR target is NVDA)
• Keyboard-only (no AT) — full lifecycle

We rely on semantic HTML (<main>, <nav>, <header>, <aside>, <article>, <button>, <a>), ARIA landmarks where semantics need clarification (role="dialog", aria-live, aria-expanded), and a CSS-variable-driven theme system so that light and dark modes meet the same WCAG AA contrast thresholds.

8. Preparation of this statement

This statement was prepared on 2026-05-26 and last reviewed 2026-05-26. It corresponds to OpenCT v1.4.13. Statement methodology: self-audit using axe-core 4.10.2 (WCAG 2.1 A + AA + best-practice rule set), Lighthouse 11.x, manual keyboard walkthrough, and NVDA screen-reader smoke against the production deployment.