Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)

Team Health Care FSA or Team Limited Purpose FSA?

First things first. How do you know which FSA to join? It’s pretty simple.

If you’re not enrolled in the Consumer Advantage with HSA medical plan, you can contribute to a Health Care FSA for medical, dental, vision, and prescription drug expenses.

If you are enrolled in the Consumer Advantage with HSA medical plan, you can contribute to a Limited Purpose FSA, but reimbursement is limited to dental and vision expenses. (The HSA already gives you a tax benefit on medical and prescription drug expenses.)

Getting started

As with so many things in life, timing is everything. You can enroll in an FSA only as a new employee, during the annual Open Enrollment period, or if you experience a qualified life event. Your participation—and some of the money you contribute—lasts only for the calendar year.

When you enroll in the Health Care or Limited Purpose FSA, you’ll go to the bswift platform to select how much you want to contribute for the calendar year. You can set aside up to $3,200 for 2024. Your contributions are deducted from your paycheck before taxes are withheld.

You’ll receive a debit card that you can use to pay for your health care expenses. For a full list of eligible expenses, take a look at IRS Publication 502, Medical and Dental Expenses. And keep your receipts! You could be asked to prove your expenses were health care-related.

Rules to remember

1. You can carry over up to $640 of your unused balance from 2024 to 2025.
2. You have until March 31 of the following year to submit current-year claims for reimbursement.

Don’t Forget Dependent Care!

If you want to spend less on taxes while paying for dependent care expenses, the Dependent Care FSA will fit you like a glove. You can use it to pay for expenses like day care, after-school programs (for kids up to age 13), and elder care programs.

Getting started

You can enroll in the Dependent Care FSA as a new employee, during annual Open Enrollment, or if you experience a qualified life event. You’ll go to the bswift platform to elect your contribution. For the 2024 calendar year, you can set aside up to $2,500 if you’re married and filing taxes separately or up to $5,000 if you’re single or married and filing taxes jointly.

Once you’re enrolled, you’ll receive a debit card that you can use to pay for your dependent care expenses. Your pretax paycheck deductions can be used to cover eligible childcare or adult dependent care expenses. For a complete list of qualified expenses, review IRS Publication 503, Child and Dependent Care Expenses. Be sure to keep your receipts in case you need to substantiate a payment.

Rules to remember

1. Use it or lose it! All funds expire on December 31, 2024.
2. You have until March 31 of the following year to submit current-year claims for reimbursement.