Tax Incentive Details
A. Yes, two federal tax incentives are available to businesses to help cover the cost of making access improvements for customers with disabilities.
- A tax credit for small businesses who remove access barriers from their facilities, provide accessible services, or take other steps to improve accessibility for customers with disabilities.
- A tax deduction for businesses of all sizes that remove access barriers in their facilities or vehicles
A business that annually incurs eligible to bring itself into compliance with the ADA may use these tax incentives every year. The incentives may be applied to a variety of expenditures; however, they may not be applied to the cost of new construction. All barrier removal must comply with applicable Federal accessibility standards.
Tax Credit
Small businesses with 30 or fewer employees or total revenues of $1 million or less can use the Disability Access Credit (Internal Revenue Code, Section 44). Eligible small businesses may take a credit of up to $5,000. (half of eligible expenses up to 10,250, with no credit for the first $250.) to offset their costs for access, including barriers removal from their facilities (e.g., widening a doorway, installing a ramp), provision of accessibility services (e.g., sign language interpreters), provision of printed material in alternate formats (e.g., large-print, audio, Braille), and provision or modification of equipment.
Tax Deduction
Businesses of all sizes may take advantage of this tax deduction. Under Internal Revenue Code, Section 190, businesses can take advantage of expense deduction of up to $15,000 per year for costs of removing barriers in facilities or vehicles.
Tax Incentives in Combination
These two incentives can be used together by eligible businesses if the expenditures qualify under both Sections 44 and 190. If a small business’ expenses exceed $10,250 for the maximum $5,000 tax credit, then the deduction equals the difference between the total spent and the amount of the credit claimed.
Feel free to contact Blue Dot Pools, should you need the Tax Form 8826.