Fedweek

Federal employees who had dependent care flexible spending accounts last year and who did not spend down all the money in those accounts still have until March 15 to charge eligible expenses against last year’s accounts. Money not used by the end of the grace period is “use or lose.” Reimbursement claims related to expenses to be charged to last year’s accounts must be filed no later than April 30. This generally is not a common consideration for dependent care accounts because expenses charged against such accounts, such as day care fees, are largely predictable. It used to be a more common consideration for the less predictable kinds of expenses chargeable to health care FSAs, but there no longer is a grace period for them. Instead, up to $500 not used by the end of a calendar year can be carried from one year to the next, so long as the employee has a health care FSA in the following year.