There is a federal tax credit for accessibility work that most eligible businesses have never heard of. It has been in the Internal Revenue Code since 1990, it is available every year rather than once, and for a small business it can offset half the cost of accessibility improvements up to a ceiling of 5,000 dollars.
This is a summary for planning purposes, not tax advice. We are not tax professionals, eligibility depends on details of your return that we have no visibility into, and the credit interacts with other parts of the general business credit. Take this to whoever prepares your taxes.
What the Credit Is
Internal Revenue Code Section 44, the Disabled Access Credit, allows an eligible small business to claim 50 percent of its eligible access expenditures for the year. The arithmetic has two boundaries. The first 250 dollars of expenditures do not count toward the credit, and expenditures above 10,250 dollars do not count either. That produces a maximum credit of 5,000 dollars in any tax year.
A business that spends 6,000 dollars on qualifying work would calculate 6,000 minus 250, then take half of the remainder, for a credit of 2,875 dollars. A business that spends 20,000 dollars still reaches only the 5,000 dollar ceiling.
The credit is nonrefundable, meaning it reduces tax owed rather than generating a refund on its own, and it forms part of the general business credit. Because it is nonrefundable, the credit cannot exceed the tax you owe in the first place. Where it does, the unused portion can generally be carried back one year and forward up to twenty.
Who Qualifies
The statute sets two tests, measured against the preceding tax year: gross receipts of one million dollars or less, or no more than 30 full-time employees. Meeting either is sufficient; you do not need both. Full-time here means at least 30 hours a week for 20 or more weeks in the year, so a business with many part-time staff may pass a test it assumed it failed. Businesses under common control are treated as one for both tests, which is the most common reason a small entity inside a larger group does not qualify.
Those thresholds reach further than most owners expect, which is part of why the credit goes unclaimed. Many assume a federal accessibility incentive is aimed at someone larger.
What Counts as an Eligible Expenditure
The statute describes eligible access expenditures as amounts paid to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act, including removing barriers that prevent a business from being accessible to or usable by people with disabilities, and providing methods of making materials available to people with visual or hearing impairments.
Those categories describe ADA compliance work and making information available in accessible formats, which is the same ground website remediation covers: bringing an existing site into conformance, correcting structural and contrast problems, remediating documents, and adding captions to video. IRS guidance does not specifically address websites under this section, so whether a particular engagement qualifies is a question for your tax preparer rather than a conclusion to draw from a web page.
One boundary deserves attention. For the barrier-removal category specifically, the statute excludes expenditures connected with a facility first placed in service after November 5, 1990, a limitation written with buildings in mind, and how it bears on a brand new website rather than the remediation of an existing one is not something we can tell you. If your accessibility spending is part of a new build, that is a specific question for your tax professional rather than an assumption to make from a web page.
Documentation is what supports the claim. Keep invoices that identify accessibility work distinctly rather than folding it into a single line item for a larger project. If your provider bills accessibility remediation as part of a general redesign, ask for it itemized while the work is being done.
Section 190 Is a Different Thing
You will often see the Disabled Access Credit presented alongside the Section 190 barrier removal deduction, and the two get conflated. They are not interchangeable.
Section 190 allows a deduction of up to 15,000 dollars a year for removing architectural and transportation barriers, which the code defines in terms of facilities and vehicles. Ramps, doorway widening, accessible parking, restroom modifications, and vehicle adaptations. Physical premises.
A website is not a facility or a public transportation vehicle, so Section 190 is not the provision to look to for web accessibility work. Section 44 is. Businesses doing both kinds of work in the same year may be able to use the two together, though the same dollars cannot be counted twice: to the extent an expense supports the credit, it cannot also be deducted or used toward another credit, which is again a question for your preparer.
How It Is Claimed
The credit is figured on IRS Form 8826, Disabled Access Credit, and attached to your business return, flowing through Form 3800 for the general business credit. The IRS overview page is at irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8826.
At least one state, Missouri, offers its own parallel credit for accessibility expenditures, so it is worth asking whether yours does.
Why This Is Worth Knowing
Accessibility work tends to get deferred because it reads as a pure cost with no visible return. The credit changes that math for eligible businesses, and it changes it every year rather than once, which suits accessibility better than most incentives because the work is genuinely ongoing rather than a single project.
It also sits alongside benefits that do not appear on a tax return. An accessible site is usable by more customers, holds up better in search, and removes the barriers that accessibility complaints are built on. The credit simply makes the timing easier.
If accessibility work is on your list for this year and you would like to know what it involves, a site audit is the usual starting point. Bring the numbers to your tax professional before you file.
Notice: provided for informational purposes only; not legal, financial, or professional advice.
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