A Health Savings Account (HSA) is an individually owned, tax-favored account that allows individuals to pay for qualified health care expenses. In order to set up or contribute to an HSA, you must be covered by a Qualified High-Deductible Health Plan (HDHP). Premiums associated with an HSA-qualified plan are usually lower than a traditional plan, allowing employees to capture the savings and fund their account.

HSAs remain popular because consumers are looking for more choices and more ways to save. For example, HSAs offer triple tax savings. This means any HSA contributions can be made either pre-tax or are tax deductible at year-end. Any interest income or earnings on investments tied to an HSA remains tax free. As long as the HSA funds are used to pay for qualified health care expenses then no taxes will be charged on distributions. HSAs are extremely versatile, and there are many other benefits of opening an HSA.

Here are 5 tips to maximize your HSA account:

Go beyond December 31; put that end-of-year bonus to good use.
As long as you don’t go over the annual HSA contribution limits set by the IRS, you can sock away your HSA dollars until Tax Day.

Apply the last-month rule.
This rule allows individuals who are eligible on the first day of the last month of their taxpaying year, which is usually December 1, to contribute the full yearly maximum. For example, if your HDHP coverage started October 1, 2018, you’d be eligible to contribute the maximum for 2018 since you were covered before December 1, 2018. That’d total $3,450 if you have individual coverage and $6,900 if you have family coverage.

Use the once-per-lifetime IRA transfer.
It can be difficult to find the funds to get started with an HSA. However, HSA rules allow a once-per-lifetime transfer from a traditional or Roth IRA to an HSA. The same HSA contribution limits for the year apply.

Reimburse yourself.
Use receipts for the health care expenses you paid for with non-HSA funds and repay yourself from your HSA account. For example, let’s say you paid your recent health care expenses out of pocket, and never withdrew money to repay yourself. And now you’re a little short on paying for a major house repair. You can use the receipts for the health care expenses you paid for with non-HSA funds and repay yourself from the HSA account.

Get your family involved.
By naming your spouse as a beneficiary, he or she gets your same tax benefits. If you name your child or anyone else as beneficiary, the funds are taxable income in the year they are received. If you have a child starting with a new HSA, you can help out by depositing funds into their account to help them meet their annual contribution limit.

It is no secret that escalating health care costs have drastically altered the employee benefits landscape over the years. Balancing these costs is now a constant struggle for employers across the country. Many have responded by adopting high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) and shifting how they allocate benefit dollars.

To cover the high deductibles, health care spending accounts, such as Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), have become increasingly popular during this time. They help individuals and families pay for medical expenses and provide for more control over those expenses, which encourages them to become more informed consumers of health care services and products.

An HSA is an individually owned, tax-favored account that allows employees to pay for qualified health care expenses. In order to set up or contribute to an HSA, employees must be covered by an HDHP. Although not required to contribute to employee HSAs, many employers have reduced health care spending even after paying some, or most, of their employees’ deductibles by contributing to their HSAs. Further, unspent HSA funds rollover each year and can be used to supplement retirement income.

An HRA is similar to an HSA; however, there are several significant differences. First, the employer owns and funds the HRA. Each plan year, the employer will determine how much money to contribute to the HRA, set the threshold for when funds are available, as well as what expenses will be considered eligible for reimbursement. Funds may be eligible for rollover, but cannot be invested.

HRAs must be integrated with a group health plan to stay in compliance with health care reform and cannot be offered as a stand-alone plan. HRAs are often paired with an HDHP, although this is not a requirement.

Giving employees the option to choose between a standard HRA or HSA is great for reducing health care costs for the employer, but it’s unlikely one plan will meet all employee needs. One simple – but underutilized – method for expanding the employee benefits offering is to adjust a standard HRA to make it HSA qualified.

There are four HRA plans that are compatible with an HSA:

Limited Purpose
Post-deductible
Retirement
Suspended
There are several advantages to using both an HRA and HSA, such as lower health insurance premiums, greater control over employer contributions, flexibility on plan designs, as well as additional tax savings.

Moving into 2018, all trends indicate consumer-directed plans will continue to grow in popularity. As more employers offer HDHPs alongside HRAs and HSAs, it is important to stay ahead of the competition by taking the necessary steps to maximize all available tax advantages.

Further, competitive employee benefits packages can be a prime tool for recruiting and retaining top talent.

While combining an HRA and HSA is only one method for reducing health care costs and improving the employee benefits offering, it is nevertheless an important step for achieving sound financial wellness and recruiting/retaining top talent in 2018.

https://www.benefitnews.com/advisers/opinion/maximize-tax-savings-with-an-hsa-compatible-hra?feed=00000151-59db-d9eb-add9-5bdf6fd40000

Did you know the NueSynergy Health Savings Account (HSA) delivers an immediate income tax deduction?

Contributing funds lowers taxable income while helping build a nest egg for future health care expenses. Contributions to the HSA may be made by the employee, employer or anyone; however, the preferred tax treatment will only be realized by the employee.

Whether you’re an employee or employer, there are several benefits to opening a NueSynergy HSA.

Below are the top 10 reasons to open a NueSynergy HSA:

Triple Tax-Advantaged:
Contributions are tax-free, potential interest gains accumulate tax-free and distributions are tax-free when used to pay for qualified medical expenses.

Flexible:
In case of emergency, funds can be used for non-medical expenses (money withdrawn may incur a 20% penalty and income tax charge). At age 65, any remaining HSA funds can be withdrawn for non-medical reasons without a penalty.

Portable:
The employee owns all HSA account funds. The accumulated balance in the account rolls over from year to year. Accounts move with employees even if they change employment or retire.

Convenient:
The NueSynergy prepaid MasterCard provides employees with an easy and convenient way to access HSA contributions. Paper checks are provided as well.

Independence:
Employers prefer the long-term viability of an independent administrator. The relationship the employer has with their HSA administrator or HSA custodian remains consistent, along with all plan processes and resources, even if the employer switches to a different insurance plan.

Savings solution for future health needs:
Unused contributions accumulate and can be saved and used for future medical expenses or to supplement retirement income. For example, unused funds can be used to pay COBRA or other medical insurance premiums during periods of unemployment or temporary layoff.

FDIC Insured Account:
NueSynergy has partenered with Avidia Bank, to provide our FDIC insured HSAs. This partnership enables us to proved a fully integrated experience through both our employee and employer portals.

Investment options:
Employees can select from a spectrum of investment options to match their preferred investment style. *Investments are offered through Devenir.

Record keeping:
Process HSA deposits and withdrawals, post transactions, prepare and distribute bank statements and perform year end reporting on required IRS forms.

Monthly Statements:
Sent when the account has any activity. (Quarterly statements are sent to all account holders regardless of activity.

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For over 20 years, NueSynergy has partnered with agents and their employer clients to administer HSA, FSA and HRA programs that focus on bringing true value to the benefits plan.

See how NueSynergy can help your participants develop a benefit account offering that best fits their unique culture, workforce, brand and benefits program.

Contact us today for a consultation: 855.890.7239 | sales@nuesynergy.com

Please take a moment to read the latest article about NueSynergy’s Consolidated Billing. Published by the industry-leading information resource, Employee Benefit Adviser, this article provides a brief overview about our latest solution that consolidates all carrier premiums into one easy-to-review statement and allows employers to pay all carriers with one statement.

Why Consolidated Billing?
Having to manage and reconcile premiums from multiple carriers has become common place for employers offering insurance to their employees. Auditing carrier statements for accuracy and paying multiple carriers has become a daunting task for many employers and HR departments. Thanks to NueSynergy’s Consolidated Billing, no longer will employers need to worry about monitoring and reconciling carriers bills.

Recently introduced on Employee Navigator, NueSynergy Consolidated Billing is garnering significant interest from industry leaders and employers throughout the Midwest and beyond.

Please feel free to email us at sales@nuesynergy.com for more information about this innovative solution.

About Employee Benefits Adviser
Employee Benefit Adviser is an industry-leading information resource, serving more than 146,000 brokers, advisers, agents, financial planners, investment advisers and consultants.

About Employee Navigator
Employee Navigator is the nation’s fastest growing benefits and HR platform that supports more than 18,000 companies and 3 million employees across the country

Interested in learning more? Contact us today: 855.890.7239 | sales@nuesynergy.com

LEAWOOD, KS., (October 20, 2017) – The IRS has announced the 2018 contribution maximums for Flexible Spending Account (FSA) plans in the newly released Revenue Procedure 2017-58. Contribution limits increased for the Health FSA, Commuter Benefits and Adoption Assistance program, while limits for the Dependent Care FSA remained unchanged.

Health Flexible Spending Account

The Health FSA, which provides employees the ability to set aside money on pre-tax basis to pay for eligible medical, dental, and vision expenses will have an increase to its contribution maximum from $2,600 to $2,650 for 2018. The new contribution limit will also apply to the Limited Purpose FSA which reimburses eligible dental and vision expenses.

Commuter Benefits

Commuter Benefits help employees pay for certain parking, mass transit and/or vanpooling expenses with pre-tax dollars. The contribution limits for this account will increase from $255 to $260 for 2018.

Adoption Assistance

The Adoption Assistance FSA helps employees pay eligible adoption expenses such as agency fees and court costs by contributing to the account with pre-tax money from their paycheck. The contribution limits for this account will increase from $13,570 to $13,840 for 2018.

2017 and 2018 Contribution Amounts

Benefit 2017 | 2018

Health FSA $2,600 | $2,650

Limited FSA $2,600 | $2,650

Dependent Care $5,000 | $5,000

Parking/Transportation $255 / $255 | $260 / $260

Adoption Assistance $13,570 | $13,840

Questions? Contact us at 855.890.7239 or send an email to customerservice@nuesynergy.com.