Flexible Spending Accounts

The university offers flexible spending account (FSA) options: health care and dependent care. A Health Care FSA is an alternate way of paying your share of your health care costs. In the same manner, a Dependent/Child Care FSA reimburses you for expenses for dependents and childcare which are necessary to allow you and your spouse to work. Here is a link to a concise explanation of how an FSA works.

The university's flexible spending account (FSA) administrator is Chard, Snyder & Associates (Chard, Snyder).
The Chard, Snyder website is located at: www.chard-snyder.com

An FSA is a benefit option designed to increase your disposable income by reducing the amount of taxes you pay. An FSA enables you to use pre-tax dollars to pay for qualified dependent care and health care expenses. These qualified expenses must be for service rendered AFTER the start date of your FSA and on or before March 15 of the following year.

For 2012, the maximum annual contribution limit for the Health Care account is $5,000 and $5,000 for the Dependent Care FSA.

For 2013, the maximum annual employee contribution limit for a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) is $2,500 due to health care reform law. If you waive health insurance and have your university waiver contribution allocated to a health care flexible spending account, this does not affect the $2500 annual limit.

For 2013, the contribution limit for the Dependent Care FSA is $5,000.

FSA's have a "spend-it-or-lose-it" provision. Any money deposited in FSA's and not used in the same plan year is forfeited. You don't get back any unspent balances. However, your account for the plan year will remain open until the following March 15th to allow you to be reimbursed for expenses, but the claim must be filed no later than March 31.

The Claims Submission Grace Period is the period of time after an employee terminates employment (or loses eligibility to participate in the Plan) during which the employee can submit claims for expenses incurred while the employee remained a participant. The Claim Submission Grace Period begins on the employee's termination and ends 90 days after the date of termination.

PLEASE NOTE: It is standard for Chard Snyder to seek substantiation for a Benny Card transaction to ensure that a participant is compliant with the IRS regulations that govern flexible spending accounts. When Chard Snyder sees the swipe of your Benny card at the point of service, they just see an amount, a transaction date and the provider's name. They do not see the type of service or the patient's name. Some services that may be charged to the Benny card may not be allowable services (for example, cosmetic services). They then ask the participant for an itemized statement of services. You have 70 days to provide this supporting documentation to Chard Snyder. They send 3 notice letters asking for the documentation and if they do not receive within 70 days, they will block the Benny card for use while they obtain the information.

FSA participants may access their account here

If you are covered under a health savings account (HSA) elsewhere and are interested in a limited health FSA, please contact your Benefits Counselor.

The following are useful links regarding your FSA account(s):