Flexible Spending Plan

The Flexible Spending Plan allows you to pay for eligible medical and dental expenses that are not otherwise covered by insurance with contributions taken from your pay before taxes. Please note that premiums are not an eligible expense with this plan.

Enrollment in the plan may only be made within 31 days of your date of full time employment, during the annual Open Enrollment period each November, or within 31 days of a dependent birth/adoption. For more details about the plan, please read the Flexible Spending Summary Plan Description.

• Saint Louis University is pleased to announce its adoption of the Treasury Department and the IRS issued Notice 2005-42 which allows employers to modify Healthcare Spending Accounts to extend the deadline for reimbursement of health plan expenses up to 2 months and 15 days after the end of the plan year.
• Effective with the 2005 Plan Year, employees have 14 months and 15 days to incur claims for their Flexible Spending Account. For example, you may incur expenses until March 15, 2009 for the 2008 plan year.

The annual maximum enrollment amount is $5,000. The minimum remains at $130.

Effective January 1, 2004, certain over-the-counter drugs needed for medical care can be reimbursed in reasonable quantities under the Flexible Spending Plan. Please view the Summary Plan Description Amendment for further details.

Effective with the 2005 Plan Year, instead of always using paper claim forms for reimbursement with your Flex Account, you may use your Metavante Flex MasterCard too. You can check your account balance, access your statement, and even view the history of your purchases, all in real-time, using Metavante Benefits Payment System website.

Metavante Flex MasterCards are good for three years. New cards were issued in October 2007 to all current participants. Please do not destroy this card as a new one will not be issued until expiration.

Are you a new employee? You must submit your 2008 Enrollment Form within 31 days from your date of full time employment.

For questions regarding your Flexible Spending account balance and Flex MasterCard status, please call EPOCH Group at (800) 255-6065, ext. 4466.

Again, the deadline to incur 2008 expenses is March 15, 2009. If you do not use your Flex MasterCard, claims are to be mailed directly to The EPOCH Group, P.O. Box 9030, Shawnee Mission, KS 66201, with the Flexible Spending Reimbursement Claim Form. They may also be e-mailed to flex@epochgrp.com, or faxed to (913) 261-4166. The deadline for submitting paper claims for the 2008 Plan Year is March 31, 2009.

The Flexible Spending plan is a "use-it-or-lose-it" plan, meaning that any unclaimed money will be forfeited. The following worksheet can help determine your annual Flex contribution by totalling your predictable costs.

• Flexible Spending Worksheet
  
  

Flexible Spending (and Dependent Care) Plan Tax Advantages

The following example is based upon Tax Tables presented in IRS Publication 15 and the State of Missouri Employer's Tax Guide, both for calendar year 2001 (which will expire 12/31/2001).
This is an illustrative example of possible tax savings that can be realized by employee participation in employer sponsored benefit programs. These are examples only and it must be realized that individual situations will vary and can present a different outcome.

Example

Janet has an annual income of $26,500.

Medical: University Primary Medical Plan-family coverage.
Dental: Not enrolled in any plan. Pays out of pocket. One child in Orthodontia.
Prescription drugs: her husband takes two monthly maintenance drugs.
Dependent Care Expenses: After school daycare programs.

Since all of the mentioned services or products have predictable expenses, Janet has decided to enroll in the University's Flexible Spending and Dependent Care plans.

Janet has decided to withhold $ 2,462 into her flex account. She reached that figure by calculating her predictable, anticipated expenses to:
$1200 on orthodontic ($100/month x 12 months)
$360 for her husband's 2 monthly prescriptions one generic-$10, one brand name-$20
$400 for preventative dental for the family
$500 for her family deductible under the University Primary Medical Plan ($250 x 2 people)
$150 for eyeglasses for herself
$120 for contact lenses for her husband

Janet has also decided to withhold $1000 into her dependent care account after calculating her annual expense for the after-school daycare for two children.

Her net taxable income after deductions (medical, parking, 403b) is approximately 20,000, and she is married filing a joint tax return, claiming two deductions. This is the breakdown of how participation in these plans will benefit Janet and her family:


Individual claiming Married Status with 2 allowances on both W-4 and MO W-4 Forms.