What is a flexible spending account?
Health care and dependent care flexible spending accounts (FSAs) are a great way to save money on taxes. Credits and/or pre-tax money from your wages are deposited monthly into a spending account. Deposits to these accounts avoid all federal, state, local and Social Security/Medicare taxes. When you incur qualified expenses, you file for reimbursement from the account. Once you are reimbursed, you have paid your expenses with tax-free money.
For detailed program information, please review the Flexible Spending Account Program Guide:
- 2020 Flexible Spending Account Program Guide (pdf)
- 2019 Flexible Spending Account Program Guide (pdf)
All staff paid on a monthly basis whose salaries are subject to state and federal taxes are eligible to participate. You are eligible to enroll when you are hired and become benefit eligible or during the annual benefits open enrollment period. You can only enroll or make a change to an FSA outside of these times if you have a qualifying event.
-
April 21, 2020:
The deadline to submit 2019 FSA claims in Thursday, April 30, 2020. We encourage you to check your 2019 balance(s) in Employee Self Service and submit your eligible claims. Any funds not claimed by April 30, 2020 will be forfeited as required by IRS guidelines. -
Updated 4/1/2020 due to CARES Act
New Federal regulations included in the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security) Act that was passed on March 27, 2020 establish that distributions from Health Care Flexible Spending Accounts will be allowed to reimburse the cost of over-the-counter medicines or drugs without a prescription. This update is retroactive to purchases made on January 1, 2020 or later. Please visit the Health Care FSA Eligible Expenses page to review what you can be reimbursed for in 2020. -
Our FSA team continues to experience high claim volume for reimbursement. We are processing claims within a 20 to 30 business day turnaround. Please note that you can submit claims for 2019 up until Apr 30, 2020 and any time during the year for your 2020 claims. We appreciate your patience.