Flexible spending account (FSA)

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Eligibility

Full and part-time benefit-eligible faculty and staff

Plan Administrator

ASI Flex

Who Can Use this Benefit

Health FSA

The employee (the participant), your spouse (if filing a joint tax return) and your qualified child or qualified relative.

Dependent Day Care

Your work-related expenses must be for the care of one or more members of your home who are qualifying persons. You must provide over half of the qualifying person’s support. The qualifying person cannot have income in excess of the Federal exemption amount.

A Qualifying Dependent is:

Your qualifying child under the age of 13, who shares the same residence with you, or
Your spouse or qualifying child or qualifying relative who is physically or mentally unable to care for him/herself who shares the same residence with you and has income less than the Federal exemption amount.

Benefit

FSA’s are voluntary accounts you put money into that you can use to pay for certain out-of-pocket costs not covered by other benefit programs. The money you contribute is on a pre-tax basis. You can participate in one or both of the following FSA accounts:

Health FSA
Dependent Day Care FSA

Costs

Contribution limits are as follows for 2024:

FSA Minimum Maximum
Health Care $5.00/pay ($120) $127.08/pay ($3,050)*
Dependent (Day) Care $5.00/pay ($120) $208.33/pay ($5,000)

The Run-Out-Period is the time during which claims can be submitted. Health Care and Dependent Day Care run-out-period is April 30, 2025 for the calendar year 2024.

Contribution limits are as follows for 2025:

FSA Minimum Maximum
Health Care $5.00/pay ($120) $137.50/pay ($3,300)*
Dependent (Day) Care $5.00/pay ($120) $208.33/pay ($5,000)

The Run-Out-Period is the time during which claims can be submitted. Health Care and Dependent Day Care run-out-period is April 30, 2026 for the calendar year 2025.

Spousal Coordination

Dependent Care
You may contribute up to $5,000 of your annual salary if you are married and filing a joint return, or if you are single.

If you are married and filing separate tax returns, you may contribute a maximum of $2,500. If your spouse's employer offers FSA, he or she may also contribute up to $2,500 annually. The maximum allowable contribution per household is $5,000. To be eligible for reimbursement, expenses must be incurred in the care of a "qualified individual."

Health Care
You and your spouse can elect to contribute up to the $3,050 annual maximum for 2024, which will increase to $3,300 in 2025.

Claims

Each item claimed must be supported by a statement of service from an independent provider. Documentation must contain the following information in order for payment to be issued:

the name of the provider of the service;
the name of the person obtaining care;
the date(s) of service;
the amount charged for the service; and
a general description of the service provided.

You may submit claims via:

smartphone or tablet
online
fax
mail

To verify if your claim was received:

You can view all claims processed by ASIFlex on our website by signing into your online account and checking the status of your filed claim. ASIFlex strives to process all claims within 24 hours of submission. In addition, ASIFlex customer service representatives are available to assist you Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., and 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Central Time on Saturday.

Limitations

FSA accounts run on a calendar year and balances do not rollover from one year to the next. Any remaining balance from the prior year will be forfeited at the end of the grace period.

IRS regulations permit a 2½ month grace period (through March 15) for participants to incur expenses that may be reimbursed from contributions made in the preceding year. This provides additional time to take advantage of FSA contributions before the amounts are forfeited under the "use-it-or-lose-it" rule. It is still important, however, to be somewhat conservative when choosing the amount of your FSA contribution; you will lose any balance not used during the plan year and subsequent grace period.

Re-enrollment is required each year for both the Health and Dependent Care FSA. Open Enrollment is usually in November each year with benefits beginning January 1^st.

Participation in the FSA ends if you terminate employment. This means only expenses incurred prior to the date your participation in the plan ends are eligible for reimbursement. Claims for expenses incurred prior to your termination date must be submitted within 90 days of your termination date.

The University is required by law to provide benefit continuation coverage under COBRA. COBRA participation will require that you continue at your current contribution level. The advantage is that you will be able to continue to submit expenses incurred after your termination date. The difference is that you will be paying after-tax dollars plus administration fees. A Dependent Care FSA does not qualify for COBRA. Therefore, any funds remaining in the account after termination and the following 90 days will be forfeited.

For information on the interaction between a health FSA and an HSA, please see the IRS website or seek advice from a tax advisor.

Additional Resources

ASIFlex and FSA Store have teamed up to make the consumer shopping experience easier and more secure. With our new ASIFlex Cardless Pay service, consumers no longer need to use any credit or debit card numbers! Payment to FSA Store will be made directly from the consumer’s ASIFlex account. It’s that easy! Here’s how it works:

Sign into your ASIFlex.com account.
Click on the FSA Store Shopping link.
Shop, select products, and proceed to checkout.
Choose the ASIFlex payment option.
ASIFlex pays FSA Store directly from the health care account, and products are shipped.

View our infographic