Tax Credit Availability: How to Make Accessibility Cost Nothing

No matter the size of the business, fulfilling the requirements laid out in the Americans with Disabilities Act can be both difficult and expensive. But when it comes to small businesses, these additional costs can be potentially crippling.

That’s where the Disabled Access Credit comes in.

The Disabled Access Credit is designed to help small businesses comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

It is available to eligible small businesses whose gross receipts did not exceed $1,000,000 for the preceding taxable year or who employed no more than 30 full-time employees during the preceding year.

The tax credit is equal to 50% of the “eligible access expenditures” that exceed $250 but do not exceed $10,000 for a taxable year.

Eligible Access Expenditures include expenditures for:

• Removing barriers that prevent a business from being accessible to or usable by individuals with disabilities
• Providing qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making audio materials available to individuals with hearing impairments
• Providing qualified readers, taped texts, and other methods of making visual materials available to individuals with visual impairments
• Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices for individuals with disabilities.

All expenditures must be reasonable and necessary and must meet the standards issued by the Secretary of the Treasury in concurrence with the Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board.

Expenses incurred for new construction are not eligible.

Eligible expenditures do not include those to remove barriers that prevent a business from being accessible to or usable by individuals with disabilities that are paid or incurred in connection with any facility first placed in service after November 5, 1990.

For the purposes of this tax credit, disability is defined exactly as in the ADA. A full-time employee is defined as one who is employed at least 30 hours per week for 20 or more calendar weeks in the taxable year.

If you are a small business owner and you meet the above requirements, don’t let the costs of complying with the ADA intimidate you or threaten to put you out of business. Make use of the money that has been set aside to help.

Click here to download the form and apply for the assistance you deserve. http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8826.pdf