Abbie, The FSA account allows an employee to set aside a portion of earnings to pay for qualified expenses as established in the employer's 'cafeteria' plan, most commonly for medical expenses but often for dependent care or other expenses. FSA funds are from the employees paycheck, and are not government help. Like other medical expenditures, the US tax code provides a mechanism to exclude them from taxation. The employee has to guess accurately how much they will spend in a year, as anything over $500 left in the account at the end of the year reverts to the employer.
The only savings to the employee is that the FSA spending doesn't have to be reported on the US tax forms to be untaxed, that is, it saves hours of tax preparation time.
The IRS and an industry group determines what is eligible for HSA and FSA expenses. Generally, medically necessary care, prescriptions, and devices are all eligible.
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