To answer some of the frequently asked questions concerning health spending and savings accounts regarding COVID-19, the organization Further has published an FAQ page on the Further Learning Center and will keep it updated as additional questions come in or additional information becomes available.
Following are answers to some of the questions we have been receiving:
- With so many people working from home and day cares being closed, questions have arisen specifically about dependent care FSAs (DCAP). In these situations, workers can make changes to their dependent care deductions. Following are links to the Further FAQ and how to make an election change:
- The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act includes a provision that allows members to use their HSAs and FSAs to purchase feminine hygiene products and some over-the-counter (OTC) medical products without a prescription from a physician. Further has updated their system to allow reimbursement for these newly approved eligible expenses. However, the mechanism that allows medical spending account debit cards to work is dependent on SIGIS, an organization that manages the global transaction approval system for eligible expenses. Until the national systems catch up with the new eligible expenses, members should manually submit for reimbursement from their accounts.
- On March 18, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced a special federal income tax return filing and payment relief in response to the coronavirus pandemic via Notice 2020-17, noting that any person with a federal income tax payment or a federal income tax return due April 15, 2020 is eligible for relief on their federal income tax return payment. For an affected taxpayer, the due date for filing federal income tax returns and making federal income tax payments due April 15, 2020 has been automatically postponed to July 15, 2020. This relief grants all HSA account holders the option to make contributions to their 2019 HSA at any time up until the new deadline of July 15, 2020.
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