3548: Disabled Access Credit for Eligible Small Businesses (2025)

Who files this form

Use 2025 Form FTB 3548 if you are an eligible small business electing to claim California’s Disabled Access Credit for eligible access expenditures.

To qualify, you must comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and meet the small-business requirement:

• Your preceding taxable year’s gross receipts did not exceed $1 million; or
• If gross receipts exceeded $1 million, you employed no more than 30 full-time employees during that year.

For this purpose, a full-time employee works at least 30 hours per week for 20 or more calendar weeks in the taxable year. Gross receipts are reduced by returns and allowances.

Also use this form to claim pass-through Disabled Access Credits from S corporations, estates, trusts, partnerships, or LLCs classified as partnerships. These entities should complete the form to figure credits passed through to shareholders, beneficiaries, partners, or members.

What you'll need

Have the following information and applicable forms available:

• Your name as shown on your California return, applicable taxpayer identification numbers, and the facility’s address.
• The total eligible access expenditures paid or incurred during 2025.
• Any Disabled Access Credit carryover from the prior year.
• Schedule K-1 (100S, 541, 565, or 568), if you received pass-through credits. Attach a schedule showing the names and identification numbers of the entities that passed credits through to you.
• Form FTB 3544, Part A, if your corporation assigns credit within the same combined reporting group.
• Form FTB 3870, if you elect to make credit disallowed by the $5,000,000 business-credit limitation refundable in future years.

How to file

Attach Form FTB 3548 to your California tax return. The supplied text does not give a mailing address or e-filing directions.

To complete the main calculation:

1. Enter eligible access expenditures on line 1. On line 3, enter the smaller of line 1 or $250.
2. Multiply line 3 by 50% for line 4.
3. Enter pass-through credits on line 5. Add lines 4 and 5 on line 6, but do not enter more than $125.
4. Add any prior-year carryover on line 7 to line 6 to get the total available credit on line 8.
5. Complete lines 9a through 9c for credit claimed, assigned, or elected for future refundability. Subtract their total from line 8 to calculate the carryover on line 10.

Use credit code 205 when claiming the credit.

Pass-through entities attach this form to Form 100S, 541, 565, or 568, as applicable, and report each recipient’s credit on Schedule K-1.

If making the future-refundable-credit election, attach completed Form FTB 3870 to an original, timely filed tax return.

Common mistakes

• Exceeding the current-year limit: Line 6 cannot exceed $125, including pass-through credits.
• Including assigned credits on line 9a: Do not include assigned credits claimed on Form FTB 3544, Part B. If you are not a corporation, enter 0 on line 9b.
• Double-counting the tax benefit: Any deduction allowed for the same expenditures must be reduced by the credit claimed or assigned for the current year. You also cannot increase the property’s basis by that credit amount.
• Carrying the credit backward: Unused credit may be carried forward, not back to a prior year. Apply carryovers to the earliest taxable year.
• Misreporting the refundable-credit election: Do not include credit limited by your tax liability on line 9c. Do not include amounts elected for future refundability in the carryover on line 10.
• Making a partial election: You cannot elect future refundability for only part of the disallowed credit. The election must also cover all other credits claimed that year that were disallowed by the $5,000,000 limitation.

Questions people ask

How much is the California credit?

The credit is 50% of qualified expenditures up to $250, for a maximum of $125 per eligible small business per taxable year. Tax-liability and other limitations may reduce the amount you can claim.

What expenses can qualify?

Eligible expenses include reasonable and necessary amounts paid or incurred to comply with applicable Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. Examples include qualified interpreters, readers, accessible materials, and equipment acquired or modified for individuals with disabilities. Barrier-removal expenses qualify only for a facility first placed in service before November 6, 1990.

Can I carry unused credit forward?

Yes. If available credit exceeds your current-year tax liability, unused credit can be carried forward until exhausted. It cannot be carried back.

Is the credit refundable?

The credit is generally not refundable. However, credit disallowed because of the $5,000,000 business-credit limitation may qualify for an irrevocable election for future refundability using Form FTB 3870. The refundable amount is claimed at 20% per year over five years, beginning in the third taxable year after the election year. S corporations cannot make this election for credits taken at the entity level.

Official sources

• https://www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2025/2025-3548.pdf