Tax Incentive Cuts the Cost of Hiring Interpreters for the Deaf - Disability Access Credit Offers Business Owners Relief

Grand Rapids, Mich., Mar. 5, 2006— Most professionals and business owners have an obligation under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) to provide deaf and hard of hearing individuals with full and equal access to their goods, services, facilities, privileges, or advantages. Yet many are unaware of the financial relief that is available under the U.S. Tax Code in the form of a Disabled Access Credit.

Stephanie Neal, an advocate for the deaf and hearing impaired and an attorney at Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge who holds an LL.M in Taxation, likes to remind business owners about the help available to cover the cost of compliance with ADA regulations, such as the cost of providing interpreters for the deaf and the hearing impaired. “As a matter of public policy, the cost of compliance with the ADA is borne by the business community in order that individuals with disabilities will be better able to have equality of opportunity, full participation, and economic self-sufficiency. Business owners looking to do the right thing for the disabled, often overlook the tax benefit available to them.”

The Disability Access Credit is available to eligible small businesses in the amount of 50% of eligible access expenditures that exceed $250 but do not exceed $10,250 for a taxable year. Eligible access expenditures include amounts paid or incurred to provide qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments. A business may take the tax credit each year that it makes an eligible access expenditure.

The Disability Access Credit can be based on a series of expenses paid throughout the tax year. For example, a physician who sees a deaf patient may be billed about $100 - $150 for the services of a qualified interpreter (assuming a 2 hour minimum plus mileage). When the same patient returns for a follow up visit or the physician sees another deaf patient during the taxable year, the total qualified interpreter expenses may range from $250+. Under this scenario, the Disabled Access Credit will cut the cost of the physician’s compliance with the Americans with Disability Act in half. A taxpayer may also combine qualified interpreter expenses, for example, with eligible access expenses from the other four categories to satisfy the minimum threshold necessary to claim a tax credit. The amount is capped at $10,000 per tax year or a $5,000 nonrefundable income tax credit.

Smith Haughey Rice & Roegge has been helping our clients overcome challenges and take advantage of opportunities since 1941. With offices in Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Grand Rapids and Traverse City, and more than 90 attorneys and counselors, we offer some of the most comprehensive legal experience available in the areas of Business and Property Law, Health Law, and Litigation. For more information about the firm, call 616.774.8000 or visit www.shrr.com.
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