I
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION H. R. 1529
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a refundable tax
credit against income tax for the purchase of qualified access technology
for the blind.
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
FEBRUARY24, 2025
Mr. K
ELLYof Pennsylvania (for himself and Mr. THOMPSONof California)
introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on
Ways and Means
A BILL
To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to allow a
refundable tax credit against income tax for the purchase
of qualified access technology for the blind.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa-1
tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 2
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 3
This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access Technology Af-4
fordability Act of 2025’’. 5
SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY FOR 6
THE BLIND. 7
(a) I
NGENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub-8
chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 9
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1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol-1
lowing new section: 2
‘‘SEC. 36C. CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY 3
FOR THE BLIND. 4
‘‘(a) A
LLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—There shall be al-5
lowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle 6
an amount equal to amounts paid or incurred during the 7
taxable year, not compensated for by insurance or other-8
wise, by the taxpayer for qualified access technology for 9
use by a qualified blind individual who is the taxpayer, 10
the taxpayer’s spouse, or any dependent (as defined in sec-11
tion 152) of the taxpayer. 12
‘‘(b) L
IMITATION.—The aggregate amount of the 13
credit allowed under subsection (a) with respect to any 14
qualified blind individual shall not exceed $2,000 in any 15
3-consecutive-taxable-year period. 16
‘‘(c) D
EFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 17
‘‘(1) Q
UALIFIED BLIND INDIVIDUAL .—The term 18
‘qualified blind individual’ means an individual who 19
is blind within the meaning of section 63(f)(4). 20
‘‘(2) Q
UALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY DE -21
FINED.—The term ‘qualified access technology’ 22
means hardware, software, or other information 23
technology the primary function of which is to con-24
vert or adapt information which is visually rep-25
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resented into forms or formats useable by blind indi-1
viduals. 2
‘‘(d) D
ENIAL OFDOUBLEBENEFIT.—No credit shall 3
be allowed under subsection (a) for any expense for which 4
a deduction or credit is allowed under any other provision 5
of this chapter. 6
‘‘(e) I
NFLATIONADJUSTMENT.— 7
‘‘(1) I
N GENERAL.—In the case of a taxable 8
year beginning after 2026, the $2,000 amount in 9
subsection (b) shall be increased by an amount equal 10
to— 11
‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 12
‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter-13
mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 14
year in which the taxable year begins, deter-15
mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2025’ for 16
‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) 17
thereof. 18
‘‘(2) R
OUNDING.—If the amount as adjusted 19
under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple of $100, 20
such amount shall be rounded to the next lowest 21
multiple of $100. 22
‘‘(f) T
ERMINATION.—This section shall not apply 23
with respect to amounts paid or incurred in taxable years 24
beginning after December 31, 2030.’’. 25
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(b) CONFORMINGAMENDMENTS.— 1
(1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of the Internal Rev-2
enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ‘‘, 36C’’ 3
after ‘‘36B’’. 4
(2) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 5
States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, 36C’’ after 6
‘‘, 36B’’. 7
(3) The table of sections for subpart C of part 8
IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev-9
enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the 10
item relating to section 36B the following new item: 11
‘‘Sec. 36C. Credit for qualified access technology for the blind.’’.
(c) EFFECTIVEDATE.—The amendments made by 12
this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 13
December 31, 2025. 14
Æ
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