Reply to Flex Spending Childcare Fund?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]A Flex Spending Acct. is tax~free money saved in an acct. for childcare that must be used up by a certain time or the money is forfeited. Your bosses saved it in a separate work acct. and don't have to pay taxes on it, but they do have to utilize it by a certain date or they lose every penny of it.

I don't see why they didn't mention this to you at the onset of your employment. I am sure they knew this money existed. Since they paid you in cash payment, there really is no paper trail as of now that you worked for them so I would just not send them my #SSN. Yes, it would be legal now and through the IRS since it would be going through this acct.

If I were in your shoes, as long as she didn't know where I lived, I would blow her off.

It is totally irresponsible of them to not inform you prior of this action.

My guess is they were using the money for other child~related things and realized they had some left over money and since it has to be spent soon, they thought, "Oh...Let's just contact our Summer sitter and get her to give us her TIN, Tax Iden. Number = #SSN so we can apply the money to that..." which I find kinda shady and irresponsible. It's like a last thought [b]so they do not waste any of their monies[/b].[/quote]

This is pretty harsh.  The rules around using the FSA childcare accounts aren't immediately obvious, and unless you have a skilled/knowledgeable HR team educate you on how to do it you often don't realize what you need to file for reimbursement until that time comes.  (I'm an MB who had to go through the whole process to fully understand it.)   Her employers may just be learning as they go, not shady or irresponsible.  If OP wishes to harm her former employers then she can blow them off.  If she had a decent relationship with them (and wants to preserve the reference, if nothing else) then she should try to find a way to help them.

We're all people - try cutting someone a break and assuming good intent instead of bad automatically.[/quote]

Agreed - this is a reasonable request and I'm surprised at how harsh some of the responses here are.  As an MB who uses an FSA childcare account, it's not immediately obvious what is required.  The first time we submitted for reimbursement, it was sent back because we needed a "receipt" from our nanny for her paycheck.  I can't think of why they would have told a nanny up front that they were using an FSA if they didn't know they'd need her to sign something and provide her SSN (which clearly they didn't realize, or they would have done it while she was still working with them).  Also, it's THEIR money taken directly out of a paycheck.  Which they will lose if they don't use it.  So why on earth would they not want to use it?[/quote]

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