Rocky Mountain ADA Center Advises Businesses to Take Advantage of ADA Tax Incentives

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Rocky Mountain ADA Center Provides Valuable Information for Businesses Eligible for ADA Tax Credits

Colorado Springs, Colo., United States., February 28, 2013 - (PressReleasePoint) - With tax day fast approaching, now is the time for businesses to determine which Internal Revenue Service (IRS) tax incentives are available to them. An often overlooked area is tax benefits for businesses working to stay in compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA).
 
“Many businesses have made changes in the last year to comply with the Department of Justice’s revised 2010 Standards for Accessible Design, which went in to effect in March 2012, and are eligible for a variety of tax incentives,” said Jana Burke, the director of the Rocky Mountain ADA Center which provides information, training and informal guidance to individuals and organizations with rights and responsibilities under the ADA.
 
“Unfortunately many companies miss out on these tax credits and benefits by failing to take advantage of them,” stated Burke. If you own or operate a business, or recently hired an employee with a disability, you should be aware of the following tax incentives for businesses:
 

1. Architectural/Transportation Tax Deduction: Businesses may be able to take an annual deduction for expenses related to removing physical, structural, and transportation barriers for people with disabilities. All businesses are eligible.

 
Included are expenditures for:

• Providing accessible parking spaces, ramps, and curb cuts;
• Providing telephones, water fountains, and restrooms that are accessible to persons in wheelchairs;
• Making walkways at least 48 inches wide.

2. Disabled Access Credit: This is a nonrefundable tax credit for an eligible small business that pays or incurs expenses to provide access to persons with disabilities. The expenses must be to enable the eligible small business to comply with the ADA.

 
Included are expenditures for:

• Removing architectural, communication, physical or transportation barriers that prevent a business from being accessible to, or usable by, individuals with disabilities;
• Providing qualified interpreters or other effective methods of making aurally delivered materials available to individuals with hearing impairments;
• Providing qualified readers, taped texts, and other effective methods of making visually delivered materials available to individuals with visual impairments;
• Acquiring or modifying equipment or devices for individuals with disabilities; and
• Providing other similar services, modifications, materials, or equipment.

3. Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Program: This program provides businesses with an incentive to hire individuals from targeted groups that have a particularly high unemployment rate or other special employment needs. One targeted group consists of vocational rehabilitation referrals. These are individuals who have a physical or mental disability that results in a substantial barrier to employment.  On January 3, 2012, the President signed into law the American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012, which authorizes an extension of the WOTC program. Small businesses are eligible.

 
The Act:

• Continues authorization of all veteran target groups (including those implemented under the VOW to Hire Heroes Act) until December 31, 2013.
• Retroactively reauthorizes all WOTC non-veteran target groups, from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2013.
• Retroactively reauthorizes Empowerment Zones, which determines eligibility for the summer youth target group, from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2013.
• Does not reauthorize the Recovery Act disconnected youth and Recovery Act unemployed veteran target groups.

 
The Rocky Mountain ADA Center provides information on the ADA to individuals and organizations in Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. The ADA Center can guide businesses as they seek to understand their eligibility for these various tax credits, benefits and incentives. For more information contact the ADA Center at (800) 949-4232 or visit www.adainformation.org/business/taxincentives.  
 
About the Rocky Mountain ADA Center
The Rocky Mountain ADA Center is operated by Meeting the Challenge, Inc. and provides information, training and informal guidance to individuals and organizations with rights and responsibilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Center is one of 10 regional centers funded by the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, a division of the U.S. Department of Education, and serves a six-state region including Colorado, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Utah and Wyoming. For more information, visit www.adainformation.org.