Officers - Flexible Spending Accounts

A Healthcare FSA helps you pay for eligible healthcare expenses, including medical, prescription drug and dental copays and deductibles, as well as vision and hearing services. For a list of eligible expenses, please visit myuhc.com or www.irs.gov (Publication 502).

The current IRS limit for the Healthcare FSA is $3,200*. You can elect between $120 and $3,200* in this account to cover out-of-pocket eligible healthcare expenses for yourself, your spouse and your children, even if you do not elect to cover them under a University medical plan. However, a dependent's expenses only qualify if he or she is claimed on your taxes. The full annual election amount is available for claim reimbursement as of your account's effective date.

If you are hired after January 1, you can elect to contribute the maximum contribution limit ($3,200* in 2024) provided you have not contributed during the year to an FSA with Columbia University. If you are married, your spouse may also contribute the current year maximum limit to an FSA sponsored by his/her employer.

Rollover: If you have a balance in your Healthcare FSA from the previous year, it will rollover, and you will automatically be enrolled in a Healthcare FSA in the current year. The maximum carryover amount is $640 in 2024.

_{*IRS limits are subject to change.}  

A Dependent Care FSA helps you pay for eligible child or adult day care expenses for your dependents, such as licensed day care centers and nursery schools, before school or after-school programs and home attendants. 

Note: for dependents’ health-related expenses, use the Healthcare FSA.

The Dependent Care FSA helps you pay the cost of dependent day care services for an adult or child because you work or attend school. If you are married, your spouse must also work or go to school while you are at work in order to qualify for this coverage. You can contribute up to $5,000* to a Dependent Care FSA.

If you are married, the IRS has several guidelines that might affect how much you can deposit:

• If your spouse also has a Dependent Care FSA at work and you file a joint tax return – your combined deposits cannot exceed $5,000*
   
• If you are married and file separate income taxes – the most you can contribute is $2,500*
   
• If your prior year (2023) W-2 earnings exceed $155,000, Columbia Benefits may contact you to inform you whether your contributions must be capped as a result of mandatory IRS testing

You can be reimbursed for the cost of services provided for:

• Dependent children under the age of 13. If your child will turn 13 during the year, you can submit claims only for expenses incurred up to the child’s birthday. You may be eligible to disenroll from the Dependent Care FSA once your child reaches age 13 as part of a Change in Dependent Care Cost
   
• Other dependents, including a parent, spouse or spouse’s child who is physically or mentally unable to care for himself or herself and who qualifies as a tax dependent

Your reimbursement for dependent care cannot exceed the balance in your account at the time of your claim. If the money in your account is insufficient to pay your claim, the balance will be paid later as your pre-tax payroll contributions accumulate in your account. When you incur an eligible dependent care expense, you can use your Health Care Spending Card to pay for the expense at participating locations. The card will only accept expenses up to the balance in your account at the time of use.

Note: There is no rollover permitted for Dependent Care FSA funds, so be sure to plan accordingly.

Eligible Dependent Care Providers:

• Qualified child or adult day care centers
• Babysitters
• Summer day camps
• Nursery schools, pre-schools, before-school and after-school programs
• Person who cares for an elderly or disabled person that you claim as a dependent on your tax return

Note: You must be able to identify the name, address and Social Security Number (SSN) of the person who provides the dependent care. If you use a child or adult day care center, you must provide the Taxpayer Identification Number.

For additional information, see IRS Publication 503.

Filing Deadline: 2023 Dependent Care FSA claims must be submitted by March 31, 2024.  Any amounts remaining in your account as of April 1, 2024 will be forfeited.

Eligible Officers can elect to receive up to a $5,000 contribution in 2024 from Columbia to a Dependent Care FSA. If you elect this benefit during the year because of a Qualified Life Status Change, you will receive a prorated portion of the benefit.

To be eligible for this benefit, you must meet all of the eligibility criteria below:

• Be a full-time, benefits-eligible Officer with an Annual Benefits Salary of less than or equal to $155,000* in 2024
• Have a dependent child under the age of 6 and not yet attending kindergarten who:
  • Has been verified by the Columbia Benefits Service Center as an eligible dependent; and
  • Meets the IRS definition of a tax dependent
• Elect to participate in the Child Care Benefit as a new hire, during the annual Open Enrollment period or if you experience a Qualified Life Status Change.

There is a limit of a single benefit per family regardless of the number of eligible children, and regardless of whether both parents are eligible employees.

_{*IRS limits are subject to change.}

^{* IRS limits are subject to change.} 

Important IRS Note

The IRS does not permit you to elect both a Healthcare FSA and an HSA. If your spouse has one of the two—for example, through another employer—you cannot elect another type of tax-savings account.

If you have a balance in your Healthcare FSA previous year, it will rollover to the new year and you will automatically be enrolled in a Healthcare FSA. However, if you would like to contribute in the current year, you must enroll in the Healthcare FSA during the Open Enrollment period.

^{*IRS limits are subject to change.}
 

After you elect an FSA, UHC will mail you a Health Care Spending Card in your name. This card is linked to the Healthcare and Dependent Care FSA accounts you elect.

When you incur an eligible healthcare or dependent care expense, such as prescription drugs or office visit copays, you can use your Health Care Spending Card to pay for the expense at participating locations.

If you do not use your card at the time of purchase, keep your receipt(s). You may need to submit a claim to UHC so you can 1) be reimbursed for the out-of-pocket expense from your FSA; and/or 2) to substantiate your expenses with UHC if you are manually filing a claim.

If you are enrolled in a University-provided medical and/or dental plan, you will be automatically reimbursed for most medical, prescription, vision and dental out-of-pocket expenses. This convenient automated feature processes claims—and then automatically sends Healthcare FSA participants reimbursement checks for their out-of-pocket costs if those claims were submitted to the Columbia University health plans.

Opting out of automatic reimbursement
If you prefer to manage your FSA funds and choose which expenses are reimbursed, you can opt out of the claim auto-rollover at any time by logging in to www.myuhc.com. If you opt out, you will need to file reimbursement claims online or manually with UHC. Note: You must opt out of the claim auto-rollover each year.

If you are covered under a Columbia-provided medical plan:

1. Go to myuhc.com and click on “Register Now.” Your UHC ID card includes information you will need to register. Or, you can register using your Social Security Number and date of birth.
    
2. Click on “View Account Balances,” then select “Flexible Spending Account(s).”

Don’t Have a Health Plan with UHC?

You do not need to be a member of a Columbia health plan to participate in an FSA. To manage your FSA expenses, you can register using your Social Security Number as your member ID and date of birth. Under group/policy number, enter “902784.”

Select from hundreds of health products at the Optum Store. Regardless of medical plan enrollment, you may use your Flexible Spending Account (FSA) and Health Savings Account (HSA) benefit.

The online store carries over-the-counter medications and physical health products, including:

• Cold, allergy and sinus
• Feminine care and family planning
• Baby and childcare
• Diagnostic test kits
• High-tech health devices

Have questions? FAQs have you covered.