https://boards.hellobee.com/ Pregnancy, Baby and Parenting blog, by Hellobee en Sun, 03 May 2026 01:59:47 +0000 https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-314377 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:48:36 +0000 MamaG 314377@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Amy - that's what I had thought too and I read up on the IRS publication after seeing this thread. I'm not sure that's true. Does anyone else have input on this? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-314200 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 20:01:43 +0000 T-Mom 314200@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We max out our DSA every year and also use FSA! But you just can't claim that portion during tax time. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313684 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:44:46 +0000 Adira 313684@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@amy: Oh, that makes sense. Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313682 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:42:46 +0000 amy 313682@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira: I don't believe its one or the other, you just can't count the what you put in the DSA against the childcare credit, if that makes sense. I believe if you put 5k in DSA and your spend 12k on childcare for the year, for the childcare credit you will say you spent 7k not the full 12k. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313653 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 17:14:51 +0000 SAHM0811 313653@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We did this with our first DD. Our daycare didn't accept anything but personal checks so although we had a dependent care acct with a MasterCard, we just paid out of pocket and then got reimbursed. The max we could contribute changed every year, but it was at least $3-5k that we could claim, if I recall correctly. Once I became a SAHM though, we couldn't qualify, even if DD 1 was still in preschool and DD 2 was home with me. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313640 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 16:57:03 +0000 MamaG 313640@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <br /> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313511 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:51:56 +0000 Crisark 313511@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira: LOL It's good to do as much research as possible. You would be surprised the amount of people that elect these accounts and then don't use them. Resulting in them forfeiting their own money to their employers and then being mad about it. </p> <p>Just always want to stress to research before having your money deducted :) </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313501 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:49:53 +0000 CarrieLouWho 313501@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira - you are most welcome!!! Benefits are confusing and it's hard to know what's the best sometimes. But if you use daycare, you can't go wrong with the Dependent Care FSA's!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313487 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:44:54 +0000 Adira 313487@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Pumpkinspice: Thanks for the info. My company actually offers something called "Your Spending Account" which I think can be used for both Dependent Care and other things. The info that I've found has specific info about how to use it for Dependent Care, so I think I should be all set, assuming I can figure out how to set it up and get reimbursed, haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313447 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:32:44 +0000 Crisark 313447@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I deal with this for a living so if you need anything addl info let me know. </p> <p>I didn't read all the replies but you can not use a FSA for daycare , you would use a DCA (Dependent care account)</p> <p>The max for the FSA will be $2500 starting 2013 and the max for the DCA is $5000. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313445 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:31:27 +0000 Adira 313445@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CarrieLouWho: Thank you for the speedy reply!! It definitely sounds like getting an FSA is the way to go, though I should probably have a conversation with my HR department about the details (and tell them I'm pregnant while I'm at it, haha).</p> <p>I can't imagine not blowing through the $5k each year. I'm pretty sure I'll be paying more than double that, haha. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313438 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:28:07 +0000 CarrieLouWho 313438@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Adira - Qualifying events are federal and shouldn't vary state to state to my knowledge. It is definitely worth a conversation with your HR team though.<br /> There is no income limit... but if you or your spouse are owners of a company then you wouldn't be able to participate. There can also be issues if you work for an SCorp or LLCs/LLP or if you're more than a 2% owner and are considered highly compensated.<br /> I run into that issue for example with a smaller law firm - the lead attorney usually isn't eligible for this kind of plan.<br /> If you're just a regular type employee, there shouldn't be an issue. </p> <p>@HoneyBee - You are right! If you're in school full-time then you the dependent care FSA is available too. You may be able to squeak by with less than a full-time schedule, but you would want to check with your HR department or your FSA Vendor (Aflac in your case). </p> <p>Also, I think someone else mentioned this - but it is a USE IT OR LOSE IT Account. So if you put the money in the account you want to budget accordingly. I know we will blow through $5,000 in a year, but if for some reason we didn't, then we would lost that money. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313411 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:15:05 +0000 Honeybee 313411@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CarrieLouWho: You can also use it if you are not working but are enrolled in school. :) At least with our Aflac plan you can, but I guess that might vary by plan. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313404 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:13:19 +0000 Adira 313404@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CarrieLouWho: Also, not sure if you know this or not, but my Mom was thinking there might be an income limit where if you make too much money you can't use this. Do you know if that's true at all? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313397 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:11:28 +0000 Adira 313397@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@CarrieLouWho: Thanks!!! That's so useful!!! Do you know if having the baby being a qualifying event is a federal thing? Or is it company/state specific? Just curious if I can depend on this or if I should ask my HR department about it to verify. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313380 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 15:02:59 +0000 CarrieLouWho 313380@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>This is a great option that a lot of people don't take advantage of!!!</p> <p>You can put money into a Dependent Care Flexible Spending Account. The maximum for a couple is $5,000 annually. The money is put aside pre-tax so you don't pay state/federal or fica taxes on the money. It reduces your taxable income. Usually this is better than taking the childcare credit on your tax return.<br /> The money must be in the account before you can be reimbursed (just like a bank account). And you have to go to a facility that uses a tax ID # or an individual that files taxes with their SSN. So basically, you can't put money into the account to pay grandma :o)<br /> Also, both you and your spouse must work outside the home or be seeking work to be eligible to put the money into the account. So you can't use it if you SAH and just want to put the baby in daycare 1 or 2 days a week.<br /> Once you have your baby, it's a qualifying event for you to enroll in the plan, just see your HR dept w/in 30 days of having the baby to elect the coverage amount.<br /> I think that covers the basics. Let me know if you have any other questions! I'm in insurance consulting, so I'm happy to share what I know!!! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313367 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:57:31 +0000 Adira 313367@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Just found some useful info about the tax credit vs FSA for anyone else that's interested:</p> <p><a href="http://www.babycenter.com/0_tax-time-flexible-spending-plans-versus-the-childcare-credit_3651253.bc" rel="nofollow">http://www.babycenter.com/0_tax-time-flexible-spending-plans-versus-the-childcare-credit_3651253.bc</a> </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313356 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:51:33 +0000 Adira 313356@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>@Honeybee: Thanks for the info! I guess I didn't realize you can't get the childcare tax credit if you used an FSA, so that's good to know! Thanks! </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313352 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:49:42 +0000 Honeybee 313352@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>We do an Aflac program for childcare costs. It's a pre-tax savings account, and the money comes directly out of my husband's paycheck. We pay out of pocket and then send in the receipts for reimbursement from the FSA. According to our accountant, this gives us a bigger savings than paying for daycare after taxes and taking the childcare credit on our tax filing. The annual limit on how we can put into the account is 5k, and our Aflac rep recommended we enroll the person who was in the higher tax bracket (DH) since that would be the highest savings for us. We set all this up when I was still working, and we still use it even though I'm now at home full-time, since I'm enrolled in school and send the kids to daycare two days a week.</p> <p>You'll have to talk to your HR department to find out the specifics of your plan. Also, you might ask your accountant/tax person what the savings would be for an FSA versus using the childcare tax credit at the end of the year. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313340 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:43:59 +0000 Adira 313340@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>Also, since my husband and I don't have entirely joint accounts, would it make sense for us BOTH to open individual FSAs through our companies and each cover half the child care costs? </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313334 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:41:34 +0000 Smurfette 313334@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I am interested about this too. I was going to look into doing it when we have our open enrollment in Oct/Nov </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313332 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:41:01 +0000 Foodnerd81 313332@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>I haven't used it, but I would talk to your HR department before to get some details. I think it works like regular money, but you can't get it back if you don't use it, like a health care flex spending account. And there is a limit of how much you can put in. </p> https://boards.hellobee.com/topic/child-care-and-flexible-spending-accounts#post-313327 Thu, 27 Sep 2012 14:38:34 +0000 Adira 313327@https://boards.hellobee.com/ <p>So I'm going on Daycare tours tomorrow and I realized that my company offers Flexible Spending Accounts that can be used to cover things like child care, so I'm looking for anyone that has experience with this.</p> <p>Do you use a Flexible Spending Account to pay for your Child Care costs? How does this work? Are there any specific questions I should ask during my Daycare tours related to this topic? </p>