How Elevation Tables Can Let the Government Help Pay for Your Table
July 5, 2026 6 min read
The ADA Disabled Access Credit returns up to $5,000 of what you spend making your clinic accessible — and a hi-lo treatment table is exactly the kind of purchase it was written for.
A powered hi-lo treatment table is one of the largest equipment purchases a PT clinic makes — and one of the few the federal government will help pay for. The Disabled Access Credit, Section 44 of the Internal Revenue Code (claimed on IRS Form 8826), exists to offset exactly this kind of accessibility spending by small practices.
Why a hi-lo table is an accessibility purchase
PT clinics treat the very population the ADA protects: post-surgical patients, stroke and neuro patients, wheelchair users, and older adults with limited mobility. A fixed-height plinth is a genuine barrier — many of these patients cannot transfer onto it safely. A powered hi-lo table lowers to wheelchair-transfer height, lets the patient sit or transfer safely, then raises to treatment height. Federal accessibility guidance specifically points to height-adjustable exam and treatment tables as the fix for this barrier, which is what makes the purchase an eligible access expenditure.
How the credit works
- •Who qualifies: businesses with gross receipts of $1 million or less last year, or 30 or fewer full-time employees. Most private PT practices qualify.
- •What it pays: 50% of eligible access expenditures between $250 and $10,250 per tax year — up to $5,000 of credit annually.
- •Credit, not deduction: it reduces your tax bill dollar-for-dollar.
- •It stacks: amounts beyond the credit can still qualify for Section 179 expensing or the Section 190 barrier-removal deduction.
- •It renews every year: outfitting multiple treatment rooms? Split the purchases across tax years and claim the credit each time.
The real-world math
A $5,000 hi-lo table yields a credit of about $2,375 (50% of the $4,750 above the floor). Outfit a room with $10,250 or more of accessible equipment and you hit the full $5,000 maximum — the government effectively pays half. Combine the credit with Section 179 on the remainder and the after-tax cost of upgrading from fixed plinths to powered tables often shrinks by 50–60%.
What to look for in the table
For accessibility purposes the key spec is the low end of the height range — the table should drop low enough for a level wheelchair transfer. Beyond that, choose section count for the work you do (multi-section for manual therapy and positioning) and a frame rated for the patient weights you see. Every one of these features also reduces therapist strain on every single transfer, which is the quiet second payoff of the purchase.
