If you contributed to a Health Care Flexible Spending Account (FSA) in 2025 and still had money left over in your account, you may be in luck.
Normally, FSA contributions follow a “use it or lose it” approach. If, for example, you elected to contribute $1,000 to your FSA in 2025 and only made $600 worth of 2025-plan-year claims and can’t make any additional 2025 claims, in some cases you might “lose” that leftover $400 amount.
But if your employer has set up your FSA account with a rollover provision, you might still be able to use that $400 in 2026.
Why? Because the IRS allows employers to structure their FSA plans to allow as much as $660 in unused contributions from 2025 to be rolled over into participants’ 2026 balance.
So, using the example above, if you elected to contribute a total of $1,000 to your FSA in 2026, and your plan allowed the maximum rollover amount, you could roll over your remaining $400 from 2025, creating a combined pool of $1,400.
Keep in mind that if you don’t use that entire amount, you may only be able to roll over a maximum $680 of your remaining balance from your 2026 pool to 2027.
Not all FSAs offer this benefit. Those that offer grace periods, which can extend the plan year up to an additional two and a half months to allow employees to make additional claims after the initial 12-month period ends, cannot offer rollovers, and vice versa. Also note that dependent care FSAs do not offer rollover provisions.
If have questions about any of your FSA options, contact your benefits administrator.
This material has been provided for general informational purposes only and does not constitute advice. Although we go to great lengths to make sure our information is accurate and useful, we recommend you consult with your benefits administrator on employer benefit related issues.
This article was authored by David Jaeger and Jeffrey Briskin. David is a financial advisor with Canby Financial Advisors, a SEC-registered investment adviser. SEC registration does not constitute an endorsement by the SEC nor a statement about any skill or training. David can be reached at 508.598.1082 or djaeger@canbyfinancial.com. Jeffrey Briskin is Director of Marketing at Canby Financial Advisors.