FSA Calculator Guide 2026: Plan Your Flexible Spending Account

A flexible spending account, or FSA, lets you pay for eligible medical, dental, vision, and dependent care costs with money that never touches your payroll taxes. That sounds like a small mechanic, but on a full election the savings often exceed a thousand dollars a year. The catch is the fine print: use-it-or-lose-it rules, employer-set carryover terms, and contribution ceilings that change annually. For 2026 the health FSA limit holds at about $3,300 per employee, with a carryover ceiling of $660, and the dependent care cap rises to $7,500 under legislation enacted in 2025. An FSA calculator turns those rules into two practical numbers: what you should elect, and what it costs per paycheck. This guide walks through the tax math, the deadlines, and the trade-offs, so open enrollment becomes a decision instead of a guess.

SECTION 01What a Flexible Spending Account Actually Is

An FSA is a pre-tax benefit account set up through your employer under a cafeteria plan. During open enrollment you elect an annual amount, and your employer deducts it from paychecks across the year before federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare are calculated. For health FSAs, most plans make the entire elected amount available on day one, which is why a January claim can be reimbursed from money you have not technically contributed yet. Dependent care FSAs usually reimburse only as funds actually accrue, which changes how you should time big childcare bills.

Eligible health expenses are broad: copays, deductibles, prescription drugs, dental work, eyeglasses and contacts, and since 2020 over-the-counter medicines without a prescription, plus menstrual care products. Ineligible items are just as consistent: cosmetic procedures, general wellness supplements, gym memberships, and insurance premiums, which are usually already handled elsewhere in payroll. Reading your plan's eligible-expense list before electing is faster than arguing with a claims administrator afterward.

One structural point matters for planning: the account is an employer arrangement, not a bank account you own. If you change jobs, contributions stop and the rules about unused balances tighten considerably. That portability gap is one of the biggest differences between an FSA and its cousin, the health savings account, and it should influence how aggressively you elect.

SECTION 02The 2026 Limits and the $660 Carryover

For 2026 the health FSA salary-reduction limit is about $3,300 per employee, unchanged from the 2025 limit after the annual inflation adjustment rounded the same way two years running. The limit applies per employee, not per household: if both spouses have access to an FSA at their own employers, each can elect the full amount, doubling household pre-tax capacity. Employers may set lower internal limits, so the plan document always wins.

The carryover rule is the second number to memorize. Plans that adopt carryover let you roll up to $660, twenty percent of the limit, into the following plan year, where it sits on top of your new election. The alternative mechanism is a grace period of up to two and a half months, letting you incur expenses until mid-March. An employer can offer one or the other, never both, and a minority offer neither, which makes asking HR one specific question during open enrollment disproportionately valuable.

The dependent care FSA has its own track. It sat at $5,000 per household for decades, but under legislation enacted in 2025 the cap rises to $7,500 beginning in 2026 for most filers, with special lower limits in certain married-filing-separately situations. Because dependent care money reimburses as it accrues and its interaction with the child and dependent care credit changed for 2026, this account rewards a quick side-by-side comparison before you commit.

SECTION 03How the Tax Math Works

FSA contributions avoid three taxes at once: federal income tax at your marginal rate, Social Security and Medicare taxes at a combined 7.65 percent for most employees, and state income tax in the many states that conform. Your combined marginal rate is the multiplier. A worker in the 22 percent federal bracket with a 5 percent state rate faces 22 plus 7.65 plus 5, or 34.65 percent.

Run that rate against a full election: $3,300 multiplied by 0.3465 is about $1,143 in taxes avoided for the year. At a 33.65 percent combined rate the figure is roughly $1,110; at 24 percent federal plus state it climbs higher. These are the numbers a calculator at /fsa-calculator.html produces in seconds, and they explain why an FSA often beats a taxable savings account even after modest forfeiture risk.

Two honest caveats. First, lowering your reported Social Security wages trims the wage base used for a future Social Security benefit calculation, usually a minor effect for a one- or two-year election but worth knowing. Second, tax savings assume you would otherwise pay those taxes, which everyone does; the real risk is not the tax math, it is the forfeiture math, which we cover below.

SECTION 04FSA vs HSA: Which Fits Your 2026

The health savings account is the FSA's better-known cousin, available only with a high-deductible health plan. For 2026 the HSA limits are roughly $4,400 for self-only coverage and $8,750 for family coverage, with an extra $1,000 catch-up contribution from age 55. Unlike an FSA, HSA money rolls over indefinitely, can be invested, and stays yours if you change jobs.

The FSA wins in specific scenarios: you want the money available upfront in January, your expenses are predictable and near-term, or you are not enrolled in an HSA-eligible plan at all. The HSA wins when you can bank and invest the difference over years. For many households the honest answer is that the FSA is a spending account and the HSA is a savings account, and they solve different problems.

There is a trap in the middle. Contributing to a general-purpose health FSA makes you ineligible to contribute to an HSA that same year, even if the FSA is barely used. The workaround is a limited-purpose FSA restricted to dental and vision expenses, which coexists cleanly with HSA eligibility. If anyone in the household is eyeing HSA contributions in 2026, confirm which FSA flavor your plan offers before electing.

SECTION 05Estimating Your Annual Spend

The most reliable baseline is last year's actual claims, not a guess. Pull your insurer's claim history and add the recurring items a spreadsheet forgets: monthly prescriptions, therapy copays, the pair of glasses you replace every other year, the dental crown your dentist has been warning you about. Anchor costs like an annual physical and dental cleanings are easy; the variable tail is where over-electing happens.

Once you have a base number, pad it by roughly ten to fifteen percent for the things you cannot predict, not more. If the coming year holds a known spike, braces for a child or a planned procedure, build the election around that spike rather than averaging across years, since you cannot move leftover health FSA money into a future year beyond the carryover ceiling. Testing two or three scenarios in the fsa-calculator tool takes minutes and usually settles the election debate with your own budget.

SECTION 06Per-Paycheck Budgeting

Employers divide your annual election across your pay schedule. The full $3,300 over 26 biweekly checks is about $127 per paycheck; over 24 semi-monthly checks it is $137.50; over weekly checks, about $63. The amounts feel small, which is precisely why a full election rarely strains cash flow for households already spending this money anyway.

The cash-flow quirk cuts in your favor early: because most health FSAs make the full election available immediately, a January dental bill can be reimbursed from a balance you have not funded yet. The mirror image applies at departure, where plan documents govern whether the employer recaptures uncontributed amounts. When in doubt, treat the per-paycheck figure from an FSA calculator as a planning number and read the plan document as the legal one.

SECTION 07Deadlines, Grace Periods, and Forfeiture

Forfeiture is the one genuine way an FSA loses money, and it is entirely schedule-driven. Under standard rules you must incur eligible expenses by the last day of the plan year, December 31 for calendar-year plans, and submit claims within a run-out window, often about 90 days into the new year. If your plan uses a grace period, the incur deadline stretches to March 15. If it uses carryover, the deadline stays put but up to $660 rolls forward automatically.

Industry surveys have long suggested employees collectively forfeit hundreds of millions of dollars a year, which is less a horror story than a reminder that deadlines, not markets, decide the outcome. A simple calendar reminder in mid-November, check balance, schedule the dentist, buy new glasses, converts most would-be forfeitures into receipts. The maximum realistic exposure on a carryover plan is the amount elected above your genuine annual spend, which is exactly what the estimating step keeps small.

SECTION 08Scenario 1: The Max Election at a 34.65 Percent Combined Rate

Maya earns $62,000, sits in the 22 percent federal bracket, and pays 5 percent state income tax. Her combined marginal rate is 22 plus 7.65 in FICA plus 5 in state, or 34.65 percent. She elects the full 2026 limit of $3,300, so her avoided tax is $3,300 times 0.3465, which is about $1,143 for the year.

Per paycheck, the election costs $3,300 divided by 26 biweekly checks, about $127. Because her prior-year claims totaled $2,900, her realistic forfeit exposure is small, and her plan's carryover caps the worst case at $660. The scenario works because the election is anchored to evidence, not because maxing is inherently smart.

SECTION 09Scenario 2: Right-Sizing to Expected Expenses

Devon expects braces at $1,800, routine copays of $700, new glasses at $250, and about $300 of over-the-counter medicines, totaling $3,050. His combined rate is 32.65 percent, being in the 22 percent federal bracket with a 3 percent state rate. Electing $3,050 saves $3,050 times 0.3265, about $996, while leaving $250 of headroom under the limit.

Notice what he did not do: elect $3,300 because it is the ceiling. The extra $250 would earn the same tax rate but add forfeit risk with no expense behind it. Right-sizing is the single highest-leverage decision in FSA planning, and it takes one claims review to get right.

SECTION 10Scenario 3: Grace Period vs Carryover on the Same Numbers

Priya elects $3,300 and spends $2,700 by December 31, leaving $600 unused. On a grace-period plan she has until March 15 to incur the remaining $600, perhaps a delayed dental crown or a spring eyewear purchase, and the balance dies if she misses the date.

On a carryover plan the same $600, being under the $660 ceiling, simply rolls into 2027 and sits on top of her next election. Same election, same spending, different deadline physics, and potentially a $600 difference in outcome. This is why the grace-versus-carryover question deserves a direct answer from HR before enrollment closes.

SECTION 11Scenario 4: A Married Couple Coordinating Two Accounts

Alex and Jordan each have FSA access at their own employers, so household capacity is about $6,600. Their documented combined health spend is $5,200, meaning naive maxing would strand roughly $1,400. Instead they split elections of $3,300 and $1,900 to match actual spend, preserving the full tax multiplier on every elected dollar.

Coordination also smooths cash flow: each account is available upfront at its own employer, so a large January procedure for either spouse can draw on either balance. On carryover plans their combined worst-case roll-in is up to $1,320, but the goal is to need none of it.

SECTION 12Scenario 5: Dependent Care FSA at the New 2026 Cap

Sam and Riley pay $14,000 a year for daycare for one child. For 2026 the dependent care FSA cap rises to $7,500 under 2025 legislation. Electing the full $7,500 at a 32.65 percent combined rate saves about $2,449, because dependent care money skips the same federal, FICA, and state taxes.

The wrinkle is the interaction with the child and dependent care credit: expenses reimbursed through the FSA cannot also count toward the credit, and credit rules changed for 2026. Some households come out ahead splitting expenses between the FSA and the credit, others by favoring one channel entirely. The arithmetic here is the estimate; the final comparison belongs with current-year figures or a tax professional.

SECTION 13Scenario 6: A Mid-Year Job Change

Toni elected $3,300 in January but left her job on June 30 after contributing about $1,650, with only $900 of claims paid so far. Under the uniform coverage rule common to health FSAs, she can generally submit claims for expenses incurred through her last day of employment up to the full annual election, a useful cushion if a procedure is scheduled.

What she cannot do is incur new expenses after termination or carry the balance to her next employer. Her practical playbook: before the last day, schedule the dental cleaning, refill prescriptions, and buy replacement glasses, then file everything within the short run-out window. Unused money after that window is forfeited under most plan documents.

SECTION 14Scenario 7: A Small Election Against Skipping the Account

Ravi is healthy and rarely sees doctors, but the household reliably buys replacement glasses every other year, dental copays, and about $200 a year of over-the-counter medicines. His expected spend is around $500. Electing $500 at a 32.65 percent combined rate saves 500 times 0.3265, about $163, and costs roughly $19 per biweekly paycheck.

The per-paycheck cost is nearly invisible and the tax multiplier applies to spending that was certain anyway. The only losing version of this scenario is electing more than the certain spend, which converts a quiet win into forfeiture. A calculator run at /fsa-calculator.html sizes the election and the per-check cost in one pass.

SECTION 15Patterns Across the Six Examples

Every favorable outcome above comes from the same three habits. First, anchor the election to documented spending, whether that is Maya's $2,900 baseline or Devon's itemized $3,050, and pad it only modestly. Second, learn the plan's deadline mechanism before electing, because grace period and carryover change the optimal election for identical spending, as Priya's $600 shows.

Third, treat life events as triggers for action rather than surprises: couples coordinate elections, prospective departures accelerate planned expenses, and the dependent care decision gets an explicit FSA-versus-credit comparison. None of this requires financial sophistication, just a calculator, one claims statement, and the discipline to revisit the numbers each fall.

SECTION 16Mistake 1: Electing the Max Without an Expense Baseline

The limit is not a target. Electing about $3,300 when your documented annual spend is $2,000 donates roughly $1,300 to the forfeiture ledger, a real loss that no tax rate can offset. The fix is unglamorous: pull last year's claims, list recurring prescriptions and planned work, add a 10-15 percent pad, and elect that number.

The exception is the planned spike year. Braces, a procedure, or a long therapy engagement justify a bigger election because the expenses are known, dated, and eligible. A calculator makes the comparison concrete in minutes, and the claims statement keeps the estimate honest.

SECTION 17Mistake 2: Assuming You Know Which Deadline Your Plan Uses

Grace period, carryover, or neither, the three designs produce different optimal behavior from identical spending. A $600 year-end balance is recoverable under a March 15 grace period, rollable up to $660 under carryover, and doomed under neither. Employees who guess wrong forfeit money they had already earned and spent.

Ask HR one question during open enrollment and write the answer down: which mechanism, and what is the run-out deadline for submitting claims. Then set two calendar reminders, one in mid-November to spend down, one in January to file anything outstanding. Deadline hygiene converts forfeiture from a coin flip into a rounding error.

SECTION 18Mistake 3: Treating Health and Dependent Care FSAs as Interchangeable

The two accounts share a name and little else. The health FSA makes your full election available on day one; the dependent care FSA reimburses only as contributions accrue. The health limit sits around $3,300 for 2026 while the dependent care cap rises to $7,500 for 2026 under 2025 legislation. Their expense universes barely overlap.

Practical consequence: a January orthodontist bill is a health FSA play, but daycare tuition due the first of each month must wait for the dependent care balance to build. Timing large bills against the wrong account is a common and entirely preventable cash-flow jam.

SECTION 19Mistake 4: Overlapping With an HSA the Wrong Way

A general-purpose health FSA makes you ineligible to contribute to an HSA for the entire year, even if the FSA balance is trivial. Households enrolled in a high-deductible plan who want HSA contributions should use a limited-purpose FSA restricted to dental and vision expenses, which preserves HSA eligibility.

The nuances extend across spouses: if one spouse has a general-purpose FSA, the other's HSA eligibility can be affected depending on whose coverage pays first. When two benefit packages are in the household, the enrollment sequence matters, and ten minutes of coordination can protect an HSA worth about $4,400 in 2026 contribution room.

SECTION 20Mistake 5: Letting Eligible Receipts Die in a Drawer

The FSA debit card auto-substantiates many pharmacy and copay purchases, but it fails quietly at merchants and merchants' systems that lack the right coding, leaving transactions hanging until you upload an itemized receipt. Claims pending after the run-out window close forever, even when the expense itself was perfectly eligible.

The fix is a single folder, physical or digital, where every FSA-adjacent receipt lands the day you get it. When the November balance check arrives, the documentation is already waiting, and reimbursement is an upload rather than an archaeology project.

SECTION 21Mistake 6: Guessing Wrong About What Counts as Eligible

The eligible list is broader than people assume: since 2020, over-the-counter medicines need no prescription, sunscreen of SPF 15 or higher, menstrual products, breast pumps, and prescription eyewear all qualify. It is also narrower than people assume: cosmetic products, general wellness supplements for healthy people, gym memberships, and insurance premiums are out.

Guessing in either direction costs money, either forfeited balances from over-restriction or denied claims from over-reach. Your plan's expense list and the administrator's lookup tool resolve nearly every borderline item in seconds, and they are the references the claims processor will use anyway.

SECTION 22Mistake 7: Leaving a Job Without a Balance Plan

Contributions stop at termination, and expenses incurred after your last day are generally ineligible, which strands balances that a little scheduling would have captured. Before a known departure, front-load the planned eligible spend: the dental cleaning, the contact-lens year supply, the glasses you were due for anyway.

Most plans still honor claims for expenses incurred through the last day, up to the full annual election under uniform coverage, so a procedure already in motion can be reimbursed after you leave. Confirm the run-out deadline in writing, file everything early, and treat COBRA-style spend-down as rare rather than expected.

SECTION 23A Five-Minute Pre-Enrollment Checklist

Run the same review every fall: last year's claims, the recurring items a claims statement misses, the known spikes for next year, and a 10-15 percent pad. Multiply the resulting election by your combined marginal rate, federal bracket plus 7.65 percent FICA plus state, to see the savings at stake, and by pay periods to see the per-check cost.

Then close the loop on process: deadline mechanism confirmed with HR, reminders set, expense list bookmarked, spouse coordination done if two enrollments are in play. Five minutes of checklist beats a December scramble, and it is the difference between an FSA that quietly saves a four-figure sum and one that quietly funds the forfeiture pool.

One more habit keeps the checklist honest all year: treat the election as a living number. Qualifying events such as births, marriages, or a spouse's coverage change open short windows to adjust, and a mid-November balance review against your expected spend, rerun quickly at /fsa-calculator.html, catches over-elections and idle balances while the dental work or new glasses can still convert dollars into receipts.

🔑 Key takeaways

• The 2026 health FSA limit is about $3,300 per employee, with a carryover ceiling of $660; the dependent care cap rises to $7,500 for 2026 under 2025 legislation.
• Savings stack federal income tax, 7.65 percent FICA, and usually state tax, so a 34 percent combined rate turns a $3,300 election into roughly $1,100 of avoided tax.
• Your employer offers grace period or carryover, never both, and occasionally neither; one question to HR resolves which deadline system you live under.
• A general-purpose health FSA blocks HSA contributions for the year; a limited-purpose FSA does not.
• Elect to expected annual spend plus a modest 10-15 percent pad; forfeit exposure is the gap between the election and real expenses.
• Divide the election by pay periods to see the per-checkhit: about $127 biweekly on a full $3,300 election.
• Job changes end contributions and tighten deadlines, so front-load planned expenses rather than assuming the money follows you.
• A full $3,300 election at a 34.65 percent combined rate saves about $1,143; at 32.65 percent it is about $1,080.
• Right-sizing to documented expenses, like Devon's $3,050, captures nearly all the tax benefit while shrinking forfeit risk to pocket change.
• Grace period and carryover produce different optimal elections for identical spending; confirm which your plan uses.
• Two spouses can elect about $3,300 each, but coordinated elections should track the household's real $5,200-style spend, not combined ceilings.
• The 2026 dependent care cap of $7,500 saves roughly $2,449 at a 32.65 percent rate, but interacts with the child and dependent care credit, which changed for 2026.
• Job changes usually preserve claims for expenses incurred through your last day, up to the full election, but not afterward or beyond a short run-out window.
• Elect to a documented baseline plus a 10-15 percent pad; the gap between election and real spend is exactly what gets forfeited.
• Grace period and carryover are mutually exclusive plan designs, and some plans offer neither, so get the answer from HR in writing.
• Health FSAs release the full election upfront while dependent care FSAs reimburse as accrued, so match bill timing to account type.
• OTC medicines, sunscreen, and menstrual products are eligible; cosmetics, wellness supplements, and premiums are not, and the plan's list is the referee.
• Before leaving a job, front-load planned expenses and file claims incurred through the last day within the run-out window.
• Mid-year is not a dead end: qualifying events open short windows to fix elections, and a November balance check converts most would-be forfeitures into receipts.
• Dependent care is its own animal: money reimburses only as it accrues, the 2026 cap is $7,500, and the credit interaction deserves an explicit comparison.

❓ Frequently asked questions

Can my spouse and I each elect the full amount?

Yes. The roughly $3,300 limit applies per employee, so two FSA-eligible spouses at different employers can each elect it, giving the household up to about $6,600 of health FSA capacity. Coordinate expected expenses so combined elections do not outrun real spending.

What happens to money I do not spend?

It depends on your plan design. Carryover plans roll up to $660 into next year. Grace-period plans give you until March 15 to incur expenses. Plans with neither forfeit everything at year end, subject only to the claim run-out window.

Can I change my election mid-year?

Generally no, outside qualifying life events such as marriage, divorce, a birth or adoption, or a change in a spouse's coverage. Otherwise the election you make during open enrollment holds for the full plan year.

Are over-the-counter medicines really eligible?

Yes. Since 2020, OTC medicines and drugs can be reimbursed without a prescription, and menstrual care products are eligible as well. General wellness supplements for healthy people are typically not eligible, so check the plan's expense list when unsure.

If I leave my job, can I still claim expenses?

Contributions stop with your last paycheck, but most plans let you submit claims for expenses incurred through your last day, up to the full annual election, within a short run-out window. Expenses incurred after employment ends are typically not eligible, and COBRA-style spend-down options are rare.

Does the FSA slightly reduce my future Social Security benefit?

Technically yes, because contributions lower the Social Security wages reported for the year. The effect is usually minor for typical elections and short enrollment spans, but if this concerns you, model it with a tax professional rather than guessing.

Can I use my health FSA for dental and vision expenses?

Yes. Dental work, eye exams, prescription eyewear, and contact lenses are among the most reliably eligible categories, and they are often what justify a meaningful election on their own. If your medical costs are low, a glasses-and-dental election still earns the full tax multiplier, which the estimate at /fsa-calculator.html makes easy to price.

Why does my per-paycheck deduction differ slightly from the annual limit divided by pay periods?

Employers often use rounding or a true-up on the final paycheck of the year so the total withheld equals your election exactly. A $3,300 election over 26 checks is about $127 each, and a few cents of adjustment on the last check is normal.

Can my health FSA pay for my spouse's or child's medical expenses?

Yes. Eligible expenses of your spouse and tax dependents can be reimbursed from your account even if they have their own coverage, which is a core part of household FSA strategy.

Is the dependent care FSA always better than the child and dependent care credit?

Not always. The credit's rate and caps changed for 2026, and expenses claimed through the FSA cannot also count for the credit. Households with lower incomes sometimes favor the credit entirely; the comparison depends on your tax rate and childcare spend.

What if my claim is bigger than my current FSA balance?

For health FSAs with uniform coverage, most plans reimburse up to the full annual election regardless of contributions to date. Dependent care FSAs typically reimburse only what has actually accrued, so timing large childcare bills matters there.

Do FSA dollars cover insurance premiums?

No. Premiums are generally ineligible because they are already paid pre-tax through other channels or deductible elsewhere. Copays, deductibles, and uncovered services are the FSA's lane.

Is the full election available before I have contributed it?

For health FSAs with uniform coverage, usually yes, which is why a January claim can be reimbursed from a balance you have not funded yet. Dependent care accounts typically reimburse only amounts that have accrued, so timing large bills matters more there.

What combined tax rate should I use in these examples?

Your marginal federal bracket plus 7.65 percent for Social Security and Medicare, plus your state income tax rate if one applies. A 22 percent bracket with no state tax is 29.65 percent; the scenarios above used 32.65 and 34.65 percent.

Do the savings in these examples assume a specific filing status?

No. The combined-rate math works the same whether you file single or jointly; the rate inputs are what change. The one filing-specific wrinkle is dependent care, where certain married-filing-separately situations face lower caps, so confirm that detail before electing the full $7,500.

Can I have a health FSA and a dependent care FSA at the same time?

Yes. They are separate accounts with separate limits and rules, and many households use both. The health account covers medical, dental, and vision expenses; the dependent care account covers work-enabling childcare and elder care up to the 2026 cap of $7,500.

Do I lose everything I do not spend by December 31?

Only if your plan has neither carryover nor grace period. Carryover plans roll up to $660 into next year, grace-period plans extend the incur deadline to March 15, and all plans include a claim run-out window for submitting receipts.

What documentation do I need for a claim?

An itemized receipt showing provider, date, service or product, and amount. Card statements alone are usually rejected because they lack eligibility detail. Keep every FSA-adjacent receipt until the claim is paid.

Why did my debit card transaction get flagged?

Auto-substantiation depends on the merchant's coding system. If a purchase cannot be verified automatically, the administrator requests a receipt, and unpaid amounts eventually appear on your payroll as taxable income if documentation never arrives.

Can my employer claw back money it front-loaded if I quit?

Under uniform coverage, the employer generally absorbs the difference if you used more than you contributed, which is why departing employees are often asked to confirm outstanding claims. The reverse, losing money you contributed but never spent, is the far more common outcome without a spend-down plan.

Are FSA contributions worth it if I rarely see doctors?

Often yes at a modest election, because the account also covers dental, vision, prescriptions, and OTC items that most households buy anyway. Electing $300 to $600 against certain glasses and dental costs still earns the full tax multiplier on those dollars.

Can I fix an over-election by simply not spending?

No. Unspent balances follow the plan's deadline mechanism and cannot be withdrawn as cash. If you catch an over-election early, check whether a qualifying event permits a change; otherwise, schedule eligible care before the incur deadline and file promptly.

Do I report FSA reimbursements on my tax return?

Generally no. Eligible health FSA reimbursements are tax-free and require no reporting, and dependent care reimbursements flow through your employer's year-end forms. The exception is claims denied for missing documentation, since unsubstantiated amounts can return to your paycheck as taxable income.

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