I am still angry about losing the money in my dependent care FSA for 2019

[Anonymous]

I have always hated the system where you have to guess (months before the year even starts) what your needs will be for the whole year and then you are penalized by losing the money if you guess wrong. I think that is extraordinarily unfair (especially when it comes to the health care FSA because there is no way to know in advance what your healthcare needs will be or how much they will cost!). I don't understand why Congress hasn't required that people get the money they deposited back! Thankfully, we were given the option to stop contributing at some point last year, but I still lost money. It's not going to break us, and we are luckier than many people since our jobs are safe, but it still irks me to no end.

[Anonymous]

I wonder if the Congress even had to be involved. Could the IRS have just issued a one-time rule?

[Anonymous]

Agree. You should be allowed to roll it over at a minimum.

[Anonymous]

I think you need to let it go, OP. The system isn't perfect and when it was designed it didn't anticipate a pandemic shutting down the entire economy. At least you got to eventually opt out. As you said, so many people have lost so much more. It sucks you lost a few hundred dollars, or thousand, but in the end, not a big deal. And who knows, once things are sorted out with 2020 taxes, maybe you will get a refund. Think positive.

[Anonymous]

This is a feature, not a bug. It's what allows participants in the system to use money targeted for contribution before it is actually contributed (at least for the Health Care FSA). It also makes it significantly easier to administer, and prevents, to a certain extent, the program from being a giveaway to upper middle class families.

It's a unified whole, and you need to either take it or leave it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the Congress even had to be involved. Could the IRS have just issued a one-time rule?

There was a grace period early on in the pandemic when people were offered the opportunity to stop or change their contributions. They also expanded allowable expenses to cover a lot of OTC items. OP has not been paying attention.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the Congress even had to be involved. Could the IRS have just issued a one-time rule?

There was a grace period early on in the pandemic when people were offered the opportunity to stop or change their contributions. They also expanded allowable expenses to cover a lot of OTC items. OP has not been paying attention.

Sorry I didn't read the whole thing clearly. OP knew this already. I apologize. You're still angry about a year ago???

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I have always hated the system where you have to guess (months before the year even starts) what your needs will be for the whole year and then you are penalized by losing the money if you guess wrong. I think that is extraordinarily unfair (especially when it comes to the health care FSA because there is no way to know in advance what your healthcare needs will be or how much they will cost!). I don't understand why Congress hasn't required that people get the money they deposited back! Thankfully, we were given the option to stop contributing at some point last year, but I still lost money. It's not going to break us, and we are luckier than many people since our jobs are safe, but it still irks me to no end.

Congress won't care because they have bigger concerns that UMC people who lost money in a tax advantaged account that most Americans don't have access to. The whole idea that the ability to use pre-tax money for certain services is based on an employer's whim is absurd, but the there are larger problems too address right now

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the Congress even had to be involved. Could the IRS have just issued a one-time rule?

There was a grace period early on in the pandemic when people were offered the opportunity to stop or change their contributions. They also expanded allowable expenses to cover a lot of OTC items. OP has not been paying attention.

Sorry I didn't read the whole thing clearly. OP knew this already. I apologize. You're still angry about a year ago???

Seems like you still didn’t read. OP was not able to claim the money that was deducted before she was able to stop contributing. This happened to a lot of people that had planned to use the money for in person summer camps.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the Congress even had to be involved. Could the IRS have just issued a one-time rule?

There was a grace period early on in the pandemic when people were offered the opportunity to stop or change their contributions. They also expanded allowable expenses to cover a lot of OTC items. OP has not been paying attention.

I am a DP, and I did reduce my contributions. At that time our school was planning to do hybrid and I thought kids would be in a camp on non school days. Then hybrid was completely canceled and the programs I was planning weren’t feasible anymore, so I wasn’t able to use the money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I have always hated the system where you have to guess (months before the year even starts) what your needs will be for the whole year and then you are penalized by losing the money if you guess wrong. I think that is extraordinarily unfair (especially when it comes to the health care FSA because there is no way to know in advance what your healthcare needs will be or how much they will cost!). I don't understand why Congress hasn't required that people get the money they deposited back! Thankfully, we were given the option to stop contributing at some point last year, but I still lost money. It's not going to break us, and we are luckier than many people since our jobs are safe, but it still irks me to no end.

Congress won't care because they have bigger concerns that UMC people who lost money in a tax advantaged account that most Americans don't have access to. The whole idea that the ability to use pre-tax money for certain services is based on an employer's whim is absurd, but the there are larger problems too address right now

Hmm yes, congress seems to have been focusing on UC people and ALL their tax advantages.

[Anonymous]

Just saw this posted on the FSA FEDS site. Maybe there is still hope for you?


Consolidated Appropriations Act 2021
Dec 31, 2020


The new relief stimulus bill provides employers with options to minimize impact to employees related to flexible spending accounts (FSAs), including unused FSA funds. FSAFEDS will review these changes and share more information soon.

[Anonymous]

Did you get stimulus money? If so that should offset your money loss.

[Anonymous]

I submitted expenses for camps that did not actually run but also did not refund my money. It probably was not appropriate but that was money I paid that I was not refunded. I will not put in for reimbursement of those costs when we hopefully use our credits at those camps this summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I wonder if the Congress even had to be involved. Could the IRS have just issued a one-time rule?

There was a grace period early on in the pandemic when people were offered the opportunity to stop or change their contributions. They also expanded allowable expenses to cover a lot of OTC items. OP has not been paying attention.

Sorry I didn't read the whole thing clearly. OP knew this already. I apologize. You're still angry about a year ago???

Seems like you still didn’t read. OP was not able to claim the money that was deducted before she was able to stop contributing. This happened to a lot of people that had planned to use the money for in person summer camps.

Yes this. Many with school aged kids need only summer camps. We, like OP, were able to stop contributing at some point but we still lost the money that we contributed early on because it was intended for in person summer camp.