The Tax Advantages of Having a Health Savings Accounts
A Health Savings Account, or HSA, is a plan designed to help individuals pay their healthcare costs while receiving favorable HSA tax advantages from the Internal Revenue Service. Unlike most other reimbursement accounts that require participants to use the money within a specific time or forfeit it, funds remain in an HSA until they are withdrawn. They are also not employer-dependent, meaning that the owner can change employers without losing his funds. Although each state has the option to treat contributions to and distributions differently, most follow the same rules as the IRS and provide the same tax benefits for state income tax.
Health Savings Account Tax Benefits
Contributions are tax-deductible, and itemizing deductions is not required to claim contributions. The owner may also deduct contributions made to his account by another individual, such as a spouse or parent, but cannot deduct contributions made by his employer.
Contributions made by the employer of an HSA owner are typically excluded from the employee's gross income. This includes contributions made under a cafeteria plan (a type of benefit plan offered by employers).
If the funds can earn dividends or interest, these additional earnings are tax-free. The earnings are subject to the same rules regarding qualified distributions as deposits of principal.
Distributions are only tax-free if used to pay qualified medical expenses.
The IRS sets the annual contribution limit and revises it every year. For 2020, if the account owner has family coverage under a high deductible health plan, the maximum is $7,100, and the maximum is $3,550 for individual coverage. These limits are increased by $1,000 if the account owner is at least 55 years of age.
Qualifications for HSA Tax Advantages
The IRS has specific qualifications that an individual must meet to establish an HSA. Most of the trade-offs to the advantages involve meeting these qualifications:
- Account owners cannot be enrolled in Medicare.
- Account owners cannot qualify as another taxpayer's dependent.
- Account owners must be covered by a high deductible health plan and it has a higher yearly deductible and out-of-pocket limit than typical plans. These limits change annually.
- Married couples must establish separate health savings accounts even if they file a joint return.
- Account owners cannot have coverage under another health plan that is not a high deductible health plan. For example, an owner cannot be covered under his spouse's plan. However, exceptions exist; account owners may have insurance offering tax benefits for workers' compensation; specific illnesses or diseases; tort liabilities; disability; long-term care; dental care; accidents; vision care; or flat-rate benefits paid while hospitalized.
Other Health Savings Account Tax Benefits & Considerations
Contributions are paid to a trustee, who administers the account. The trustee may manage the investments and determine the method of distributions, such allowing account owners to use a debit card to pay expenses or require account owners to accept a check from the trustee.
Qualifying is determined on a 12-month basis that begins when the account is established. If the account owner does not remain eligible for the entire 12 months, contributions may become taxable.
Contributions that exceed the limits are not tax deductible, and the excess amounts are subject to a 6-percent excise tax.