<title>Track your employer-sponsored flexible-spending account</title>
<category>general</category>
<klink type="prcdr">How do I track my employer-sponsored flexible spending account?</klink>
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<tease>Why?</tease>
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<p>A flexible-spending account is usually set up through your employer to help you pay for medical expenses that are not covered by health insurance (such as deductibles and co-payments) or for dependent care expenses such as daycare or care for an elderly or disabled dependent. As an employee, you can have pretax dollars deducted from your paychecks. Your employer holds the money until you submit a reimbursement claim along with your receipts.</p>
<p>You can track your regular contributions to a flexible-spending account through your itemized paycheck. When you file claims, track them as withdrawals from this account.</p>
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<ol>
<li>Create an account in Money for your flexible-spending account.</li>
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<tease><showme/></tease>
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<ol>
<li>On the <emph>Accounts & Bills</emph> menu, click <emph>Account Setup</emph>.</li>
<li>Click <emph>Add a new account</emph>.</li>
<li>Click <emph>Not held at a bank, broker, or other financial institution</emph>, and then click <emph>Next</emph>.</li>
<li>For the account type, click <emph>Other</emph>, and then click <emph>Next</emph>.</li>
<li>Enter a name for the account, and then click <emph>Next</emph>.</li>
<li>In the <emph>What is the balance for this account</emph> box, enter the amount you have in your flexible-spending account.</li>
<li>Click <emph>Finish</emph>.</li>
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<li>Edit your itemized paycheck to include your flexible-spending account contributions.</li>
<li>Select your paycheck, click <emph>Edit</emph>, and then click <emph>Edit paycheck series</emph>.</li>
<li>Click <emph>Details</emph>.</li>
<li>In the <emph>Paycheck</emph> dialog box, click the <emph>Deductions Before Taxes </emph>tab.</li>
<li>In the <emph>Category</emph> column, click <emph>Transfer</emph> as the category for this deduction, and then click your flexible-spending account in the subcategory box.</li>
<li>In the <emph>Amount</emph> column, enter the amount of your deduction for each paycheck, and then click <emph>Done</emph>.</li>
<li>Click <emph>OK</emph>.</li>
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<tease>I don't have an itemized paycheck in Money.</tease>
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<p>If you don't track your paycheck as a recurring transaction in Money, then you need to set it up. If you only track your net pay, you can edit your paycheck to track your gross pay and your deductions.<alink type="prcdr" href="Schedulemypaycheckdeposit.xml"/></p>
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<tease>How can I view my account contributions over time?</tease>
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<ol>
<li>On the <emph>Accounts & Bills</emph> menu, click <emph>Categories & Payees</emph>.</li>
<li>In the left pane, click <emph>Payees</emph>.</li>
<li>Double-click your employer's name.</li>
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<tease>How does a flexible-spending account figure into my income tax deduction?</tease>
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<p>You cannot claim an income tax deduction at the end of the year for expenses reimbursed through flexible-spending accounts. This means you must choose between the tax deduction and the account for each expense. Generally, flexible-spending accounts benefit people who don't itemize deductions or whose healthcare or dependent care expenses are not a large enough percentage of income to qualify for a deduction.</p>
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<tease>What happens to the money left in my flexible-spending account at the end of the year?</tease>
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<p>Any money left cannot be rolled over into the next year and will be forfeited. Be sure to only set aside money you know you will use during the year to avoid forfeiting unused flexible-spending account money.</p>
