INDIANAPOLIS – A new tax credit could be going to families of Hoosier children and adults with disabilities.
If House Enrolled Act 1303 is signed into law, it would provide families with ABLE (Achieving a Better Life Experience) savings accounts to receive a tax credit of up to $500 per year.
Michele Trivedi of Westfield opened an ABLE account for her daughter several years ago in Ohio, which offers a tax credit of up to $4,000.
“She does require 24-hour supervision and supervision in public, out in the community,” said Trivedi, whose 24-year-old daughter Ellie has autism.
That supervision and her 30 hours of therapy each week is expensive, Trivedi said. Ellie’s therapy alone has cost as much as $100,000 per year, and not all of that is covered by insurance, she added.
Trivedi said the funds in the ABLE account, along with the tax credits her family has received, make a big impact.
“There are so many things when you have a child with special needs that other people take for granted but for us are much more difficult and take a lot more planning or take a lot more equipment or technology,” Trivedi said.
Trivedi works with The Arc of Indiana, which has advocated for the tax credit for several years to more closely match the benefits that come with College 529 savings accounts.
“We always talked about wanting to be on the same level playing field as those 529 accounts,” said Kim Dodson, CEO of The Arc of Indiana.
State Rep. Julie Olthoff (R-Crown Point), the author of the bill, said she hopes the tax credit will encourage more families to open and save money in ABLE accounts.
“Right now there’s about 1,100 active ABLE accounts in the state,” Olthoff said. “And that’s not very many at all.”
“Our loved ones want the same things that your loved ones do,” Trivedi said. “They want to have quality of life, they want to have equal access to opportunity.”
Advocates like Trivedi and Dodson say they hope to see lawmakers eventually raise the cap on the ABLE tax credit beyond $500. They point out that College 529 accounts in Indiana come with a $1,500 tax credit starting July 1.
