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Flexible
Benefit Plan
Employees are encouraged to take advantage of the
cost-saving benefits provided through the Plano ISD Flexible Benefit
Plan, commonly referred to as a "cafeteria plan". The components
of this Plan allow you to pay for certain eligible expenses on a
pre-tax basis which will reduce your federal income taxes.
How To...
Pre-Tax Premiums
This excellent option allows you to pay any PISD medical, dental, and vision premiums on a pre-tax basis. Using this plan, any
eligible premium is deducted from your paycheck before taxes. Since you are paying these premiums anyway, you save tax money as well, by selecting this option.
Life insurance and disability insurance premiums cannot be deducted pre-tax. Medical Reimbursement Flexible
Spending Account
General Purpose
Please Note: If you also plan to contribute to a Health Savings Account through a bank or another financial institution, you may not select the General Purpose medical reimbursement account. You must select the Limited Purpose medical reimbursement account.
This account allows you to set aside some of your salary, on a pre-tax basis, to pay for eligible health care expenses
that are not reimbursed by your insurance plans. This might include
charges applied to deductibles, co-insurance,
prescription co-payments, and eligible weight loss programs, just to name a few. Over-the-counter items are only eligible if you have a doctor's prescription for the item. Eligible expenses may be for you, your spouse, or dependent children. The
minimum you may set aside in this account is $25 per month, and the maximum is $416 per month. Any funds remaining in your account at
the end of the plan year (August 31) and
not claimed for eligible expenses
will be forfeited and cannot be returned to you. This account does not automatically continue from year to year. You must re-enroll
during each annual open enrollment period. You are encouraged to
seek professional tax or financial advice regarding this account
and your personal tax situation.
Informational Flyer  (112 KB)
Limited Purpose
Please Note: If you also plan to contribute to a Health Savings Account through a bank or another financial institution, you may not select the General Purpose medical reimbursement account. You must select the Limited Purpose medical reimbursement account.
This account allows you to set aside some of your salary, on a pre-tax basis, to pay for a limited set of expenses, typically only for dental and vision, that are not reimbursed by your insurance plans. The Limited Purpose medical reimbursement account will not reimburse charges that are applied to your medical plan deductible, as those are eligible under a Health Savings Account. Eligible expenses may be for you, your spouse, or dependent children. The minimum you may set aside in this account is $25 per month, and the maximum is $416 per month. Any funds remaining in your account at the end of the plan year (August 31) and not claimed for eligible expenses will be forfeited and cannot be returned to you. This account does not automatically continue from year to year. You must re-enroll during each annual open enrollment period. You are encouraged to seek professional tax or financial advice regarding this account and your personal tax situation.
Dependent Care Flexible
Spending Account
This account allows you to set aside some of your salary, on a pre-tax basis, to pay for eligible "dependent care"
expenses, such as day care for children or a disabled spouse. The
minimum you may set aside in this account is $25 per month, and the maximum is $416 per month (or
$208 per month, if you are married and filing separate tax returns). Any funds remaining in your account at the end of the plan year (August 31) and not claimed for eligible
expenses will be forfeited and cannot
be returned to you. This account does not automatically continue
from year to year. You must re-enroll during each annual
open enrollment period. You are encouraged to seek professional
tax or financial advice regarding this account and your personal
tax situation. By electing this account, you may not be eligible
for the Federal Income Tax Credit.
Informational Flyer (122 KB)
Cautions
- The types of eligible expenses that can be claimed for reimbursement
under the flexible spending accounts are determined by federal IRS
regulations. To find out if a particular expense qualifies under
IRS law, you should contact the account administrator, a tax advisor, or the IRS.
- Since you may suffer tax consequences resulting from your elections,
you are encouraged to consult a tax or financial advisor regarding
your personal tax situation.
- By electing the dependent care account, you may not be
eligible for the Federal Income Tax Credit.
- Funds in your flexible spending account must be used for services rendered in this plan year. You will forfeit any unused funds. However, you can minimize your risk by setting aside only enough money for costs that you realistically expect to have.
- The flexible spending accounts can only reimburse expenses that are incurred after your account begins and before the end of the plan year.
- Reimbursement is based on when the service was rendered, not when you pay the bill. For example, if you see the doctor in August 2011, but you actually pay the doctor's bill in September 2011, the expense is not eligible under your 2011-2012 flexible spending account.
- Elections are irrevocable, except when a qualifying change in
status occurs and you request the corresponding change within 31 days. Only certain types of changes are allowed mid-year. See the plan document for details.
Flex Card
How to Use Your Flex Card (740 KB)
This technology can provide an added convenience to employees who enroll in a Medical Reimbursement Flexible Spending Account. Paper claims are most commonly used for reimbursement of expenses after the fact, but the Flex Card can allow immediate access to the funds in your account at the time you need them. For example, most prescription co-pays can be reimbursed through the Medical Reimbursement account. So at the pharmacy, instead of paying your co-pay and submitting the receipt, you swipe the Flex Card, and the claim will go directly to your account and be paid.
There are limitations to the card. It is designed to work only at specific merchants (e.g., doctor's offices, pharmacies, hospitals). However, the card transaction machine at an eligible merchant may not always work, depending on how their bank has set it up.
Use of the Flex Card does not remove your responsibility
to keep all receipts and documentation to prove the eligibility
of the expense. The IRS requires the account administrator to audit every transaction to make
sure the cards are being used properly. Therefore, they may request
copies of your documentation to validate any transaction. If you
do not provide the requested documentation, the transaction will
be voided, you must repay the account, and your card will be
deactivated.
The Flexible Benefit Plan Summary
Description and policy contain complete details regarding use of the
Flex Card, how the card works, how you can make sure you use
it properly, your obligations when using the card, the Plan's rights
to deny access to your card and recover ineligible expenses, and
more.
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