II 

116TH CONGRESS 

1ST SESSION S. 815 

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 SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

MARCH 14, 2019 

Mr. BOOZMAN (for himself, Mr. CARDIN, Mr. TESTER, Mr. CASEY, Ms. COLLINS, Mr. BURR, Mr. SULLIVAN, Ms. HASSAN, Mr. JONES, and Mr. 

WYDEN) introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred 

to the Committee on Finance 

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. 

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled, 

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE. 

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Access Technology Af5 fordability Act of 2019’’. 


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1 SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY FOR 

2 THE BLIND. 

3 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub4 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 

5 1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol6 lowing new section: 

7 ‘‘SEC. 36C. CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY 

8 FOR THE BLIND. 

9 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—There shall be al10 lowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle 

11 an amount equal to amounts paid or incurred during the 

12 taxable year, not compensated for by insurance or other13 wise, by the taxpayer for qualified access technology for 

14 use by a qualified blind individual who is the taxpayer, 

15 the taxpayer’s spouse, or any dependent (as defined in sec16 tion 152) of the taxpayer. 

17 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The aggregate amount of the 

18 credit allowed under subsection (a) with respect to any 

19 qualified blind individual shall not exceed $2,000 in any 

20 3-consecutive-taxable-year period. 

21 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 

22 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED BLIND INDIVIDUAL.—The term 

23 ‘qualified blind individual’ means an individual who 

24 is blind within the meaning of section 63(f)(4). 

25 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY DE26 FINED.—The term ‘qualified access technology’ 


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1 means hardware, software, or other information 

2 technology the primary function of which is to con3 vert or adapt information which is visually rep4 resented into forms or formats useable by blind indi5 viduals. 

6 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No credit shall 

7 be allowed under subsection (a) for any expense for which 

8 a deduction or credit is allowed under any other provision 

9 of this chapter. 

10 ‘‘(e) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 

11 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a taxable 

12 year beginning after 2020, the $2,000 amount in 

13 subsection (b) shall be increased by an amount equal 

14 to— 

15 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 

16 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter17 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 

18 year in which the taxable year begins, deter19 mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2019’ for 

20 ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) 

21 thereof. 

22 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—If the amount as adjusted 

23 under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple of $100, 

24 such amount shall be rounded to the next lowest 

25 multiple of $100. 


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1 ‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply 

2 with respect to amounts paid or incurred in taxable years 

3 beginning after the date which is 5 years after the date 

4 of the enactment of the Access Technology Affordability 

5 Act of 2019.’’. 

6 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 

7 (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of the Internal Rev8 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ‘‘, 36C’’ 

9 after ‘‘36B’’. 

10 (2) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 

11 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, 36C’’ after 

12 ‘‘, 36B’’. 

13 (3) The table of sections for subpart C of part 

14 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev15 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the 

16 item relating to section 36B the following new item: 

‘‘Sec. 36C. Credit for qualified access technology for the blind.’’. 

17 (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 

18 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 

19 December 31, 2019. 

Æ 


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