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Employee and Retiree Service Center → Employees→Benefits→ Flexible Spending Accounts
The information on this page is valid through December 31, 2021. For benefit details and changes effective January 1, 2022, please visit our Employee Benefits Open Enrollment web page. If you wish to participate in a medical and/or dependent care flexible spending account (FSA) in 2022, you must submit your 2022 account elections online during Open Enrollment via the Benefits Enrollment System. Access the system by selecting Open Enrollment on the Employee Self-Service web page.
Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) provide you with a tax saving opportunity. Under the FSA plan, you may set aside a portion of your salary before taxes are deducted to pay for anticipated, qualifying expenses, such as day care for a child under age 13 or medical expenses not covered by an insurance plan.
You decide how much to contribute to your FSA plan each year. The amount you specify will be withheld from your paycheck in equal amounts on a pre-tax basis. When you incur a qualified dependent care or medical expense, you file a claim for reimbursement from your FSA plan through the plan administrator, Benefit Strategies. Then, you are reimbursed from your FSA plan with pre-tax dollars.
MCPS employees now have until December 31, 2021, to use their calendar year 2020 flexible spending account (FSA) balance(s). Per the original plan provisions, employees had until March 15, 2021, to use their 2020 funds. Employees will have until December 31, 2022, to use their balance(s) from calendar year 2021. See additional FSA updates resulting from new rules signed into law under the COVID-related Tax Relief Act of 2020 and the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (ARPA). Details on these and other benefit guidelines in effect during the COVID-19 pandemic also are available on the ERSC website.