MEDICAL & DEPENDENT CARE FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNT (FSA)
Ww+E offers both a Medical, Dental, Vision Flexible Spending Account and Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) through Flores & Associates, LLC, a third party administrator. Participation in the FSA plan is voluntary and can be used to reimburse eligible out-of-pocket medical, prescription, dental, vision and dependent care expenses. Current employees can enroll in coverage during the annual ‘Open Enrollment’ period which is the month of March each year – the plan year runs from April 1st through March 31st each year to coincide with our Health, Dental and Vision plan renewals. New employees have 30 days to enroll in the plan. If you have a Qualified Life Event (QLE) similar to one’s described on the main benefits page you are allowed to make enrollment changes during the plan year within 30 days of the QLE.
By participating in the plan you can elect to reimburse your eligible out of pocket expenses with pre-tax dollars deducted from your paycheck, according to your annual election amount. After you enroll, your entire annual election is available to you even though you have not had time to accumulate the total of these funds.
The maximum allowed annual election for the Medical FSA is $2,600 for the 2017 plan year. FSA plans are no longer ‘use it or lose it’ – recent changes made by the IRS allow participants to rollover $500 to the next plan year. Debit cards that are coded for eligible expenses only will be issued to those employees that enroll, which can be used at point of service.
The Dependent Care Account is available for those employees with eligible Day Care expenses for the dependent children. The annual maximum contribution for married filing jointly tax-payers is $5,000 and $2,500 for single tax-payers. The IRS also allows deductions for Dependent Care on your taxes, however you can not claim both. Therefore you should consult your tax advisor to determine which method will produce the better result for your situation.
Please review the materials located in the Quick Links toolbar to the left of this text module for more information and feel free to contact your HR Department or our offices with any questions or concerns.