City of Thornton / Health Care Accounts

Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs)
The City offers several FSA plans which provide employees the opportunity to pay their portion of the health, dental, and vision insurance premiums with pre-tax dollars; to pay dependent care costs with pre-tax dollars; and to pay for qualifying medical (includes dental and vision) expenses not covered by insurance with pre-tax dollars. These are “use-it-or-lose-it” accounts and funds do NOT roll over from year to year! Save receipts! The IRS requires documentation of the employee’s expenses, so the employee may be asked to submit a receipt at a later date.

Health Care FSA
The Health Care FSA offers the employee the opportunity to be reimbursed for most out-of-pocket medical, dental and vision care expenses for the employee’s self and the employee’s dependents as long as these expenses are not paid for by any insurance plan. Eligible expenses include medical deductibles and coinsurance, dental coinsurance, vision copayments and coinsurance and certain over-the-counter drug expenses. Certain exclusions apply; we recommend that the employee check with a member of the Benefits staff to clarify any questionable expense prior to enrolling. The maximum contribution limit for 2025 is $3,300.

IMPORTANT: Reimbursable medical expenses will process through the Health Reimbursement Account (HRA) first. Any remaining unreimbursed eligible medical expenses will then be reimbursable under the FSA. The IRS does not allow the same expenses to be reimbursed through both the HRA and FSA.

Dependent Care FSA
The Dependent Care FSA offers the employee the opportunity to be reimbursed for certain eligible dependent care expenses incurred while the employee and the employee’s spouse (if married) work. Eligible dependent care expenses include before- and after-school care, day care, preschool, nursery school, summer day camp, and elder day care. An eligible dependent is a child under age 13 who is claimed as a dependent on the employee’s income tax, a child age 13 and older who is physically or mentally unable to care for himself/herself, a disabled spouse, or an elderly parent. To enroll, the employee must be either single with eligible dependents or married with a spouse who is actively employed, a full-time student, or disabled. The maximum contribution limit for 2025 will remain at $5,000.

Commuter and Transit Plan (Section 132)
The Commuter and Transit Plan is a pre-tax way to pay for van-pooling and transit expenses before Federal, State, and FICA taxes are deducted. The employee can elect a monthly amount, not to exceed the IRS limit of $325 per month, to pay for transit passes or van pooling. The employee can elect the Commuter and Transit Plan at any time and may also revoke the election at any time as long as it’s before the start of the month in which the deduction is being made. Amounts not used for the month can be carried over to the next month.