The $5,000 ADA Tax Credit: How Small Businesses Can Offset Compliance Costs

The Disabled Access Credit (IRS Form 8826) allows eligible small businesses to claim a tax credit of up to $5,000 per year for expenses related to ADA compliance, including website accessibility improvements. This credit can significantly offset the cost of making your website accessible.

Eligibility requirements are straightforward. Your business must have earned $1 million or less in revenue in the prior tax year, OR employed 30 or fewer full-time employees. You only need to meet one of these criteria. The credit covers 50% of eligible expenses between $250 and $10,250, resulting in a maximum credit of $5,000.

Website accessibility expenses that qualify include: professional accessibility audits, WCAG remediation services, accessible website redesigns, assistive technology for testing, accessibility training for your team, and ongoing monitoring services. Overlay widget subscriptions may technically qualify, but we strongly recommend investing in genuine remediation instead.

To claim the credit, file IRS Form 8826 with your annual tax return. Document your accessibility expenses with invoices from your agency or vendor. Keep records of what specific accessibility improvements were made, as the IRS requires expenses to be directly related to ADA compliance.

The credit is available every tax year, so you can spread a larger accessibility project across multiple years to maximize the benefit. For example, if your total remediation costs $15,000, you could claim $5,000 in credits each year over two to three years by timing payments appropriately.

There is also a separate ADA tax deduction (Section 190) that allows businesses of any size to deduct up to $15,000 per year in accessibility-related expenses. This deduction can be used in addition to the small business credit, and there is no revenue or employee threshold.