Years ago I knew a guy who knew he would be leaving the company. He had like $100 in his FSA. He had his vision laser corrected to the tune of about $10,000, paid via FSA, then left. He never had to repay it. Is this legit?
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@5pjf - I think you missed the point with the contact lens thing. The law requires companies to make your entire annual allotment available starting Jan 1, even though you're paying on a monthly basis. If you leave the company before you've paid the entire year's amount, but have used the entire allotment, the IRS currently does not allow the company to try to recoup the difference, so you end up getting to keep whatever you bought with it. Only works if you actually leave the company early in the year. It's one of the reasons that some companies have been slow to offer FSA accounts.
A transfer is not a life event change.
3sbi: Your FSA balance with follow you if your job is transferred from San Ramon to Houston. If your medical insurance company or plan is different because the carrier is different, I'm sure the HR Service Center will see that the balance is transferred to the new insurance plan carrier. Good luck.
How do FSA's work if you move within the company. Say you work in San Ramon and then transfer to Houston. Does that amount follow you, or do you start again from scratch when filling out papers for new benefits in your new area (life event change)
How about if you are living domestically and become an expat.
anyone know? I'm just curious.
-2ncb is 100% correct. I too left early in the year and spent the entire FSA pre-funded balance. The folks in HR actually told me to do so. Chevron would not ask back for the amount they paid up front. Use it or Lose it.
This wasn't with Chevron, but when I left my last employer I had an FSA account that was funded $2,300 in January. I was leaving in February. So I took the whole family in and got eye exams for everyone and spent the remaining $2300 worth on disposable contacts and glasses. Way more than I would have done normally, but I wanted to use every last cent before I left the company.
I didn't have to pay any of it back. It has been 4 years now and my wife is still using up the remainder of those contacts.
If you have an FSA account and you know your leaving soon, I suggest you do the same.
On the flip side, if you have a fully funded FSA and you have contributed to it through the whole year and haven't used any of it, you will lose it all at the end of the calendar year if you don't do something.
If the card is a debit style card, as my CVX FSA card currently is, no, Scooter, WRONG. You can only use the card to cover expenses that you can cover with the balance in that account. It's computerized,networked and checked upon usage, as any HSA or FSA payment is. Welcome to the 21st century, Scooter. But keep the tall tales and fabrications coming, I'm quite humored - LOL!!!!
@mpk, You nailed it. You explained it accurately in a few words.
Let me straighten this out. The annual limit is $2500 or $208 per month. If your buddy left after January he could put in $208 in that month and spend $2500 all in January and nothing would come of it. He could spend it on eye surgery or band aids or a Rascal scooter. The card does not know when he is leaving the company.
At the beginning of the year your fsa will have the full annual election amount in it. If you use it all up and leave you dont have to pay back the difference between what you have put in as of the date of the charge vs. the total allocation.
$10k is about 4 times as much as the maximum annual FSA allowance and typical Lasik surgery is about $2k-$3k max.
You heard a lie, OP. The FSA is a debit, not credit card. Once the Flexible Spending Account balance is spent, that's it. No more can be used. Same thing for a Health Savings Account (HSA).