What Employers Should Know About ABLE Accounts

Tax-advantaged savings accounts designed for Americans with disabilities are an underutilized financial wellness tool — but experts say too few eligible people, including employees, know they exist.

Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) accounts, created by Congress in 2014, became available to millions more Americans this year due to expanded eligibility.

“A challenge is that not enough people know about them, and that not enough people who qualify for an ABLE account know about them,” said Juliana Crist, head of ABLE programs at Vestwell, a financial technology company that manages 21 state ABLE plans. “There are a lot of people with qualifying medical conditions, but the word ‘disability’ doesn’t resonate with them. It’s a much broader pool of people than we think.”

That lack of awareness creates an opportunity for employers. HR leaders, in particular, can play an important role in educating employees about ABLE accounts as part of a broader financial wellness strategy. Employers can even go further by making contributions as well. 

Here’s what HR professionals should know about how ABLE accounts work, what changed in 2026, and where employers can make an impact.

ورقة حقائق: حدود وعتبات خطة المزايا لعام 2026

What ABLE Accounts Are — and Why They Matter

ABLE accounts were created by the Achieving a Better Life Experience Act of 2014, allowing eligible individuals with disabilities to save and invest money for disability-related expenses in a tax-advantaged account. While contributions to ABLE accounts are made with after-tax dollars, earnings grow tax-free, and withdrawals are not taxed if used for qualified disability expenses such as housing, transportation, healthcare, assistive technology, or education. 

Importantly, the accounts are structured to protect access to means-tested benefits. Savings in an ABLE account do not count toward eligibility thresholds for programs like Medicaid, and up to $100,000 is excluded from Supplemental Security Income (SSI) resource limits.

ABLE accounts are administered by states, often through state treasurers or contracted financial institutions, though many programs allow enrollment from out-of-state residents.

Toolkit: Managing Disability Benefits

What Changed in 2026 

The biggest change took effect Jan. 1 of this year, when the ABLE Age Adjustment Act expanded eligibility for the accounts.

Previously, individuals qualified only if their disability began before age 26. The new rule increases that threshold to before age 46, dramatically widening access.

The change could expand the eligible population from roughly 8 million to about 14 million Americans, according to the National Disability Institute. 

“The rates of those with many of these qualifying conditions are generally rising in America,” Crist noted, so the number of eligible individuals could ultimately be even higher. 

Notably, eligibility is based on the onset of disability, not when a diagnosis occurs or when the account is opened. Someone whose condition began before age 46 can open an account even decades later.

For employers, the expansion means a larger share of the workforce, particularly midcareer workers, may now benefit from ABLE accounts. It also means some current employees who previously assumed they were ineligible may now qualify under the expanded age threshold.

In 2026, beneficiaries can contribute up to $20,000 a year to an ABLE account. Workers with disabilities who do not participate in an employer-sponsored retirement plan can contribute an additional amount equal to the individual poverty threshold — $15,650 in 2026 — or up to their employment earnings, whichever is lower.

دور أرباب العمل  

HR leaders can play an important role when it comes to ABLE accounts, Crist said. The first step is simply raising awareness. Many eligible individuals are unaware the accounts exist; fewer than a quarter-million Americans had opened one as of 2025 despite millions qualifying.

“If you’re an employer and you’re already talking to your employees about financial wellness, you’re telling them about retirement and budgeting and emergency savings and college savings — you should also talk to them about ABLE accounts,” Crist said. “It should be part of the educational toolbox.”

She suggested employers educate all employees about ABLE accounts, how they work, why they can help, and where to find additional information.

“Whether [employers] realize it or not, they have employees with a disability. And they have employees who have children with a disability, who might want to set up an account for them,” she said. Family members can also contribute to ABLE accounts, meaning employer education may benefit workers who care for loved ones with disabilities as well. 

Employers may also allow workers to direct a portion of their paycheck into an ABLE account through payroll deduction, similar to retirement plan contributions. Employers can also go even further by contributing to an employee’s account or the account of an eligible dependent.

Employers who do so may gain a “tremendous recruitment and retention tool,” she said, adding that research shows that employees with disabilities are “very loyal employees and have lower turnover rates.

“This is a population that you would want to recruit and want to keep,” Crist said.