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"secure connection failed" for acess to IRS.com. Tried all solutions seemed appropriate. Use TrenMicro not Avast.

  • 7 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by cor-el

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I am trying to access the IRS website but can only get the "secure connection failed". I tried the steps suggested by Mozilla including starting in Safe Mode, disabling add-ins, etc. But still cannot get access. I noticed that Avast may be a problem for some folks but I use Trend Micro. Any solutions would be appreciated.

I am trying to access the IRS website but can only get the "secure connection failed". I tried the steps suggested by Mozilla including starting in Safe Mode, disabling add-ins, etc. But still cannot get access. I noticed that Avast may be a problem for some folks but I use Trend Micro. Any solutions would be appreciated.

All Replies (7)

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Hi, please see if anything here helps - Secure connection failed and Firefox did not connect.

If your question is resolved by this or another answer, please take a minute to let us know. Thank you.

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Tried this and it does not work. I checked the IRS on anther computer that uses Chrome and was able to access the IRS site. I just checked the IE browser on the computer I am using and got a similar message:

This page can’t be displayed Turn on TLS 1.0, TLS 1.1, and TLS 1.2 in Advanced settings and try connecting to https://www.irs.gov again. If this error persists, contact your site administrator.

I checked and these were already turned on. This is an old version of IE from 2013 version that starts with 11. I never use it so have not upgraded.

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If you can't inspect the certificate via "I Understand the Risks" then try this:

Open the "Add Security Exception" window by pasting this chrome URL in the Firefox location/address bar and check the certificate:

  • chrome://pippki/content/exceptionDialog.xul

In the location field of this window type or paste the URL of the website.

  • retrieve the certificate via the "Get certificate" button
  • click the "View..." button to inspect the certificate in the Certificate Viewer

You can inspect details like the issuer and the certificate chain in the Details tab of the Certificate Viewer. Check who is the issuer of the certificate. If necessary then you can attach a screenshot that shows the certificate viewer.

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Sorry if I was not clear enough. I am not having the "I Understand the Risks" problem. At least not yet. It is just the "secure connection failed" problem.

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You can still try to check for certificate issues just to be sure.

Does it mention any specific SSL error code?

Can you attach a screenshot?

  • Use a compressed image type like PNG or JPG to save the screenshot
  • Make sure that you do not exceed the maximum size of 1 MB
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Thanks. There was no code and I'll check the certificate issue if it occurs again. For some reason, it is giving me access now without having done anything else. Could it have just taken time for some of the things I tried to work???

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If your security software was blocking Firefox then it is possible that an update has fixed this. Some security software is quicker than others to recognize an update.