Glossary

Balance
The amount available in your FSA.

Carryover
The balance you can carry over from your healthcare FSA to the following plan year. Your employer (per IRS regulations) is allowed to offer up to a $550 carryover. This amount is indexed for inflation.

Claim
The act of submitting an eligible purchase for reimbursement of your FSA funds.

Contribution
The amount deducted pre-tax from your paycheck each pay period and placed into your FSA.

Documentation
The document(s) you submit to prove that a purchase made is an FSA eligible expense.

Election
The amount you elect to make available in your FSA during a plan year. This election will be deducted from your pay throughout the plan year before the funds are taxed.

Explanation of Benefits (EOB)
The type of documentation that typically has all of the information that the IRS requires in order for you to prove the eligibility for — or substantiate — a healthcare FSA claim.

Grace period
The amount of time after a plan year has ended for you to incur expenses for the previous plan year. The IRS allows employers to provide a grace period of up to 2 ½ months. Your grace period applies only to your dependent care FSA.

IIAS merchant
An IIAS automatically approves any healthcare FSA-eligible expenses purchased at merchants who have this system. No additional documentation is needed.

Open enrollment
The time period when you can choose to participate in an FSA for the upcoming plan year.

Run-out Period
An extension past the last day of the plan year to give you more time to file for reimbursement of claims incurred during the plan year.

Substantiation
The process of showing that a purchase is eligible for your FSA funds. This process is required under IRS rules and may happen automatically, such as when you purchase healthcare FSA products at a merchant with an IIAS. It may also require you to file a claim and/or submit additional documentation.

Use-or-lose rule
The IRS rule that states all FSA funds must be spent by the end of the plan year. If your FSA includes a grace period or carryover, then you have flexibility regarding this rule.