Comments on: Flexible Spending Account Tapped out for 2005 http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2005/07/13/flexible-spending-account-tapped-out-for-2005/ personal finance tips, tricks, and commentary Sat, 21 Nov 2009 22:51:28 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: nickel http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2005/07/13/flexible-spending-account-tapped-out-for-2005/comment-page-1/#comment-262 nickel Fri, 22 Jul 2005 14:50:10 +0000 http://www.fivecentnickel.com/?p=104#comment-262 $3,600 was the limit for 2005. I actually knew that we'd be incurring more than that in eligiible expenses, so I would've loved to set aside more. Not sure about the removal of the use-it-or-lose-it angle. I've always thought that a good compromise would be to allow you to carry it over from one year to the next, but to reduce the available contributions in the following year -- say the limit is $3,600 but you have $500 left over from last year... Then you would only be able to stash an additional $3,100. This would be difficult to implement, though, as you typically decide how much to commit for the upcoming year in November (at least this is how at works with my employer), but expenses incurred through December 31 count against the current year. Thus, there's a couple of months in which you may not be entirely sure how much will be left, or if you'll go over the limit for the next year. However, they could just penalize you and refund excess contributions if, after the dust settles, you are overcommitted. I think that, if properly implemented, this would work well and would be much more fair than what is currently in place. $3,600 was the limit for 2005. I actually knew that we’d be incurring more than that in eligiible expenses, so I would’ve loved to set aside more.

Not sure about the removal of the use-it-or-lose-it angle. I’ve always thought that a good compromise would be to allow you to carry it over from one year to the next, but to reduce the available contributions in the following year — say the limit is $3,600 but you have $500 left over from last year… Then you would only be able to stash an additional $3,100. This would be difficult to implement, though, as you typically decide how much to commit for the upcoming year in November (at least this is how at works with my employer), but expenses incurred through December 31 count against the current year. Thus, there’s a couple of months in which you may not be entirely sure how much will be left, or if you’ll go over the limit for the next year. However, they could just penalize you and refund excess contributions if, after the dust settles, you are overcommitted. I think that, if properly implemented, this would work well and would be much more fair than what is currently in place.

]]> By: OL http://www.fivecentnickel.com/2005/07/13/flexible-spending-account-tapped-out-for-2005/comment-page-1/#comment-257 OL Thu, 21 Jul 2005 05:22:52 +0000 http://www.fivecentnickel.com/?p=104#comment-257 How did you come up with your $3600 figure? With the "use it or lose it" provision you have to be pretty sure that you will incur the expenses. I had read somewhere that there is talk of removing the "use it or lose it" provision. Anyone have a link? --OL <a href="http://optimizedliving.com" title="http://optimizedliving.com" rel="nofollow"></a> How did you come up with your $3600 figure? With the “use it or lose it” provision you have to be pretty sure that you will incur the expenses. I had read somewhere that there is talk of removing the “use it or lose it” provision. Anyone have a link?

–OL

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