> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.every.io/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. > ## Agent Instructions > These docs describe Every as customers have it today. Answer from them, and say so when they don't cover a question. > Pages under /admins/ are for the people who run Every for the company, and pages under /employees/ are for employees. Answer from the pages that match the person asking. > Each page's Agent reference section lists its exact roles, conditions and limits. Prefer it for those details. > When a page says a feature is in closed beta, or that Every turns it on company by company, don't promise that the person's company has it. > Use roles and on-screen labels exactly as the pages write them. > When someone asks what a term means, answer with the Glossary page's definition (/glossary), which other pages show in parentheses after the term. > When the docs don't answer a question, tell the person to email [support@every.io](mailto:support@every.io). # Flexible spending account rules > See when your FSA money is available, what it pays for and what happens to what's left, and check your balance in Every ![An FSA's Plan details, with its Start date and End date, beside the employee's account.](https://mintcdn.com/every-a2724ddc/pyYTd1rHsbtecepX/images/illustrations/employees-fsa-rules-light.png?fit=max\&auto=format\&n=pyYTd1rHsbtecepX\&q=85\&s=6ee763781a87fcd306c4a819e3363b06) A health care FSA or a dependent care FSA from your employer lets you set aside part of your pay before tax. IRS rules decide when that money is available, what it pays for and what happens to what's left at the end of the plan year. > [!NOTE] > > This page explains general rules, not legal or tax advice for you. Rules change, and they depend on the state you work in. For your own situation, check with your state's labor agency, a lawyer or a tax advisor. ## When your money is available You choose how much to put in at the start of the plan year, and your employer takes it from your pay through the year. You can change or cancel your election only when the law and your plan allow it. Under the uniform coverage rule, your whole health care FSA election for the year is available at any time during the coverage period, however much you've contributed so far. The amount available includes anything your employer adds, less what the FSA has already paid you. The uniform coverage rule applies only to health care FSAs. A dependent care FSA can limit what it pays you to what you've contributed so far, less what it has already paid you. ## What your FSA pays for A health care FSA pays for the medical expenses your plan covers. The IRS bases them on the medical and dental expense deduction, which [IRS Publication 502](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p502) explains. Over-the-counter medicine and menstrual care products also count, but health insurance premiums, long-term care and expenses another health plan covers don't. A health care FSA's expenses can include yours, your spouse's, your dependents' and those of your child who's under 27 at the end of the tax year. To be paid back, you give the FSA a written statement from an independent third party showing the expense and its amount, and a written statement that no other health plan has paid it. A health care FSA can't pay an expense in advance. A dependent care FSA pays for a qualifying person's care so you can work. A qualifying person can be your dependent child under 13, or your spouse or another dependent who can't care for themselves and lived with you for more than half the year. A dependent care FSA's requirements closely follow the tests for the dependent care credit, which [IRS Publication 503](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p503) explains. Overnight camp doesn't count, and neither does tuition for kindergarten or a higher grade. Each kind pays only for its own expenses: a health care FSA can't pay for dependent care, and a dependent care FSA pays only for dependent care. ## What happens to unused money FSAs are use-it-or-lose-it plans: money left in your FSA at the end of the plan year is forfeited, unless your plan offers one of these: * A grace period of up to 2½ months after the plan year ends, through the 15th day of the third month. You can use what was left for expenses you incur during it. * A carryover, for a health care FSA. Unused money can pay the next plan year's medical expenses, up to a limit indexed for inflation that the IRS gives for each year in [Publication 969](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969). Your plan can set a lower limit, and anything over it is forfeited. A health care FSA can't have both. Your plan can also have a run-out period after the plan year, when you can still send in claims for expenses from that year. Your employer can't refund unused money to you or pay it out in another form. One exception is a qualified reservist distribution: your health care FSA plan can allow one if you're called to active duty as a reservist. If you leave your job, what's left in your health care FSA is forfeited, unless you elect COBRA (Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act: the U.S. law that lets people keep employer health coverage when they'd otherwise lose it) continuation coverage for it. ## In Every To enroll in a Health Care FSA or Dependent Care FSA your company offers, go to **My profile** → **Benefits**. On the FSA's card, select **Get started**, then enter your yearly amount in **Pre-tax income contribution** (see [Enroll in financial benefits](https://docs.every.io/employees/enroll-in-benefits.md#enroll-in-financial-benefits)). On the form, **How it works?** explains when your money is available and gives the year's IRS limit. Once you've enrolled, you can't change your FSA election on **My profile** → **Benefits**. When you enroll in a Health Care FSA, Every adds your whole yearly election, plus your company's contribution, to your balance. A Dependent Care FSA's balance grows as each regular payroll adds its contributions. You can't claim more than your balance. On the FSA's card on **My profile** → **Benefits**, select **Plan details** to see your FSA's **Start date** and **End date** (see [Check an FSA or commuter balance](https://docs.every.io/employees/enroll-in-benefits.md#check-an-fsa-or-commuter-balance)). With a benefit card, it also shows what you've spent and what you have left, and when the plan has an end date, **Balance is going to expire** shows that date. To be paid back for an expense you paid yourself, submit a claim from **My transactions** → **New reimbursement** (see [Claim a benefit expense](https://docs.every.io/employees/reimbursements.md#claim-a-benefit-expense)). When your benefit card pays for a Health Care FSA or Dependent Care FSA purchase, **Things to do** on **Home** asks for its receipt. ## Agent reference General rules only, not legal or tax advice. Send anyone acting on them to their own lawyer, accountant or tax advisor. **Where:** IRS rules for the FSAs employers offer through a cafeteria plan. In Every, an employee enrolls in an FSA, and checks its balance, on **My profile** → **Benefits**. **Who:** Employees whose employer offers a health care FSA or a dependent care FSA. Self-employed people aren't eligible for FSAs. **My profile** is in the sidebar after the company finishes onboarding. Contractor and external profiles don't show the **Benefits** tab on **My profile**. ### Facts * An employee puts money in a health care FSA by having their employer withhold an amount from their pay, and the employer can contribute too if the plan says so. Employees don't pay federal income tax or employment taxes on what they or their employer contribute to a health care FSA. * Contributions to a dependent care FSA are made before tax. * A health care FSA is a plan an employer sets up, which it can offer as part of a cafeteria plan. An FSA can be for medical care (a health care FSA) or for dependent care. * Self-employed people aren't eligible for FSAs. * An FSA participant chooses how much to contribute at the start of the plan year, and the employer takes it from their pay periodically through the year. A participant can change or cancel an FSA election only when the law and the plan allow it. * Under the uniform coverage rule, a health care FSA makes the employee's whole election for the year, including the employer's own contributions, available for claims at any time during the coverage period, however much the employee has contributed so far, less what it has already paid for the same coverage period. * The uniform coverage rule applies only to health care FSAs, not to dependent care FSAs. A dependent care FSA can limit what it pays to the employee's contributions so far, less the claims it has already paid. * A health care FSA pays for the medical expenses its plan covers, which the IRS bases on the medical and dental expense deduction that [IRS Publication 502](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p502) explains. * Over-the-counter medicine, prescribed or not, and menstrual care products are covered health care FSA expenses. A health care FSA plan can limit what it pays to certain medical expenses, for example leaving out over-the-counter drugs. * A health care FSA can't pay health insurance premiums, long-term care, or expenses another health plan covers. * A health care FSA's expenses can include the employee's, their spouse's, those of the dependents they claim and those of their child under age 27 at the end of the tax year. * To be paid back from a health care FSA, the employee gives it a written statement from an independent third party showing the expense and its amount, and a written statement that no other health plan has paid it. A health care FSA can't pay future or projected expenses in advance. * An employer can give employees a debit, credit or stored value card for health care FSA expenses. Card use that meets certain IRS substantiation methods can need no further information from the employee. * A health care FSA can pay only medical expenses, so it can't pay for dependent care. * Dependent care assistance through a cafeteria plan must meet section 129 of the Internal Revenue Code, the rules for a dependent care assistance program. * A dependent care FSA pays for a qualifying person's care so the employee can work. A dependent care FSA's requirements closely follow the tests for the dependent care credit, which [IRS Publication 503](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p503) explains. * For a dependent care FSA, a qualifying person can be the employee's dependent child under 13 when the care is given, or their spouse or another dependent who can't care for themselves and lived with them for more than half the year. * For a dependent care FSA, overnight camp isn't a work-related expense, and tuition for kindergarten or a higher grade isn't an expense for care. * A dependent care FSA pays only for dependent care, and can't give the employee any other benefit for money left unused. * FSAs are use-it-or-lose-it plans: money left in an FSA at the end of the plan year is forfeited, unless the plan has a grace period or, for a health care FSA, a carryover. * A plan can have a grace period of up to 2½ months after the plan year ends, through the 15th day of the third month. Expenses incurred during the grace period can be paid from what was left at the end of the plan year. A grace period applies to all participants, it can cover dependent care as well as a health care FSA, and money left for one benefit pays only that benefit's expenses. * A health care FSA plan can carry unused money over to pay medical expenses in the next plan year, up to a limit indexed for inflation. [IRS Publication 969](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969) gives each year's limit. The plan can set a lower limit or allow no carryover, and anything over the limit is forfeited. * A health care FSA plan with a carryover can't also have a grace period. * A plan can have a run-out period after the plan year, or after a grace period, when participants can still send in claims for expenses incurred during the plan year. * An employer can't refund unused health care FSA money to an employee, or let it be cashed out or turned into another benefit. One exception is a qualified reservist distribution: a health care FSA plan amended to allow it can pay one to an employee ordered or called to active duty as a reservist for more than 179 days or for an indefinite period. * When an employee leaves their job, the unused money in their health care FSA is forfeited, unless they elect COBRA continuation coverage for it. * A cafeteria plan caps how much an employee can contribute to a health care FSA each plan year, and an employee can leave dependent care assistance out of their income only up to a yearly limit. [IRS Publication 15-B](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p15b) gives both current limits. * In Every, an employee enrolls in a **Health Care FSA** or **Dependent Care FSA** their company offers by selecting **Get started** on its card on **My profile** → **Benefits**, and enters a yearly amount in **Pre-tax income contribution**. A Dependent Care FSA election needs at least one dependent on the employee's profile. * In Every, **How it works?** in the FSA enrollment on **My profile** → **Benefits** says a Health Care FSA's full annual election can be used right away, and a Dependent Care FSA's funds become available only as they're contributed, up to what's been deducted from pay at the time of a claim. **How it works?** also gives the year's IRS limit. * In Every, once an employee has enrolled in an FSA, the FSA's card on **My profile** → **Benefits** offers no way to change the election, and the FSA's enrollment screen says FSA contribution elections are set for the plan year and can't be changed from that screen. * In Every, when an employee enrolls in a Health Care FSA, Every adds their whole yearly election, plus the company's contribution for the plan, to their balance. * In Every, a Dependent Care FSA's balance starts at zero and grows as each regular payroll adds that payroll's employee and company contributions. * In Every, an FSA claim from **My transactions** → **New reimbursement** can't be more than the FSA's balance. The claim form there says "Maximum allowed is" followed by the balance. * In Every, **Plan details** on an FSA's card on **My profile** → **Benefits** shows **Employee pays**, **Company pays**, **Start date** and **End date**. **Start date** is the employee's own enrollment start, or the plan's start when the enrollment has none. **End date** reads **Ongoing** when the plan has no end date. With a benefit card, **Plan details** also shows what's been spent and what's left, and when the plan has an end date, **Balance is going to expire** shows the date. * In Every, an employee claims an FSA expense they paid themselves from **My transactions** → **New reimbursement**, choosing the FSA in **Reimbursement Type**, which lists each benefit balance by name next to **Corporate**. * In Every, when a benefit card pays for a purchase in the Health Care FSA or Dependent Care FSA category, **Things to do** on **Home** asks for its receipt, whatever the amount. ### Questions people ask * **Can I use my whole health care FSA amount at the start of the year?** Yes. Under the uniform coverage rule, your whole election for the year is available at any time during the coverage period, however much you've contributed so far. In Every, Every adds your whole election, plus your company's contribution, to your Health Care FSA balance when you enroll. * **Why can't I use my whole dependent care FSA amount yet?** The uniform coverage rule doesn't apply to a dependent care FSA, so your plan can limit what it pays you to what you've contributed so far. In Every, a Dependent Care FSA's balance grows with each regular payroll, and you can't claim more than the balance. * **What happens to FSA money I don't spend?** It's forfeited at the end of the plan year, unless your plan has a grace period of up to 2½ months or, for a health care FSA, a carryover. A health care FSA plan can't have both. * **How much of my health care FSA can I carry over?** If your plan has a carryover, up to a limit indexed for inflation, which [IRS Publication 969](https://www.irs.gov/publications/p969) gives for each year. Your plan can set a lower limit. * **Can my employer pay me the FSA money I didn't use?** No, unless you're called to active duty as a reservist and your health care FSA plan allows a qualified reservist distribution. Otherwise an employer can't refund unused health care FSA money or pay it out as cash or another benefit, and a dependent care FSA can't give any other benefit for money left unused. * **What happens to my health care FSA if I leave my job?** The unused money is forfeited, unless you elect COBRA continuation coverage for the FSA. * **Can I pay for daycare from my health care FSA?** No. A health care FSA pays only medical expenses. Daycare is for a dependent care FSA. * **Does my dependent care FSA cover overnight camp?** No. Overnight camp isn't a work-related expense for a dependent care FSA. * **Can I buy over-the-counter medicine with my health care FSA?** Yes, if your plan covers it. The IRS counts over-the-counter medicine, prescribed or not, as a covered health care FSA expense, and a plan can choose to leave it out. * **Can I change my FSA amount during the year?** Only when the law and your plan allow it. In Every, the FSA's enrollment screen on **My profile** → **Benefits** says FSA contribution elections are set for the plan year and can't be changed from that screen. * **Where do I see my FSA balance in Every?** On **My profile** → **Benefits**, select **Plan details** on the FSA's card. With a benefit card, **Plan details** shows what's been spent and what's left. * **How do I get paid back for an FSA expense I paid myself?** Submit a claim from **My transactions** → **New reimbursement**, and choose your FSA in **Reimbursement Type**. ### Not covered here * Does my FSA in Every have a grace period, a carryover or a run-out period, and until when can I send in claims? To ask, email [support@every.io](mailto:support@every.io). * Can a dependent care FSA carry unused money over to the next plan year? * Which life events let me change my FSA election during the year, and can I change it in Every after one? To ask, email [support@every.io](mailto:support@every.io). ## Related topics - [Benefits](https://docs.every.io/employees/enroll-in-benefits.md) - [Submit a reimbursement](https://docs.every.io/employees/reimbursements.md) This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.