Flexible Spending Accounts

Paying for qualified medical expenses, pre-tax

An FSA is a Flexible Spending account that allows you to set aside money on a pre-tax basis to pay for eligible healthcare and/or dependent care expenses. The amount that you choose to contribute is taken out of your paycheck in equal amounts each pay period, making it easy to save for out-of-pocket expenses

Health Care FSA plans cover certain out-of-pocket expenses when the PPO medical option is chosen.  Pre-tax dollars are deducted through payroll and available throughout the year through a Wex debit card for eligible health expenses such as co-pays, deductibles, prescriptions, dental, and vision expenses as well as other medically necessary expenses not covered by insurance. 

The 2025 IRS contribution limit is $3,300.

You may roll over up to $640 of your unused 2024 health FSA funds, not submitted for reimbursement by March 15, 2025, provided you enroll in the FSA plan for 2025.

You may roll over up to $660 of your unused health FSA funds at the end of 2025 provided you enroll in the FSA plan for 2026.

Please take extra care in planning your contribution amount to avoid forfeiture of unused funds above this amount.

You are not required to enroll in medical plan to enroll in the Health Care FSA.

If you are enrolled in the HDHP medical option, you may enroll in the Limited Provision Health FSA.  This tax-savings option also allows for pre-tax deductions to assist with eligible expenses and funds are available through a Wex debit card.  However, since you are enrolled in the HDHP medical option, your FSA funds may only be used for dental and vision expenses.

Only $640 of unused funds may be rolled over to the next year, if you enroll in the Limited Provision Health FSA plan, so take extra care to plan your contribution carefully to avoid forfeiture of unused funds above this amount.

A Dependent Care FSA is a smart way to reduce your overall tax burden while funding eligible dependent care expenses for children under the age of 13, or a physically or mentally impaired dependent over the age of 13, to allow you to work.  Examples of eligible expenses include before and after school care, daycare, nursery school and preschool and summer day camps. The 2025 IRS contribution limit for Dependent Care FSA is $5,000 per household or $2,500 if you are married and filing separately.

Funds do not rollover to the next year so take extra care to plan your contribution carefully to avoid forfeiture of unused funds.

2025 IRS Limits
Health Care Limited Provision Health FSA Dependent Care
Maximum Contribution $3,300 $3,300 $5,000
Qualified Expenses Qualified Medical, Dental and Vision Qualified Dental and Vision Childcare (up to age 13) or Care for an Adult with Disability
Use it or Lose it After $660 rollover After $660 rollover Yes
Medical Plan Pairing PPO plan or no plan High Deductible plan Any medical plan or no medical plan

The main benefit of an FSA is that the money you contribute is deducted from your pay on a pretax basis. Therefore, your taxable income is less. So, when you use your FSA funds, it’s like you’re saving about 30 cents on every dollar you spend.

It’s quite simple really. You contribute, spend and save.

  1. Contribute – Estimate the amount you expect to spend during the plan year on eligible out-of-pocket expenses. Out-of-pocket expenses are those not covered by insurance or any other plan. Select the FSA (health care, dependent care, and/or Limited Purpose) that’s right for you and choose how much you want to contribute. Your employer will deduct that amount from your paycheck in equal amounts each pay period. These deductions are pretax. Each FSA has its own contribution limit, which is set by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS). Below are the 2025 limits.
      • Health Care FSA contribution limit – $3,300
      • Limited Purpose FSA contribution limit – $3,300
      • Dependent Care FSA contribution limit -$5,000
  2. Spend – Once funds are in your FSA, you can use your account debit card to pay for your eligible expenses. 
  3. Save – Your FSA contributions are tax-free. So when you use your FSA funds on eligible expenses, you end up saving about 30 cents on every dollar you spend.

Once funds are in your FSA, you can use your debit card to pay for your eligible expenses. Or you can simply pay with cash, check or credit card, and then submit a claim to pay yourself back.

The IRS considers an expense to be “incurred” at the time you receive the care, service or supply. It’s not when you’re billed or pay for the expense.

Example:

    • You enrolled in a health care and dependent care FSA that’s effective January 1 through December 31 of this year. Eligible expenses that you incur during this period can be reimbursed.
    • You received health care services in December of last year. You paid for those services in February of this year. This expense can’t be reimbursed because you incurred the expense before the start of the FSA plan year.
    • You had dental work done in January of this year. You prepaid for the work last December. Though you paid for the work last year, you receive the dental treatment this year. This means the expense can be reimbursed from your FSA.
    • You paid for summer day camp in March. Camp begins July 15 and ends July 22. The expense is considered “incurred” on July 22. This means you can be reimbursed from your dependent care FSA for the cost of camp after July 22.

The IRS allows employers to give Health Care FSA owners until March 15 of the following year to submit eligible expenses incurred in the prior plan year.

Administered by WEX, a Health Spending Account (HSA) is a tax savings tool for approved expenses.

WEX

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