Philadelphia Web Consultant Vance Bell Publishes Comprehensive Guide to IRS Tax Credit for Website Accessibility Costs
Updated Resource Helps Small Businesses Save Up to $5,000 Annually on Digital Accessibility Compliance Through the Disabled Access Credit (Form 8826)
PHILADELPHIA, PA — Vance Bell, a Philadelphia-based web design consultant and accessibility specialist with more than 25 years of experience, has published an expanded guide detailing how small businesses can use the IRS Disabled Access Credit to offset the cost of making their websites accessible to people with disabilities.
The guide, published at vancebell.com, walks business owners through the full scope of the Disabled Access Credit — a federal tax credit worth up to $5,000 per year — and explains how website accessibility expenses such as audits, remediation, developer training, captioning services, and accessibility monitoring tools can qualify as eligible expenditures under IRS Form 8826.
“Most small business owners I talk to have no idea this credit exists,” said Bell. “They assume making their website accessible is purely a cost center. In reality, the IRS will cover up to half of those expenses, and you can claim it every year.”
The guide covers the full scope of the Disabled Access Credit in practical detail, including:
- What the credit is, who qualifies, and how to calculate the savings — with a worked example showing how a $5,000 accessibility project yields a $2,375 credit
- A step-by-step walkthrough of IRS Form 8826, including an embedded video explanation by a Certified Financial Planner
- A detailed list of eligible website accessibility expenses, from audits and remediation to captioning services, developer training, and ongoing monitoring tools
- How SaaS companies and software product developers may apply the credit to product accessibility costs under WCAG 2.2 and Section 508
- The IRS “denial of double benefit” rule and how to properly allocate expenses between the credit and standard business deductions
- How unused credit amounts can be carried forward for up to 20 years through the General Business Credit (Form 3800) — ensuring small businesses with variable income don’t lose the benefit
- A caution on accessibility overlay widgets, which have faced criticism from the accessibility community and legal challenges, and why businesses should invest in validated, measurable improvements instead
- The business case for accessibility, including data on the 75 million U.S. adults with disabilities, over 8,800 ADA website lawsuits filed in 2024, and research showing inaccessible sites cost retailers billions in lost sales
- Best practices for documenting expenditures to support the credit claim
Bell’s guide also makes the broader business case for website accessibility, citing CDC data showing that approximately 28.7% of U.S. adults have some type of disability, and noting that federal ADA website accessibility lawsuits exceeded 8,800 in 2024 — with Pennsylvania among the top states for filings.
“Accessibility isn’t just a compliance checkbox,” said Bell. “It expands your customer base, reduces legal risk, and improves your SEO. The tax credit just makes the decision easier.”
The full article, including a video walkthrough of Form 8826, calculation examples, and a complete list of eligible expenses, is available at: https://vancebell.com/blog/reduce-your-web-accessibility-costs-through-an-irs-tax-credit-disabled-access-credit-form-8826/
Business owners with questions about website accessibility, WCAG compliance, or VPAT assessments can contact Bell directly through his website.
