A Health Savings Account (HSA) is a tax advantaged account used to pay for health care expenses. HSAs must be paired with a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), and together can offer significant insurance savings and tax-exempt savings.
Your insurance provider can help you determine which HDHP plan will be best for your company and if it qualifies under IRS guidelines. Once you have chosen a qualifying HDHP, opening an HSA is as easy as opening a checking account. Your employees can visit any one of our 13 branches to open their HSA and start saving for medical expenses.
HSA Contributions can be made by:
Employees can contribute as often as they would like up to the predetermined IRS limit. This limit is different for individual coverage and family coverage. Check with your insurance agent or the IRS for the current year contribution limits.
All Bank of Utah HSAs come with checks, a free Visa debit card, and free online banking and bill pay.
As the employer, you will send each employee a 5498 SA form with a report of contributions and a 1099 SA form with a report of distributions from the HSA annually. They must file form 8889 as part of their annual tax return to report the amount of distribution used for qualified health care expenses.
If funds from an employee's HSA is used for a non-qualified expense, they will be subject to a penalty tax on those funds. The penalty tax can be expensive, so contact your insurance provider if you are unsure if a payment is qualified.
Options | Cafeteria Plan | HSA |
---|---|---|
Used for out-of-pocket health expenses | X | X |
Employee contributions allowed | X | X |
Employer contributions allowed | X | X |
Employers receive deductions for payments | X | X |
Pre-funded | X | X |
Works with any health plan | X | |
Unused balance rolls over annually | X | |
Investment options with tax-free growth | X | |
Portable for consumer | X | |
Funds can be used for any purpose after retirement | X |
For additional information and details on Health Savings Accounts, High Deductible Health Plans, and other insurance options, contact your health insurance provider or visit the IRS web site.