Montgomery County, Maryland
Montgomery County's Design for Life Tax Credit: Get Up to $10,000 Back on Your Home Accessibility Project
A little-known property tax credit that can cover 100% of your accessibility renovation costs.
If you live in Montgomery County, Maryland and you're thinking about making your home more accessible — widening doorways, adding a no-step entrance, installing a stair lift, or remodeling a bathroom for a wheelchair user — there's a little-known property tax credit that can cover 100% of your costs. It's called the Design for Life (DFL) Property Tax Credit, and most homeowners have never heard of it.
Here's the short version: if your home renovation meets the program's accessibility standards, the county can credit up to $10,000 directly against your property tax bill. That's real money back in your pocket — and right now, almost nobody is talking about it.
What Is the Design for Life Tax Credit?
The Design for Life program was created by Montgomery County to encourage homeowners to build or renovate their homes with long-term accessibility in mind. There are three credit tiers, and the differences matter:
Accessible Features Credit
Covers individual qualifying features like 32-inch doorways, stair glides, grab bar reinforcement, or accessible light switches. Worth up to $2,500 (50% of your qualified costs).
Level I: VISITable
For homes that meet a baseline accessibility threshold: no-step entry, wider doorways, accessible alarm controls. Credit worth 100% of reasonable costs, up to $3,000.
Level II: LIVEable ⭐ Most Common for Aging-in-Place
The top tier. Must meet the full live-in accessibility standard: everything in Level I plus a fully maneuverable kitchen and bathroom, elevators or lifts, and reinforced grab bar walls. Reward: 100% of your reasonable costs, up to $10,000 credited against your property taxes.
Credits are capped at $2,000 per tax year, but excess rolls over — so a $10,000 credit gets applied over five years until it's fully used.
Who Is Eligible?
The basics: you own the home, it's your principal residence (the "Occupancy" box on your tax bill reads "Principal Residence"), and you've spent at least $500 on qualifying improvements within 12 months of applying.
Eligible property types include single-family detached homes, attached homes, townhomes, duplexes, and condominiums (condos require a commercial building permit).
How Do You Apply?
The process runs through Montgomery County's Department of Permitting Services (DPS):
- 1
Pull a building permit through DPS — specifically select the "Design for Life Features" option when submitting your plans.
- 2
Complete the work with a qualified contractor and pass your DPS inspection.
- 3
Submit your tax credit application to DPS after work is complete and certified.
No lottery, no waitlist, no income limit. First-come, first-served based on completed projects. One application per property per tax year.
How Much Will You Actually Save?
Say you spend $8,500 making your bathroom fully accessible and adding a no-step entrance. If your project qualifies for Level II:
- ✓Tax credit applied: $8,500 (100% of costs)
- ✓Credit distributed over ~4 years at $2,000/year
- ✓Net out-of-pocket cost for the renovation: $0
Even a smaller $3,000 doorway-widening and grab bar project under the Accessible Features tier gets you back $1,500 (50% of costs). The math is hard to argue with.
The Catch: You Need the Right Contractor
The Design for Life credit requires your renovation to pass a DPS inspection against specific accessibility standards. Not every contractor knows those standards.
You need someone familiar with universal design and accessibility code, who can pull the right permit, complete the work correctly, and help you get the credit you earned.
Find a Design for Life Contractor in Montgomery County →Don't leave $10,000 on the table.