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Flexible Spending Accounts (FSA)
YOU MUST ENROLL OR RE-ENROLL TO HAVE THIS FSA BENEFIT EACH YEAR. IF YOU DO NOT ENROLL, YOU WILL NOT HAVE FSA COVERAGE.
A Great Tax Benefit!!!...…Start saving money by enrolling in a healthcare or dependent care account.
A FSA is an IRS tax-favored program offered by employers that allow their employees to pay for eligible out-of-pocket healthcare and dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars.
Shelby County offers a Healthcare spending account and a Dependent care spending account. WEX is the FSA administrator for the County.
The Healthcare spending account can be used to pay for qualified medical expenses that are not covered by your County health insurance. Your entire elected annual contribution is available on the first day of the plan year, January 1. As of January 1, 2023, the IRS approved a $3,050 contribution limit on medical reimbursement accounts.
HERE IS HOW A FSA WORKS
Money is set aside from your paycheck before taxes are taken out. You can use your pre-tax FSA dollars to pay for eligible healthcare expenses throughout the plan year for you, your spouse, and your eligible dependents. You can save money on expenses you are already paying for like doctors’ office visits, prescription drugs, etc. Eligible expenses that can be reimbursed under FSA include plan deductibles, co-pays, and coinsurance for medical, dental, and vision care.
FSA healthcare participants will receive from WEX Health a benefit debit card for purchase of eligible medical expenses.
The Dependent care FSA is used to pay for eligible dependent care expenses such as childcare for children under age 13 or children who are physically or mentally incapable of self-care and, in some cases, elder care so that you and your spouse can work, look for work, or attend school full-time. After you have incurred an eligible expense, you may be reimbursed up to your contribution balance at the time of the reimbursement request. The maximum election amount for the dependent care account is $5,000 per year for those filing married, single, or head of household and $2,500 for those married filing single.
The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) modified the “use-it-or-lose-it” rule. Instead of risk losing the funds left in your health FSA at the end of the plan year, you may carry over up to $570 of your remaining health FSA funds into the next plan year. This means you do not have to rush to spend all of your health FSA funds or worry about losing money when the plan year ends.
The $570 carryover of unused funds does not count toward the maximum amount of salary reduction contributions that the employee may elect for the plan year. The maximum amount of employee salary reduction contributions, for health FSA is $3,050 per plan year.
The carry over provision of the use-it-or-lose rule does not apply to the Dependent Care FSA and funds remaining in this account are forfeited after the plan year.
To participate in FSA, you must complete an enrollment form. The minimum contribution for a Medical FSA is $25.00 per pay period, and Dependent Care FSA is $50.00 per pay period. Enrollment forms and Frequently Asked Questions are available on County’s websites. You can visit WEX’s website at https://benefitslogin.wexhealth.com or call customer service 1-866-451-3399.
FSA Participants – have until March 31st of the year to claim previous year FSA expenses or you will forfeit any remaining balances over $570.00 that have not been spent.
Please keep your debit card if you plan to re-enroll each year until it expires. WEX will automatically reload the card with your new annual FSA contribution.