Federal Disabled Access Credit

Some of what you spend on access may come back.

There is a federal tax credit for small businesses that spend money making things usable by people with a disability. It has existed for decades, it is claimed on a one-page form, and a great many independent practices have never heard of it. Here is how it works, in plain English, with the parts most people get wrong.

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We can document what was done. Only your CPA can decide what qualifies.
Short answer

What is the Disabled Access Credit?

It is a federal tax credit under Section 44 of the tax code, claimed on IRS Form 8826. An eligible small business gets back 50% of qualifying accessibility spending above $250, up to a maximum credit of $5,000 a year. A practice may meet the size test if last tax year it had gross receipts of $1 million or less or no more than 30 full-time employees — either one, not both. Some website accessibility work may count. Whether yours does is a decision for your CPA, not for us and not for a website.

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  • 50% of qualifying spend over $250
  • Up to $5,000 back, every year you qualify
  • $1M in receipts or 30 full-time staff — either one
  • Claimed on IRS Form 8826
A front-desk team member handing a card to a patient.
Ordinary Spend, Real Credit

Accessibility spend is practice spend.

Ramps, signage, an accessible website — the tax code treats them as the same category: money spent so every patient can use the practice. That is exactly what the Disabled Access Credit was written for.

The Arithmetic

How much is it actually worth?

The credit is half of what you spend, after taking off the first $250, and it stops counting spending above $10,250. That is what produces the $5,000 ceiling.

The formula

Take off $250, then halve it.

(qualifying spend − $250) × 50%

So, at the regular $2,000 build fee, if a tax professional decides that $2,000 of accessibility work qualifies:

($2,000 − $250) × 50% = $875

At the current $1,000 trade-show build fee (through October 31, 2026), the same formula gives ($1,000 − $250) × 50% = $375.

The first $250 never counts. Spending above $10,250 does not count either — which is why the most anyone can get in one year is $5,000.

The catch worth knowing

It reduces tax owed. It is not a cheque.

This is a nonrefundable credit. It lowers what you owe, and it will not pay you money if you owe nothing. It is part of the general business credit, so how much of it you can use in a given year depends on your tax bill.

  • Unused amounts can generally be carried back one year and forward up to twenty
  • A dollar used for this credit cannot also be claimed as a deduction or another credit
  • Your CPA handles all of that. It is normal, and it is their job.
Where We Stop

We write the invoice. Your CPA writes the return.

Plenty of accessibility companies wave this credit around as though it were a discount they control. It is not, and pretending otherwise would put you in a worse position than saying nothing.

A wall of eyeglass frames on display in an independent optical shop.
A credit you cannot document is not a credit. It is a hope.
Where website work fits

The law names five kinds of spending.

  • The one that fits a website best is money spent on "other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments." A web page is visually delivered material. Alt text, contrast and screen-reader support are methods of making it available.
  • There is also a catch-all for "other similar services, modifications, materials, or equipment."
  • A separate category covers removing communication barriers, which is the one people usually reach for first.
The two real conditions

Tied to a duty, and documented.

  • Spending only counts if it was to comply with the ADA. A tax court has denied the credit where the expense was not actually required for compliance — so the link between an obligation, a barrier and the fix is the whole ballgame.
  • It must be reasonable and necessary for that purpose. Nice-to-have redesign work is not.
  • This is exactly why a monthly audit that names the barrier, the fix and the verification is worth more here than an invoice that just says "website".
What we do

Give you something to hand over.

We describe the accessibility work that was performed, and we separate it on the invoice from hosting, content and anything else in the plan. You get the audit results, the list of what failed, what was corrected and the check confirming it holds. That is the paperwork a CPA needs to make a decision — and it is useful to you whether or not you ever claim a penny.

What we don't

Decide whether you qualify.

We are not tax advisers, we do not prepare returns, and we will not tell you what you will get back. The tax authorities have not said that every website, redesign, audit or monthly subscription qualifies — so anyone promising you $5,000 is telling you something they cannot know. Take the documentation to your CPA and let them make the call. If the answer is no, you have still got a website a patient with a disability can use, which was the point.

Read this part. This page is general information. It is not tax advice and it is not legal advice, and it does not create any professional relationship. Whether the Disabled Access Credit applies depends on your practice, your tax position, the exact services performed and how they are documented. The law has never been updated to say plainly how it treats websites, so this is a judgement call your CPA makes on your facts — not something a vendor can decide for you. Confirm eligibility before claiming it. IRS Form 8826, Disabled Access Credit (PDF) (opens in a new tab) — hosted by IRS.gov, tagged for assistive technology under federal Section 508.
Questions, Answered

More on this page's topic

Where does the $869 figure come from?
It is a worked example, not a quote, and it is worked at the regular rate: $2,000 to build and $299 a month, so a first year is $5,588. At the current trade-show rate — a $1,000 build fee and $199 a month through October 31, 2026 — the same method lands at roughly $375. Not all of that is accessibility work. The example assumes a CPA looks at the itemised accessibility lines and agrees $1,988 of the first year qualifies: ($1,988 − $250) × 50% = $869. Change the assumption and the answer changes. OptiSite does not publish a fixed split, because the honest split depends on what your site actually needed — a site with a thousand undescribed images takes more accessibility work than one with fifty.
Our practice bills more than $1 million. Are we out?
Not necessarily. The size test is either-or, and most people misread it. A practice that fails the $1 million receipts test may still meet the requirement on headcount if it had no more than 30 full-time employees last tax year. A practice billing $1.5 million with 10 full-time staff is the standard example. An employee generally counts as full time at 30 hours a week for 20 or more weeks in the year.
Can I claim it every year, or just once?
Every year you incur new qualifying accessibility expenses, up to $5,000 each year. That is why the ongoing side matters — monthly auditing, human testing and remediation are new work each year rather than a one-off. But paying a recurring fee does not by itself create a credit. The work has to have actually been performed that year and it still has to meet the requirements.
Does the whole build fee qualify?
No, and you should be wary of anyone who says it does. Some of a build is accessibility work and some of it is not. We itemise the invoice so the accessibility-specific portion is visible and separate, and your CPA decides what goes on the form. The tax authorities have not issued a ruling saying that a website build qualifies in full.
I heard new construction doesn't qualify. Does that kill a new website build?
Not automatically, and the rule is narrower than it sounds. The exclusion in the law applies to one specific category — money spent removing architectural, communication, physical or transportation barriers in connection with a facility first placed in service after November 1990. Website accessibility work sits more naturally in a different category, the one about making visually delivered materials available to people with visual impairments. That said, no ruling has settled how this applies to websites, so it remains a judgement call for your CPA on your facts.
Is this the same as the barrier removal deduction?
No, they are two different things. The Disabled Access Credit under Section 44 is a credit, which reduces tax owed directly. The barrier removal provision is a deduction, which reduces taxable income instead. They have separate rules and limits, and the same dollar cannot be used twice. Businesses too large for the credit sometimes look at the deduction. Your CPA will know which applies.
Documented, Itemised, Yours To Keep

Build it right first. Ask about the credit second.

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