2 ms·
I lost some money, or at least had a hard time using it, because I was quoted a price for something, set the FSA for the next year based on that, and then the b
by toast0 1y ago
I lost some money, or at least had a hard time using it, because I was quoted a price for something, set the FSA for the next year based on that, and then the billing ended up where only some of the price was eligible for FSA.
Combined with the PITA level, there's no way I'm doing it again. I can't see how it's worth my time. One of these three options is very likely:
a) my income level is low, so every dollar counts, but my marginal tax rate is also low, so spending a ton of extra time on this is not worth saving ~ 15% on taxes for health care
b) my income level is high, so my marginal tax rate is high, but saving 40% of taxes for health care is not worth the time, because health care is not a meaningful amount of income
c) my health care spending is high relative to income, and I can deduct health care costs on my tax return. Then I can deduct a lot more than the FSA will reimburse for, and the records don't need to satisfy a third party, unless I'm audited by the IRS.
- junar 1y agoThere are a few caveats with the medical expense deduction. * It's only a deduction for income tax. FSAs let you save on FICA as well. * It's an itemized deduction. You only benefit after your total itemized deductions exceed the standard deduction. Fewer people are itemizing nowadays because the federal standard deduction is large. * There's a 7.5% of AGI floor: you can only count medical expenses that exceed this fraction of your income.