DoD to Pay FSA Fees

The Defense Department has announced that it will pay the fees for its employees enrolled in the flexible spending account program, meaning that the large majority of participating federal employees will not have to pay the fees. DoD’s announcement leaves about a dozen agencies that will not pay the fees–$4 a month for health care accounts and 1.5 percent of the annual total elected for dependent care accounts-and a half-dozen others remaining undecided. Most agencies that have said they will not pay the fees are small commissions. The Social Security Administration is not paying the fees this year but says it will begin paying them starting in calendar year 2004. Most of the agencies yet to decide are also small commissions, although that list includes Veterans Affairs and the National Security Agency.