Access Technology Affordability Act of 2019

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. COL- LINS, 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. 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 2019’’. 5 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Mar 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S815.IS S815 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 2 •S 815 IS SEC. 2. CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY FOR 1 THE BLIND. 2 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subpart C of part IV of sub- 3 chapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Revenue Code of 4 1986 is amended by inserting after section 36B the fol- 5 lowing new section: 6 ‘‘SEC. 36C. CREDIT FOR QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY 7 FOR THE BLIND. 8 ‘‘(a) ALLOWANCE OF CREDIT.—There shall be al- 9 lowed as a credit against the tax imposed by this subtitle 10 an amount equal to amounts paid or incurred during the 11 taxable year, not compensated for by insurance or other- 12 wise, by the taxpayer for qualified access technology for 13 use by a qualified blind individual who is the taxpayer, 14 the taxpayer’s spouse, or any dependent (as defined in sec- 15 tion 152) of the taxpayer. 16 ‘‘(b) LIMITATION.—The aggregate amount of the 17 credit allowed under subsection (a) with respect to any 18 qualified blind individual shall not exceed $2,000 in any 19 3-consecutive-taxable-year period. 20 ‘‘(c) DEFINITIONS.—For purposes of this section— 21 ‘‘(1) QUALIFIED BLIND INDIVIDUAL.—The term 22 ‘qualified blind individual’ means an individual who 23 is blind within the meaning of section 63(f)(4). 24 ‘‘(2) QUALIFIED ACCESS TECHNOLOGY DE- 25 FINED.—The term ‘qualified access technology’ 26 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Mar 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S815.IS S815 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 3 •S 815 IS means hardware, software, or other information 1 technology the primary function of which is to con- 2 vert or adapt information which is visually rep- 3 resented into forms or formats useable by blind indi- 4 viduals. 5 ‘‘(d) DENIAL OF DOUBLE BENEFIT.—No credit shall 6 be allowed under subsection (a) for any expense for which 7 a deduction or credit is allowed under any other provision 8 of this chapter. 9 ‘‘(e) INFLATION ADJUSTMENT.— 10 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a taxable 11 year beginning after 2020, the $2,000 amount in 12 subsection (b) shall be increased by an amount equal 13 to— 14 ‘‘(A) such dollar amount, multiplied by 15 ‘‘(B) the cost-of-living adjustment deter- 16 mined under section 1(f)(3) for the calendar 17 year in which the taxable year begins, deter- 18 mined by substituting ‘calendar year 2019’ for 19 ‘calendar year 2016’ in subparagraph (A)(ii) 20 thereof. 21 ‘‘(2) ROUNDING.—If the amount as adjusted 22 under subparagraph (A) is not a multiple of $100, 23 such amount shall be rounded to the next lowest 24 multiple of $100. 25 VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Mar 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6201 E:\BILLS\S815.IS S815 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS 4 •S 815 IS ‘‘(f) TERMINATION.—This section shall not apply 1 with respect to amounts paid or incurred in taxable years 2 beginning after the date which is 5 years after the date 3 of the enactment of the Access Technology Affordability 4 Act of 2019.’’. 5 (b) CONFORMING AMENDMENTS.— 6 (1) Section 6211(b)(4)(A) of the Internal Rev- 7 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting ‘‘, 36C’’ 8 after ‘‘36B’’. 9 (2) Section 1324(b)(2) of title 31, United 10 States Code, is amended by inserting ‘‘, 36C’’ after 11 ‘‘, 36B’’. 12 (3) The table of sections for subpart C of part 13 IV of subchapter A of chapter 1 of the Internal Rev- 14 enue Code of 1986 is amended by inserting after the 15 item relating to section 36B the following new item: 16 ‘‘Sec. 36C. Credit for qualified access technology for the blind.’’. (c) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made by 17 this section shall apply to taxable years beginning after 18 December 31, 2019. 19 Æ VerDate Sep 11 2014 01:52 Mar 28, 2019 Jkt 089200 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 6652 Sfmt 6301 E:\BILLS\S815.IS S815 pamtmann on DSKBFK8HB2PROD with BILLS