W-2 is wrong, what to do?

[DisneyTarheel]

Can you explain what you mean by a "Plain" FSA? I've never heard that terminology before....

I suspect they are referring to a health care FSA, which (I *think*) does not show up on your W2 at all. (i.e, it is netted out *before* they calculate what goes in box 5 "Medicare wages and tips" -- unlike, for example, your 401k contributions, which *are* included in box 5, but get netted out *on* the W2 in box 1 "wages, tips, other comp.")

 

[minnie1928]

I don't necessarily agree that the W2 is wrong. FSA's are complicated. What portion of your mother's flexible benefits does she pay vs. her employer?

Her employer pays nothing towards her flex benefits, it's completely her contributions, pre tax. She had done two FSA accounts, one for dependant care and one for medical. I know the medical one doesn't show up on your w-2, but from what I can see the dependant care one should show up on box 10.

 

[KLAIT]

DisneyTarheel

Yes, that is what I am referring to. The Medical portion of the Flex Spending. It does not appear on the W-2. When a 125B plan is set up, the employer has the decision as to whether they want the Dependent care portion offered with the medical portion. From what it sounds like, the employer may have treated these funds as part of the medical portion and therefore, the W-2 itself is not incorrect. The easiest question to answer is did the employee have to have the money deducted from her check BEFORE she was able to get the money back as reimbursement. With the medical Portion of an FSA, the employer assumes some risk in that the employee is allowed to request money from the FSA before they have the amount deducted from the check...with the Dependent Care portion, the employer is not at risk because the money has to be deducted before the money can be reimbursed.

 

[minnie1928]

DisneyTarheel

Yes, that is what I am referring to. The Medical portion of the Flex Spending. It does not appear on the W-2. When a 125B plan is set up, the employer has the decision as to whether they want the Dependent care portion offered with the medical portion. From what it sounds like, the employer may have treated these funds as part of the medical portion and therefore, the W-2 itself is not incorrect. The easiest question to answer is did the employee have to have the money deducted from her check BEFORE she was able to get the money back as reimbursement. With the medical Portion of an FSA, the employer assumes some risk in that the employee is allowed to request money from the FSA before they have the amount deducted from the check...with the Dependent Care portion, the employer is not at risk because the money has to be deducted before the money can be reimbursed.

I'm gonna ask mom to get me a history of her claims/deposits from the Flex administration company that her employer uses. Perhaps that would clarify this point for me. She always had money taken from her check before she made claims....although as I type this I'm now remembering that her claims were always more than what was reimbursed. So that would lead me to believe that it truly was tagged as dependant care account. If not, they would have paid the entire amount of the claims until she exhausted her annual allotment (like they do on my medical FSA). Does that make sense?