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.
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Feb. 11, 2020:
Our FSA team continues to experience high claim volume for reimbursement. We are processing claims within a 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. - Jan. 6, 2020:
We are experiencing very high claim volume for reimbursement. Please remember that our processing time is 20 business days from the date you submitted your claim. We thank you for your patience as we work through this busy time.
- Jan. 6, 2020:
For medical purposes, mileage reimbursement has decreased from $0.20 cents in 2019 to $0.17 cents in 2020.
- Jan. 1, 2020:
Effective Jan. 1, 2020, University Benefits will no longer accept paper claim submissions. All claims should be submitted online through Employee Self Service.