2024 Limited Purpose FSA

Contact Sentinel Benefits

888-762-6088
https://www.sentinelgroup.com/
Sentinel Help Center
781-213-7301 (claims)

What's new in 2024?

•  NEW-Dartmouth will be adding a new Limited Purpose Health Care Flexible Spending Account (LPFSA) in 2024 for those who enroll in the High Deductible Health Plan with Health Savings Account (HSA) option.

Other Important Open Enrollment Information

•  IMPORTANT-If you would like to contribute to a Flexible Spending Account, you MUST make a new election each year during the annual open enrollment period. If you miss the enrollment window you will not have another opportunity to enroll until the following plan year.

•  ANNUAL LIMIT-The annual limit is $3,200 (announced by the IRS 11/9/2023)

Understanding the Benefits

Flexible Spending Accounts are strictly regulated by the IRS.  It is your responsibility to read and understand the information provided.  For clarification about information on this webpage, please reach out to the Dartmouth Benefits Office. If you have specific questions around these IRS rules and regulations surrounding your LPFSA plan, you are advised to speak to your tax professional.

For more in-depth information about your plans and how they work, please read the information provided below.

IRS Guidelines

• You cannot make changes to your annual contribution amount or start/stop an annual contribution to a LPFSA, without an IRS defined status change event. If eligible, changes must be made within 30 days of the event date.

• All LPFSA funds must be spent within the same calendar year in which they are contributed.

• Claims must be submitted by March 31 of the following calendar year. Any remaining LPFSA account balance greater than the allowed carryover balance will be forfeited on April 1st. See below or more information on LPFSA filing deadlines

• The IRS annual maximum amount you may contribute to a LPFSA is $3,200

• The IRS does not require employer contributions or carryover dollars to count towards the $3,200 annual limit.

• Those who are eligible to receive medical-expense reimbursement under your own General Purpose Health Care FSA (HCFSA) or that of a spouse or parent, are NOT eligible to contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Limited Purpose FSA (LPFSA)

• For additional details on the IRS guidelines, please visit IRS Publication 502

2024 Annual IRS Limit

Annual Limit per employee: $3,200

• This limit is per individual, so couples can each enroll in an LPFSA and contribute the maximum.

• If you are new to Dartmouth and contributed to a LPFSA through your former employer, you may still contribute the annual maximum through Dartmouth.

• The IRS allows all carryover LPFSA balances to be an additional contribution above and beyond the annual limit.

• If you elected the 2024 maximum of $3,050 during open enrollment since the limits increased after that time, the benefits office will email you with an offer to increase your limit to the new maximum.  Please watch your email for this notice.

LPFSA Carryover

Carryover dollars are unspent dollars remaining in your LPFSA account at year end, that are eligible to "Carryover" and be added into the following years LPFSA account balance and then spent in the new year. There are minimum and maximum carryover amounts, and any balance remaining in the account above or below the carryover amounts will be forfeited on April 1st of the following year. The minimum carryover balance is $30 going into 2025, and the maximum is $640.  If you think you will have an excess of funds in your account at year end, we strongly suggest that you spend down any excess amounts from your 2024 account before 12/31/2024. 

Create an Account

Set up your account with Sentinel and download the mobil app
1. Go to www.sentinelgroup.com (Chrome and Safari are the recommended browsers)
2. In the "I am an Individual" section, click on GET STARTED
3. From the LOGIN drop down, select "FSA, HSA, HRA, Commuter Accounts"
4. Under NEW USER select "Create your new Username and Password"
5. Enter your personal information.

In addition, you can also upload the Sentinel Accounts App onto your mobile phone for ease in claim monitoring and claim submission.

For more information, watch this helpful video from Sentinel on how to navigate your online account. https://help.sentinelgroup.com/help/navigating-your-online-account

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Eligibility and Enrollment

• All benefits-eligible Faculty, Exempt, Non-Exempt and SEIU employees are eligible to contribute to an LPFSA.

• Research Associate Bs and Research Fellows are NOT eligible to participate in the LP

• FSA.

Per IRS guidelines, anyone who is eligible to receive an expense reimbursement under your own General Purpose Health Care FSA (HCFSA) or that of a spouse or parent, are NOT eligible to contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Limited Purpose FSA (LPFSA).

IMPORTANT NOTE:  If you do not elect a contribution amount during your New Hire enrollment or during your annual open enrollment period, you will not be able to contribute to a Limited Purpose FSA for the calendar year, unless you have an IRS eligible qualified life event.

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Eligible Expenses

Limited Purpose Flexible Spending Account dollars can be used to pay for a variety of eligible dental,  and vision expenses, including orthodontia and Lasik eye surgery.  You cannot use LPFSA funds to pay for medical or over-the-counter expenses.  For a list of the IRS's eligible Limited Purpose FSA Expenses, please click here.

Important Filing Deadlines

12/31/23 - Last day to incur eligible expenses for calendar year 2023, when switching to an HSA in 2024. Any remaining balance above the allowed $610 carryover amount will be forfeited.
1/1/24 - Any remaining HCFSA carryover balances will be deposited into a Limited Purpose FSA and can be used toward 2024 incurred eligible dental and vision expenses.

You do not need to report FSA contributions or expenditures to the IRS through your annual tax return.

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Key Benefits

• Set aside guaranteed pre-tax dollars that you can use during the year to pay for eligible health care expenses.

• The account can be used together with an HRA to help pay for vision and dental expenses, co-pays, and additional deductible and coinsurance amounts that are not covered by the HRA.

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Dependents

You are permitted to use your LPFSA plan to pay for eligible healthcare expenses for you and your eligible dependents. In general, an eligible dependent is:

• Your Spouse
• Your dependent that you can claim on your tax return.
• Your adult child(ren) who are under the age of 27.

A domestic partner is not considered a spouse under federal law, so a domestic partner's vision and dental expenses cannot be reimbursed under your Limited Purpose FSA account unless the domestic partner is a qualifying relative as described above. A qualifying spouse must be legally married.

How the LPFSA Benefit Works

LPFSA Account is Funded - The full amount that you elect to contribute for the year plus any money that Dartmouth gives you for the year, will be front-loaded into your LPFSA Account as of 1/1/24 (as of benefits eligibility date if hired after 1/1/24).  This means that the full balance will be available for you to start using on day one.

LPFSA Payroll Deduction - Your annual contribution amount will be split evenly across all paychecks received in calendar year 2024 (12 deductions for monthly paid, 24 deductions for biweekly paid-2 biweekly checks will not have deductions). These contributions will be deducted each pay period from your paycheck reducing the amount of taxes you pay each pay period and will go into your LPFSA Account at Sentinel Benefits.

Incur Eligible LPFSA Expenses - - You or your eligible dependent will then receive eligible dental or vision service/product as determined by the IRS, and the provider will request payment or submit an invoice for you to pay.

List of Eligible LPFSA Expenses

Pay your Provider - You may then use your Sentinel Benefits Debit card to pay your provider (if VISA is accepted) or you can pay out of pocket and submit a claim to Sentinel Benefits for reimbursement prior to the submission deadline of March 31, 2024.

Keep your LPFSA Receipts - Some expenses will require substantiation as you spend. Keep your receipts for any expense that is paid by your LPFSA.

Submit/File a Claim - In some cases, you may need to supply supporting documentation (substantiation) to Sentinel Benefits as proof that the money you spent was on what the IRS considers an eligible expense.  See the Substantiation and Filing an LPFSA claim sections below.

LPFSA Deadlines - LPFSAs have deadlines regulated by the IRS. With the excpetion of the allotted carryover balance, any unclaimed balance remaining in your account at the end of the March 31st run out period will be forfeited.  Please pay careful attention to the IMPORTANT FILING DEADLINES section above.

Tax Reporting - You are not required to report contributed or spent LPFSA funds on your annual tax return.  But box 1 of your W-2 does reflect the reduction in wages that were sent to your LPFSA account, reducing your annual tax liability.

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Claim Substantiation

Before you try to file a claim with Sentinel, it is important to understand what it means to "substantiate" the claim.

Most of the eligible expenses that you pay through your LPFSA account will require some form of substantiation as proof to Sentinel Benefits and the IRS that the money you spent was on what the IRS considers an eligible expense. Your provider will not send copies of your invoices to Sentinel Benefits.

In most cases, you will need to submit a copy of the invoice, receipt or Explanation of Benefits (from Delta Dental/EyeMed/VSP, etc) as your proof that the claim was for a legitimate IRS approved LPFSA expense.

The IRS does not require that you show proof of payment to receive reimbursement on a bill or receipt. They only need to see that the service was incurred on an IRS eligible expense within the calendar year for which the pre-tax dollars were allotted. Your substantiation document must show the following five pieces of information for approval by Sentinel:

1. Your Name

2. Name of the Provider

3. Date of Service (shows proof that service was incurred during the same calendar year for which the pre-tax dollars were deducted from your paycheck)

4. Description of Service (indicating eligible expense)

5. Amount of Service (Must match the amount of payment that was made - if Sentinel VISA debit card is used)

For more information on claim documentation, please review Sentinel's website at https://help.sentinelgroup.com/help/uploading-claim-documentation

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FILING A CLAIM

There are three ways to file/submit claims through Sentinel Benefits.

1. Sentinel Benefits VISA Debit Card - Use the Sentinel Benefits VISA debit card to pay the bill at the time of service. Then submit a copy of receipt or Explanation of Benefits (EOB) to Sentinel after the fact through your online account or through the Sentinel Mobil app.
2. Pay out of Pocket - Pay for the service out of pocket  then submit a copy of the receipt or EOB to Sentinel after the fact through your online account or through the Sentinel Mobil app.  Sentinel will reimburse you by check or via direct deposit (typically within 3-5 business days).
3. Unpaid Invoice - Obtain a copy of an unpaid provider invoice or Cigna EOB, submit a copy of the unpaid bill or EOB to Sentinel  through your online account or through the Sentinel Mobil app. Sentinel will reimburse you by way of direct deposit or paper check.  You will then have funds available to pay the unpaid invoice.

NOTE: Do not use funds from your 2024 LPFSA account to pay for an expense incurred in 2023.

For more information on submitting a claim through the online portal, please check out the following video from Sentinel Benefits: https://help.sentinelgroup.com/help/submitting-an-online-claim

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Leaving Dartmouth

Changing Employment Categories - RAB and Research Fellows are not eligible to participate in any of the FSA benefits.  If you are enrolled in a LPFSA and move into one of these non-eligible employment categories, you will lose benefit eligibility and the benefit will end and you may choose to continue contributing to it on a post-tax basis under COBRA.

Losing Benefit Eligibility - If you are enrolled in a LPFSA and your Full Time Equivalency decreases below half time, you will lose benefit eligibility and the benefit will end.  You may choose to continue contributing to it on a post-tax basis under COBRA.

Debit Cards - Your Sentinel VISA debit card will be deactivated on the day after you lose eligibility for the benefit (see losing benefit eligibility above).

Overspend of Funds - If you have already spent more money than you have contributed by the time your plan coverage ends, you will not be required to pay back the difference.

COBRA - If you have already spent more than the amount that you have contributed year to date (as of the time you become eligible for COBRA), you will not be eligible to continue the LPFSA under COBRA.  Otherwise, when you elect to continue your Limited Purpose FSA under COBRA, you may continue to incur expenses and contribute to the account on a post-tax basis, through the end of the plan year in which your employment ends. The plan year ends on December 31st.  For more information on Cobra benefits please visit our Leaving Dartmouth webpage.

Runout Period (Deadline to submit claims) - Regardless of whether you continue the benefit under COBRA, the Limited Purpose FSA has a three month runout period (through March 31st), that allows you to submit claims for expenses that were incurred during the period within the prior calendar year for which your account was active (Typically January 1st through either the last day of the month in which you were benefits eligible OR through December 31st if you continued the benefit under COBRA).

Carryover Feature - If you continue your Limited Purpose FSA under COBRA, unused dollars will not carry over after the runout period ends and the remaining balance in your account will be lost.

Incurring Claims - You may continue to incur claims through the end of the month, in which you leave Dartmouth or lose eligibility for the benefit.  If you are eligible to continue the benefit under COBRA, then you may continue to incur claims through the end of the calendar year.

Submitting for Reimbursement - Once your card has been deactivated, claims may be submitted directly to Sentinel by filling out a claim form and sending it via US mail, by using the Sentinel phone app, or by uploading the fo/"rm to your personal account at www.Sentinelgroup.com