Set aside pre-tax money from every paycheck to help pay for dependent care expenses. A qualifying ‘dependent’ may be a child under age 13, a disabled spouse, or an older parent in eldercare.

• Annual Max | $5,000 Per Year
• Daycare, nursery school and preschool
• Summer day camp
• Elder daycare
• Before and after school programs

How Flexible Spending Accounts Work

Decide how much to contribute – Our plan year runs from January 1 through December 31 each year.  Be sure to estimate carefully as any money you don’t use will be forfeited (this is called the “use it or lose it” rule).

Pay your expense and file claims – When you pay for eligible expenses, save the receipts. Then, file a claim for reimbursement from the appropriate account.

Receive tax-free reimbursement – Once your claim is approved, you’ll be reimbursed with money from your account.

HealthCare Flexible Spending Account’s allow you to help pay for your eligible healthcare expenses on a pre-tax basis. The healthcare reimbursement account annual maximum for 2024 is $3,200. You can elect to contribute towards this account and your pretax deductions will be made bi-weekly. A debit card is available to help make the claim submission process easy. But, for some of us, we may still choose to use a good old fashioned claim form. It’s your choice.

When enrolled in the Choice Fund OAP plan and an HSA you may also elect a Limited Purpose FSA (LPFSA) concurrently, allowing you to receive reimbursement for eligible dental and vision expenses. If enrolled in the Choice Fund OAP plan, but not an HSA, you may enroll in the Healthcare FSA with access to all eligible medical, dental, and vision reimbursements. To establish an LPFSA, you must be enrolled in both the Choice Fund OAP and an HSA. You can use this account to pay for eligible dental and vision expenses.

The funds you elect are available to you from the start of the plan year. For 2024 Health Care FSA plan year members, you will have until 03/15/2025 to incur claims.

2024 Plan Year
Claims for reimbursement must be submitted by March 31, 2025 for qualified expenses incurred prior to December 31, 2024.

2023 Plan Year
If you still have a balance in your FSA after December 31, 2023, you will have until March 15, 2024 to incur eligible expenses. Any remaining funds after March 31, 2024 will be forfeited.

With a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account You can contribute up to $5,000 each year on a pre-tax basis to help pay for care for your eligible dependents so that you (and your spouse if you’re married) can work or look for work. This limit will be reduced to $2,500 if you are married and filing a separate tax return. You may only use the funds that are available in your account, not the entire annual election.

The funds available in your account will be the amount deducted from your paycheck at that point in time, the full amount is not available from the start of the plan year. Qualified dependent care expenses must all be incurred by 12/31 each year. Any remaining balances will be forfeited.  For your new 2024 election you will need to incur all claims by 12/31/2024 and you will have until 3/31/2025 to submit your claims for reimbursement for qualified dependent care expenses incurred prior to 12/31/2024.

FSA Tips & Deadlines

Estimate your expenses carefully before you enroll – The key to making FSAs work for you is to use your FSA for predictable expenses – in other words, expenses you know you will incur during the plan year. For example, if you take medication every day (such as blood pressure or cholesterol medication), you could put money in your FSA to cover your prescription drug copays.

Click on the below link to learn how to substantiate medical flexible spending purchases:

How to substantiate medical flexible spending account purchases of eligible expenses 

Check out Common Eligible Expenses from the FSA Store:

https://fsastore.com/fsa-eligibility-list

To View the Full IRS list, you can find all those expenses here:

https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p502.pdf