Deadlines extended for FSA spending, claims filing

When COVID-19 hit the United States, many non-emergency surgeries and appointments were postponed. Child care centers closed. If you had a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for health care or dependent care, the shutdown may have prevented you from spending money, meaning these unspent funds were forfeited.

In response, the IRS has extended deadlines to spend FSA funds on qualified expenses and file claims for the 2019-20 plan year.

If you have remaining funds in your health care or dependent care Flexible Spending Accounts for the 2019-20 plan year that ended June 30, 2020, now you have until Dec. 31, 2020, to spend this money. Claims can be filed until Feb. 15, 2021.

Filing claims

• If you use your debit card to pay for an approved expense, the account will automatically use the current year funds (July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021).
• However, if you want to apply an expense to available funds from the previous plan year funds (July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020), please contact ASIFlex and ask the company to change the claim to the previous plan year.
• You may file claims online and apply available previous plan year funds (July 1, 2019, to June 30, 2020), when filing the claim on the ASI Website.

Deadlines for the current plan year, ending June 30, 2021, are not affected.

Health Care FSAs (HCFSA) can cover essential health care expenses such as deductibles, copays and over-the-counter drugs. Dependent Care FSAs (DCFSA) can offset the cost of child care or homecare for an older or incapable dependent. See qualified expenses.