Made a huge $ mistake

[minionkevin]

DH’s open enrollment ended yesterday and I completely forgot. It was only 10 days! Mine started the same day and doesn’t end until 12/7 but my plan is much more expensive (albeit more comprehensive coverage). I make about half what DH does and it is better tax-wise to have him carry the benefits, especially our HSA (not available on my plan), and daycare FSA.

[konapoppy]

Oh no! Are you sure his previous selections didn’t just roll over? Some companies have that type of open enrollment. If not, can be call his benefits department?

[minionkevin]

Nov 17, 2018 8:02:43 GMT -5 konapoppy said:

Oh no! Are you sure his previous selections didn’t just roll over? Some companies have that type of open enrollment. If not, can be call his benefits department?

He is automatically rolled over for the health plan for all of us (I waived my benefits at the new job I started in late January). However, you have to elect into the HSA and daycare FSA every year. It makes zero sense to take his plan without the HSA (even though we currently have a healthy balance to cover a good portion of our expenses, but not likely to cover my entire hospital stay for Kid3), and I can’t elect my FSA with his HSA health plan. I logged in and made the selections for his plan on the first day and didn’t finalize them, because my office had a benefits seminar that Thursday and I didn’t want to not go back and change it if we decided to go with my plan.

I also have no idea how it works with continuing my coverage when I am out on maternity leave. I will be paid through our state disability and family leave plan and I also enrolled in my company’s STD plan when I started at my company, but I won’t get any direct pay from my company for 14w (planned c/s + family leave).

[konapoppy]

Okay, if you had already gone in and selected but not submitted, I would absolutely have him contact his benefits department and say that he thought he had submitted. They might be able to push it through for him.

I would think that the dependent care fsa selection is agnostic of the health plan (medical fsa is of course a no go with the hsa), but I just started using it last year and am not as familiar.

ETA: my company screwed up my premiums while I was on unpaid leave, but I was supposed to get a bill in the mail for them. What ended up happening was they deducted them from my paychecks when I returned.

[jm1982]

Have him contact his benefits folk ASAP and ask for an extension. This happened to us one time in the past (missed company’s open enrollment by two days) — health care selections rolled over, but FSA selections did not. I was worried that we were screwed for the year, but DH contacted his HR to tell them that we screwed up, and they manually opened his enrollment for an extra day. I assume that this was possible because the company-wide deadline is later than the employee deadline. This may not be true for you, but it’s definitely worthwhile to ask.

[tealblue]

Call the benefits department. But honestly, you should be able to change his HSA elections at any time during the year. You may be screwed on the daycare FSA, but the HSA should be able to be fixed at a minimum. You can also fund the HSA on your own (outside of payroll deductions) and the company will send you a form for your taxes.

[goldengirlz]

I agree that he should call the benefits department and see if he can add the HSA.

As far as taxes go, though, as long as you’re married filing joint, it shouldn’t matter who carries the benefits; your tax bill will be the same come April. So I don’t see why you couldn’t elect the daycare FSA?

Also, worst case scenario, you can elect your own coverage just for you (usually that’s the most cost effective plan) and keep your H and the kids on his plan. We all had my insurance during my maternity leave and my coverage remained in place during my leave (my company continued to cover my premiums.)

[livinitup]

You can do the child care FSA on your company. Sure, it will decrease your take home pay, and maybe that matters to how you structure your finances, but nothing else.

Also, I would be shocked if his company didn’t accept more enrollment paperwork on Monday. The DAY after the deadline? I mean, surely they are still processing everything they got in the past 10 days. There is still a stack on someone’s desk, right? Why wouldn’t they add a few more to the pile on Monday?? I’ve seen it done every year.

[minionkevin]

Nov 17, 2018 11:20:20 GMT -5 livinitup said:

You can do the child care FSA on your company. Sure, it will decrease your take home pay, and maybe that matters to how you structure your finances, but nothing else.

Also, I would be shocked if his company didn’t accept more enrollment paperwork on Monday. The DAY after the deadline? I mean, surely they are still processing everything they got in the past 10 days. There is still a stack on someone’s desk, right? Why wouldn’t they add a few more to the pile on Monday?? I’ve seen it done every year.

It’s an online portal and closed (I checked this morning)

[minionkevin]

Nov 17, 2018 10:49:48 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I agree that he should call the benefits department and see if he can add the HSA.

As far as taxes go, though, as long as you’re married filing joint, it shouldn’t matter who carries the benefits; your tax bill will be the same come April. So I don’t see why you couldn’t elect the daycare FSA?

Also, worst case scenario, you can elect your own coverage just for you (usually that’s the most cost effective plan) and keep your H and the kids on his plan. We all had my insurance during my maternity leave and my coverage remained in place during my leave (my company continued to cover my premiums.)

A dollar for dollar pretax deduction for the higher earner is the better bet, I know others have done the calculation. Me going on my own plan is not more cost effective. It is like $100/month for just me and his is $150/month for all of us (and like $80 for him and the kids). His HSA plan precludes me from contributing to a healthcare FSA, as well. I used to work in the insurance industry; with the plans we have available to us, all of us have to be on the same plan for the max benefit.

[konapoppy]

Nov 17, 2018 12:00:41 GMT -5 minionkevin said:

Nov 17, 2018 11:20:20 GMT -5 livinitup said:

You can do the child care FSA on your company. Sure, it will decrease your take home pay, and maybe that matters to how you structure your finances, but nothing else.

Also, I would be shocked if his company didn’t accept more enrollment paperwork on Monday. The DAY after the deadline? I mean, surely they are still processing everything they got in the past 10 days. There is still a stack on someone’s desk, right? Why wouldn’t they add a few more to the pile on Monday?? I’ve seen it done every year.

It’s an online portal and closed (I checked this morning)

Yes, but the benefits team can make an exception. They are used to this. Email them and then have him call Monday morning. I would definitely position as he thought he hit submit (I have done this before!).

[kadams767]

Nov 17, 2018 12:05:11 GMT -5 minionkevin said:

Nov 17, 2018 10:49:48 GMT -5 goldengirlz said:

I agree that he should call the benefits department and see if he can add the HSA.

As far as taxes go, though, as long as you’re married filing joint, it shouldn’t matter who carries the benefits; your tax bill will be the same come April. So I don’t see why you couldn’t elect the daycare FSA?

Also, worst case scenario, you can elect your own coverage just for you (usually that’s the most cost effective plan) and keep your H and the kids on his plan. We all had my insurance during my maternity leave and my coverage remained in place during my leave (my company continued to cover my premiums.)

A dollar for dollar pretax deduction for the higher earner is the better bet, I know others have done the calculation. Me going on my own plan is not more cost effective. It is like $100/month for just me and his is $150/month for all of us (and like $80 for him and the kids). His HSA plan precludes me from contributing to a healthcare FSA, as well. I used to work in the insurance industry; with the plans we have available to us, all of us have to be on the same plan for the max benefit.

Strictly speaking on the daycare FSA, the tax deduction should be the same no matter which of you elect that.  It doesn’t matter if the higher earner has the pretax deduction or the lower earner when you are married filing joint.  It’s all the same pot of income and deductions.  

[azalea]

Many companies offer a "correction period" after normal open enrollment closes. Definitely call and ask if they offer that.

[lagom]

I'm not sure when you're due, but my company allows changes to the dcfsa after qualifying events which includes birth. It doesn't change the total limit for the year, just when you start contributing.

[tcu2003]

Nov 17, 2018 9:59:46 GMT -5 jm1982 said:

Have him contact his benefits folk ASAP and ask for an extension. This happened to us one time in the past (missed company’s open enrollment by two days) — health care selections rolled over, but FSA selections did not. I was worried that we were screwed for the year, but DH contacted his HR to tell them that we screwed up, and they manually opened his enrollment for an extra day. I assume that this was possible because the company-wide deadline is later than the employee deadline. This may not be true for you, but it’s definitely worthwhile to ask.

Ditto this. The deadline for employees is nearly always earlier than the company’s deadline so they can process everything. We made updates one year a couple of days after the deadline due to some late info for a new healthcare plan when both spouses were employees at the company and it was no big deal. I just had to tell HR what we wanted instead of using the online portal.

[sometimesrunner]

Nov 17, 2018 13:15:55 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

Nov 17, 2018 12:05:11 GMT -5 minionkevin said:

A dollar for dollar pretax deduction for the higher earner is the better bet, I know others have done the calculation. Me going on my own plan is not more cost effective. It is like $100/month for just me and his is $150/month for all of us (and like $80 for him and the kids). His HSA plan precludes me from contributing to a healthcare FSA, as well. I used to work in the insurance industry; with the plans we have available to us, all of us have to be on the same plan for the max benefit.

Strictly speaking on the daycare FSA, the tax deduction should be the same no matter which of you elect that.  It doesn’t matter if the higher earner has the pretax deduction or the lower earner when you are married filing joint.  It’s all the same pot of income and deductions.  

And honestly if he makes enough more than you that he already reaches the SS max, it’s better for you to have the dependent care withheld from your check because it’s pre-SS tax and you’ll be avoiding that tax.

[sadlebred]

Definitely call Monday. I've had to make a change to something after the online deadline had passed. There is usually a "drop dead" date to make changes via the phone--I think mine was 7 business days after the online portal closed.

[badgergrl]

Nov 17, 2018 15:29:25 GMT -5 sometimesrunner said:

Nov 17, 2018 13:15:55 GMT -5 kadams767 said:

Strictly speaking on the daycare FSA, the tax deduction should be the same no matter which of you elect that.  It doesn’t matter if the higher earner has the pretax deduction or the lower earner when you are married filing joint.  It’s all the same pot of income and deductions.  

And honestly if he makes enough more than you that he already reaches the SS max, it’s better for you to have the dependent care withheld from your check because it’s pre-SS tax and you’ll be avoiding that tax.

This. My husband is the higher earner by almost 8 times and we take everything we can out of my check because he maxed out ssi partway through the year. So I totally disagree with the idea that the higher wage earner should take the deductions. We file jointly and for us it’s the opposite.

[covergirl82]

+1 to what azalea said about a corrections/review period.

[lolalolalola]

Nov 17, 2018 8:00:07 GMT -5 minionkevin said:

Were you able to get an extension when your DH called yesterday?