The bill calls for a $25,000 tax credit for small businesses, including dental practices, to purchase PPE and retrofit or install equipment that reduces the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
The American Dental Association (ADA) is backing a new bill calling for a $25,000 tax credit for small businesses, including dental practices, to purchase personal protective equipment (PPE) to reduce the risk of COVID-19 transmission.
Representatives Brenda Lawrence (D-Mich), Troy Balderson (R-Ohio), Mike Quigley (D-Ill), and John Joyce (R-Pa) introduced HR 7216, the Small Business Personal Protective Equipment Tax Credit Act.
In a June 24 letter to the lawmakers, ADA President Chad P. Gehani, DDS, and ADA Executive Director Kathleen T. O’Loughlin explain that the implementation of new infection control procedures, which includes enhanced PPE usage, has had a “considerable impact” on dentists’ businesses. They also point out that many dental benefit plans currently do not reimburse dentists for use of “enhanced” PPE.
The tax credit would provide small businesses, including dental practices, with a tax credit up to $25,000 for the purchase of gloves, medical masks, N95 respirators, eye protection, gowns and aprons, boots or closeted work shoes, cleaning detergents, hand sanitizers, cleaning products and tools, as well as retrofitting or installation of equipment.
Gehani and O’Loughlin write, “…this type of credit could help to ensure that dental practices can stay open, retain and rehire their employees, and provide their patients with care.”
