HSA Receipts

[joesxm3]

When saving receipts to reimburse yourself from HSA years from now is it enough to save the bill from the doctor or hospital or do you need a copy of the check or other proof that you actually paid the bill?

What about copays that they make you use a credit card?

Thanks.

 

[2017ish]

We save a copy of the EOB and a copy of the bill, writing on the bill the date of payment and which credit card we used.

We don't bother with Co-Pays. (Actually, we don't bother with anything under $100.)

The first time we tapped the HSA, some years ago, we had a mail audit. Copies of those documents, with our spreadsheet showing payments in excess of the 20K or so that we withdrew, were deemed sufficient.

 

[cathy63]

You only need proof if the IRS audits you for the year that you reimburse yourself from your HSA.

So the question is how worried are you about getting audited, and what will an IRS auditor accept as proof that you had a previously unreimbursed and undeducted medical expense? If you really want to cover every possibility, then you would keep the bill from the provider, the EOB from your insurer (because if they didn't pay it, you must have), plus a copy of your tax return for the year you incurred the expense to show that you didn't deduct it on Schedule A and any receipts for medical expenses you did deduct that year.

That seems like overkill to me and I'm not very concerned about an audit, so I just scan the receipts that will be reimbursed in the future. I also have a spreadsheet that has columns for date / provider / service / unreimbursed cost / date withdrawn from HSA.

 

[RunningBum]

You only need proof if the IRS audits you for the year that you reimburse yourself from your HSA.

So the question is how worried are you about getting audited, and what will an IRS auditor accept as proof that you had a previously unreimbursed and undeducted medical expense? If you really want to cover every possibility, then you would keep the bill from the provider, the EOB from your insurer (because if they didn't pay it, you must have), plus a copy of your tax return for the year you incurred the expense to show that you didn't deduct it on Schedule A and any receipts for medical expenses you did deduct that year.

That seems like overkill to me and I'm not very concerned about an audit, so I just scan the receipts that will be reimbursed in the future. I also have a spreadsheet that has columns for date / provider / service / unreimbursed cost / date withdrawn from HSA.

That's pretty much what I do and I sleep well with that method. Or at least that's not what's keeping me up.

 

[easysurfer]

I keep bills and EOBs along with a spreadsheet that refers to the bills and EOBs. On the spreadsheet I do record how paid just for my own knowledge.

 

[pb4uski]

That's pretty much what I do and I sleep well with that method. Or at least that's not what's keeping me up.

+1 with cathy63 and RunningBum. I have a spreadsheet itemizing all the expenses for the year, copies of EOBs, receipts for most and don't really worry too much about it. I usually do withdrawals January or February of each year for the previous year's expenses.

 

[joesxm3]

Thanks for all the answers. I missed them until today since I had email turned off.

So far my main expense has been Medicare Part B premiums. I am under the impression that these can be used for HSA but not my Medigap Plan G premiums.

I have most of the paper "not a bill" statements saying that the premium will be auto-paid via ACH and have saved PDF copies of my bank statements.

If I have to make any large payments involving insurance I will make sure to save the EOB's and documentation.

So far I have been lucky to not have had to make a payment even though my recent prostate procedure seems to have billed close to $50,000. I will keep my eyes open since the ducks will have to roost sooner or later.

It makes sense to not sweat the small amounts. The trouble of tracking them is not worth the gain.

Thanks again.

 

[Sue J]

I keep a spreadsheet of all the Medical, Dental, Vision and Prescription expenses. There is a column to show what Medicare was billed, what Medicare approved, the amount Medicare paid, what the Medigap paid and the date paid. I also show if we paid something toward our deductible or out of pocket and the date paid and payment method.

I'm sure this is far more detailed than would be required but I like details.

At year end I print this out for my files and I also save the year end credit card recap along with all the receipts for things we paid.

Before Medicare this was a much bigger project as we paid for a lot more things because of ACA high deductibles. With Medicare we pay for very few things.

We've had our HSAs since 2014 and only reimbursed once or twice in lump sums, never for every little thing throughout the year. We don't need the reimbursements so I keep our HSA as if they were extra Roth accounts.

I think about this in terms of if the IRS ever questioned an HSA reimbursement, what info would they need - What was the expense for, how much were we billed, how much did we pay, how was it paid.

I could make this much simpler, but like I said, I like details

 

[FLSUnFIRE]

I maintain a spreadsheet with medical bills and notate how I paid (which CC) and keep the bills and/or receipt filed in a binder. All my CC statements are digital if I needed to show I made a payment to the provider. I have a divider that I'll move between those reimbursed and not along with noting that in the spreadsheet.

 

[bobandsherry]

I've yet to take reimbursement from my HSA account, instead paying expenses directly and letting my HSA account grow. However, I use Quicken and track all my expenses, including health care related there. I keep a copy of receipts for any expenses paid including any HSA eligible items that aren't part of medical. I print off my details from Quicken each year and reconcile with my receipts. For medical expenses I print off my annual Health Statement from my health insurance company (FloridaBlue) rather than print each EOB as the summary has the details that show "your cost". What's also nice is since Amazon is our pharmacy, I can print off a summary of my prescriptions and costs for proof of payment (saves a lot of individual paperwork being kept). I bundle this all up and keep with my tax records.

I'll see when I do draw from my HSA account 1) if IRS asks for any substantiation and 2) if my record keeping is adequate (can't think of why it wouldn't be as I have proof of purchase, payment and responsibility for payment).