Health Care Savings Account Deduction

[MichaelB]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I havea HSA related question. I elected HSA this year for the first time. Around $100 goes into my HSA account every pay period. If I go to a DR now and the bill is more than what I have in my HSA account, do I have to pay the difference out of pocket (which is after-tax money, unlike the money in the HSA)?

You do not have to use the funds in the HSA account. You can leave them in the account and pay from regular savings, itemizing the deduction for tax purposes. If you do use funds from the HSA account that expense cannot be deducted from your income for tax calculation.

[kaneohe]

Quote:

Originally Posted by tmm99 I don't mean to hijack this thread, but I havea HSA related question. I elected HSA this year for the first time. Around $100 goes into my HSA account every pay period. If I go to a DR now and the bill is more than what I have in my HSA account, do I have to pay the difference out of pocket (which is after-tax money, unlike the money in the HSA)?

You can do as MichaelB suggested. Alternatively, if , for some reason, you prefer to use the pretax funds, you can pay the difference out of pocket,
and reimburse yourself later from the HSA. That assumes the custodian is not being a nanny and only approving payments to doctors, etc. You will need to file a tax form eventually showing that the withdrawals match the medical expenses.

[tmm99]

Thank you Kaneohe and Michael. I got it now.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by hpnutty 2012 rules - HSA holders can choose to save up to $3,100 for an individual and $6,250 for a family (HSA holders 55 and older get to save an extra $1,000 which means $4,100 for an individual and $7,250 for a family) - and these contributions are 100% tax deductible from gross income. The limit is $7,250 for a family with the holder 55 or older in 2012.

My understanding is it would be $7,250 for family coverage where one person is over 55, but would be $8,250 for family coverage where both people are over 55. That is the way HealthEquity explained it to me this morning.

IOW, for family coverage the limit is $6,250 + $1,000 or each person over 55.

However, since the max contribution to a single HSA account for a year is $7,250, the $8,250 would need to be allocated between two accounts. For example, DW and I have family coverage and will contribute $1,000 to her account and $7,250 to my account, but we could split the $8,250 differently if we want to.

see http://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/p969.pdf page 6 under rules for married people.