Employer Center   Learn About Flex   Services   Examples   Forms   Plan Information Employee Center   Flexible Spending Plan   Allowable Expenses   Tax Free Spending   Points to Consider   My Account Information Contact Us Client Login Benefits, Inc. Insurance Care Provider Network Privacy Policy       How can I... benefit in the reimbursement accounts? qualify for medical reimbursement? learn what care costs qualify? know when expenses need to be incurred? change employee elections? learn what happens to the money I don't spend? claim my reimbursement? Important Points to Consider The following are important points to consider when you are making your decision regarding the level of participation you will have in the Flexible Benefit Plan. Pre-Tax Benefits Effectively Reduce Your Costs - When you elect to have premiums or spending account amounts deducted from your payroll before taxes are withheld the money that you save in taxes effectively reduces the amount that you pay for those benefits. "Use it or Lose It" - As required by law, if you haven't used up all the money in your account(s) at the end of the year, you will forfeit the remaining amount. Therefore, it is very important that you plan carefully to take full advantage of the Spending Accounts. No Changes in Elections - Once your election for the year has been made, no changes can be made unless you incur a "Change in Family Status" including marriage, divorce, death of a spouse or child, birth or adoption of a child, termination or commencement of employment of a spouse, change in you or your spouse's employment status from full-time to part-time or vice versa, you or your spouse take an unpaid leave of absence, a substantial change in the family's health coverage due to a change in your spouse's employer sponsored health coverage, or such other events as the Plan Administrator determines will permit a change or revocation of an election. Income Tax Deduction vs Medical Expense Spending Accounts - You cannot claim on your income taxes any medical expenses that have been reimbursed through the Medical Expense Spending Account. Dependent Care Tax Credit vs Dependent Care Spending Accounts - You cannot claim a Dependent Care Tax Credit on amounts received as Dependent Care Reimbursements through the Plan. Depending on your situation taking a tax credit on your Income Taxes may be more advantageous than paying dependent care expenses through the Spending Account. Households with gross income of about $20,000 to $24,000 may have slightly more tax relief using the tax credit. Social Security Reduction - When you participate in the Flexible Benefit Plan, your before tax payments may affect your social security benefits when you retire. When you participate in the Flexible Benefit Plan you do not pay social security taxes on your before-tax payments. As a result, if your taxable income is less than the maximum wages taxed by social security, you could reduce your future social security benefits. For most people this reduction would be minimal - only a few dollars a month. If you were to invest your current tax savings, you would more than make up the reduction in social security benefits.