Last reviewed: April 17, 2026
1. At a glance
Two federal provisions are relevant to U.S. businesses spending on accessibility.
Section 44 of the Internal Revenue Code provides the Disabled Access Credit, available to eligible small businesses. The credit is worth 50% of eligible access expenditures that exceed $250 and do not exceed $10,250 in a tax year, giving a maximum credit of $5,000 per year. It is claimed on IRS Form 8826.
Section 190 of the Internal Revenue Code provides the Architectural and Transportation Barrier Removal Deduction, available to businesses of any size. The deduction is up to $15,000 per year. ADA.gov describes it as applying to barrier removal and alterations in facilities or vehicles.
Eligibility, qualifying spend, and filing rules are different for each provision. Each is covered separately below.
2. For small businesses
Section 44 provides a non-refundable tax credit for eligible small businesses that incur eligible access expenditures during the tax year. The credit is part of the general business credit.
Who may qualify
IRS Form 8826 defines an eligible small business as any business or person that either had gross receipts, including that of any predecessor, of $1 million or less in the preceding tax year, or had no more than 30 full-time employees during the preceding tax year. An employee is considered full time if employed at least 30 hours per week for 20 or more calendar weeks in the tax year. Meeting either test is sufficient.
What the credit is worth
The credit is 50% of eligible access expenditures that exceed $250 and do not exceed $10,250 in a tax year. The maximum credit is $5,000 per year.
What counts as an eligible access expenditure
IRS Form 8826 defines eligible access expenditures as amounts paid or incurred by an eligible small business to comply with applicable requirements of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, and lists four categories:
- To remove barriers that prevent a business from being accessible to or usable by individuals with disabilities.
- To provide qualified interpreters or other methods of making audio materials available to hearing-impaired individuals.
- To provide qualified readers, taped texts, and other methods of making visual materials available to individuals with visual impairments.
- To acquire or modify equipment or devices for individuals with disabilities.
The expenditures must be reasonable and necessary to accomplish those purposes. Expenditures under category 1 do not qualify if they are paid or incurred in connection with any facility first placed in service after November 5, 1990.
How to claim
Eligible small businesses claim the credit by filing IRS Form 8826 with their federal tax return. The credit forms part of the general business credit, which may require Form 3800 depending on filing position. IRS Form 8826 also states that, to the extent of the credit claimed, the same expenditures may not be taken as a deduction, capitalized, or used to figure any other credit.
Recurrence
IRS Form 8826 does not limit the credit to a single year. An eligible small business that incurs qualifying expenditures in future tax years may claim the credit again in those years, subject to the same rules and limits.
3. For businesses above the small-business threshold
Businesses that do not meet either Section 44 eligibility test, meaning gross receipts above $1 million in the preceding tax year and more than 30 full-time employees, cannot claim the Disabled Access Credit. The separate federal provision available to businesses of any size is the Section 190 deduction.
What Section 190 is
Section 190 provides a tax deduction of up to $15,000 per year for qualified architectural and transportation barrier removal expenses. It reduces taxable income rather than tax owed.
What it covers
ADA.gov states that the Section 190 deduction can be claimed for expenses incurred in barrier removal and alterations, and describes its scope in relation to facilities or vehicles. The IRS and ADA.gov sources reviewed for this page do not state that Section 190 applies to website accessibility expenditure as a general proposition.
What this page is not claiming
This page does not present Section 190 as a federal deduction for website accessibility work. Where a business wants to understand whether a particular item of spend qualifies, that question is one for a CPA or tax adviser, and the determination will depend on the nature of the expenditure and on IRS guidance current at the time of filing.
State-level programs
Some states and localities operate separate accessibility-related incentives. A tax adviser licensed in the relevant state is the correct route for confirming availability and scope.
4. Where website accessibility fits
The IRS and ADA.gov material cited on this page does not expressly state, in plain terms, that website remediation or website conversion work automatically qualifies as an eligible access expenditure under Section 44.
The four categories on IRS Form 8826 are drawn broadly. Website accessibility spending may fall under one or more of them, particularly where the spending provides methods of making visual or audio materials available to individuals with sensory impairments, or removes barriers that would otherwise prevent individuals with disabilities from using the business.
Whether any particular website-accessibility cost qualifies, and how it should be documented, is a question for a CPA or tax adviser. The determination will depend on the nature of the work, the eligibility of the business, and the IRS guidance current at the time of filing.
Where a small business is considering expenditure on accessibility and plans to discuss tax treatment with a CPA or tax adviser, one category of work that may be relevant is converting PDFs into an inclusive format. aicm does this through the secure tag, discovering PDFs linked from the organisation’s website and converting them into inclusive HTML web pages. The original PDF is not modified.
5. Examples
Example 1. Small business with $7,000 of qualifying spend
A business that meets the eligible small business definition incurs $7,000 of expenditure that its tax adviser has confirmed is a reasonable and necessary eligible access expenditure. After excluding the first $250, the remaining $6,750 sits within the $10,250 cap. 50% of $6,750 gives a credit of $3,375, claimed on IRS Form 8826.
Example 2. Business above the small-business threshold
A business that does not meet either Section 44 eligibility test cannot claim the Disabled Access Credit. Whether any portion of its accessibility-related spend qualifies for the Section 190 deduction, or for treatment under another provision of the tax code, depends on the nature of the expenditure and on tax advice received before filing. ADA.gov describes Section 190 as a deduction for barrier removal and alterations in facilities or vehicles.
6. What to keep on file
Good documentation supports any filing if questions arise later. A business considering either provision should retain:
- Invoices and payment records for the relevant expenditure.
- A written scope of work describing what was supplied.
- A short note, agreed with the tax adviser, explaining why the expenditure is considered access-related.
- Written tax adviser confirmation of the treatment applied.
- Copies of the filed IRS Form 8826 or the relevant deduction schedules, with supporting documentation attached.
IRS Form 8826 notes that records supporting the information on the form must be retained for as long as their contents may become material in the administration of any Internal Revenue law.
7. Sources
Primary federal sources used for this page:
- IRS Form 8826, Disabled Access Credit (current revision). https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8826.pdf
- IRS, About Form 8826, Disabled Access Credit. https://www.irs.gov/forms-pubs/about-form-8826
- ADA.gov, IRS Tax Credits and Deductions (Section 44 and Section 190 summary). https://archive.ada.gov/taxcred.htm
- ADA.gov, Guidance on Web Accessibility and the ADA. https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-guidance/
- ADA.gov, State and Local Governments: First Steps Toward Complying with the ADA Title II Web and Mobile Application Accessibility Rule. https://www.ada.gov/resources/web-rule-first-steps/
Editorial note
This page is provided for information only. It is not tax advice and does not establish any legal rights or obligations. Businesses considering any federal or state tax provision in relation to accessibility expenditure should consult a CPA or a tax adviser licensed in the relevant jurisdiction before filing.