HSA Education Frequently Asked Questions

An employer is changing plans mid-year to an HDHP that is HSA compatible. The employer wants to credit the amount of deductible their employees met earlier this year to their new HDHP. This is different from the calendar year carryover (expenses applied to the deductible in Oct.-Dec. are applied to the following year). Credit would not include any carryover deductible from previous year. If the credit is given from the prior plan for deductible met in current year with expenses incurred in current year, would the individual still be eligible for the HSA?

Are employer contributions comparable if the employer contributes the same amount of dollars per payroll to each employee whereby employees employed for a longer length of time will have more contributions at the end of the year?

Are employers who contribute to an employee's HSA responsible for determining whether the employee is an eligible individual and the employee's maximum annual contribution limit?

Are HSAs subject to COBRA continuation coverage under section 4980B?

Does an employer who offers to make available a contribution to the HSA of each employee who is an eligible individual in an amount equal to the employee's HSA contribution (i.e. "matching contributions) satisfy the requirement that all comparable participating employees receive comparable contributions?

How do the comparability rules apply to employer contributions to employees' HSAs if some employees work full-time during the entire calendar year, and other employees work full-time for less than the entire calendar year?

If an employee elects to make contributions to an HSA through the employer's cafeteria plan, may the employer contribute amounts to an employee's HSA to cover qualified medical expenses incurred by an employee that exceed the employee's current HSA balance?

If an employee requests that his or her employer deduct after-tax amounts from the employee's compensation and forward these amounts as employee contributions to the employee's HSA, do comparability rules apply to these amounts?

If an employer conditions contributions to an employee's HSA on an employee's participation in health assessments, disease management programs or wellness programs and makes the same contributions available to all employees who participate in the programs, do the contributions satisfy the comparability rules?

If an employer contributes a lump sum for every employee on the first of the year and an employee terminates before the end of the year, is the employer responsible to calculate the excess and report it as taxable income?

If an employer contributes to an employees HSA, can the employer have the employee sign a waiver indicating that if the employee terminates employment after a contribution has been made, that the amount of the employer excess could be returned to the employer from the HSA administrator?

If an employer makes contributions through a cafeteria plan to the HSA of each employee who is an eligible individual in an amount equal to the amount of the employee's HSA contribution or a percentage of the amount of the employee's HSA contribution (i.e. "matching contributions"), are the contributions subject to comparability rules?

If an employer offers an employee a choice between a low-deductible health plan and a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), and the employee selects coverage only under the HDHP, is the employee an eligible individual under section 223(c)(1)?

If an employer offers to make available additional HSA contributions to all employees who are eligible individuals and who have attained a specified age or who qualify for the additional contributions, do the contributions satisfy the comparability rules?

If the employer offers the HDHP to shareholders, do they also need to make comparable contributions to an HSA for the shareholders?

If under the employer's cafeteria plan, employees who are eligible individuals and who participate in health assessments, disease management programs or wellness programs receive an employer contribution to an HSA, unless the employee elects cash, are the contributions subject to the comparability rules?

May the employer recoup any portion of the employer's contributions from an employee's HSA?

Must an employer make comparable contributions to all employees who are eligible individuals or only to those employees who are eligible individuals and are also covered by an HDHP provided by the employer?

Must employers who make contributions to an employee's HSA determine whether HSA distributions are used exclusively for qualified medical expenses?

What discrimination rules apply to HSAs?

What is the testing period for making comparable contributions to employees' HSAs?