If your kid is not going to daycare due to Covid, how are you handling funding the daycare reimbursement account for 2021?
We need to make that decision soon. It's nice to have the tax savings on the $5k, but our kid is home right now with us and who knows when we'll feel safe sending her back.
Post by AdaraMarie on Oct 22, 2020 14:57:47 GMT -5
I am not going to put money in for next year. I am going to lose around $300 this year and don't want to risk anything else. Plus my older dd is starting middle school next year and my work is still all remote.
My kids are older but I was just trying to figure this out yesterday. I put in for summer daycamp (which did take place this past summer) but not for afterschool care.
My kids are older but I was just trying to figure this out yesterday. I put in for summer daycamp (which did take place this past summer) but not for afterschool care.
We are doing bday camp funding for next year. We are also losing about $700 this year.
Yes, the total is about 1.5 months of our daycare costs (sob) and I can’t imagine we go more than 10.5 months without daycare in 2021 (dear god please).
Yes, the total is about 1.5 months of our daycare costs (sob) and I can’t imagine we go more than 10.5 months without daycare in 2021 (dear god please).
+1
Now that my older kiddo has started K it's not quiiiiiiite as bad but same gist. Between DS's daycare and DD's after school/vacations/summer care, I can't foresee a world where I don't blow through the $5k many times over. Especially because covid closures at daycare don't mean a tuition break for us.
Post by ellipses84 on Oct 22, 2020 16:52:51 GMT -5
I would if I had the option but I switched jobs and don’t. We are in HCOL and max out early, so the $1300 we put in before the shutdown was able to be fully reimbursed. Mine stopped then. We took DS2 our of preschool for 6 months but they’ve remained open the whole fine (for a little while for both parents essential / working out of the home). We also could have sent DS1 to a few weeks of summer camp, but we didn’t need to and cancelled it. I would have considered that before losing money. I know ours has day camps during other school breaks / days off, so that could be an option for anyone who still has money left.
No. My kids were on the edge of not needing school year care and we're not certain about camp. I added more to my 401K to offset the taxable income increase. We'll pay for any childcare post tax because I'd rather do that then have money lost.
Yes, we used all $5K this year and expect to use it again next year. It’s only three months of care, and we will have used eight months this year if things stay open, or six months if they don’t.
Yes, the total is about 1.5 months of our daycare costs (sob) and I can’t imagine we go more than 10.5 months without daycare in 2021 (dear god please).
Yup. If I still had a childcare FSA, I would fully fund it. For 2020 I had used up the whole thing by the time shutdowns started.
Yes, the total is about 1.5 months of our daycare costs (sob) and I can’t imagine we go more than 10.5 months without daycare in 2021 (dear god please).
Same. It takes about 2.5 months to recoup it now that DS1 is in Kinder, but DS2 has been back in daycare for almost 8 weeks now. Between that and DS1's aftercare, I can't imagine we won't spend the $5k. I was getting nervous about this year, but I'll deplete those funds no problem now.
Post by starburst604 on Oct 22, 2020 19:19:23 GMT -5
I went back and forth on it but yes, we are going to fund it. The cost of school aftercare and whatever she does for summer camp is well over that amount. And she goes to her old preschool 1 day a week when K is closed. Even if things shut down again we’ll have to hire a tutor/nanny to do her learning, so we’ll be shelling out for care one way or another.
Funding it fully. One way or another I’m going to need childcare. Whether that is summer camps or a nanny or aftercare or whatever I’m certain there will be 5K of it. I tried to turn off my contributions this spring and luckily I was unsuccessful/lost interest because I’ve spent more on childcare this yearthan any year since my kid started school
No, but I have one 2nd grader. I doubt we'll use before/after care this school year and who knows come summer. I would rather pay OOP for summer camp the few weeks she may go. With my parents being local in another month, she'll probably spend a chunk of her summer at the beach with them with camps mixed in.
Our tax incentive isn't much at this stage in life. DH is thinking lasik, so I'm probably maxing our healthcare FSA next year.
ETA: I won’t do much medical as they’ve gotten annoyingly picky about the receipts I submit and I’m over it. I wish they weren’t so annoying about it. I’ll only do it in years we have a planned procedure with one or 2 big receipts now. I don’t know why this FSA company is such a bitch to work with. I’ve never had these issues before. (And I’m a CPA so I know my expenses are valid).
Post by cricketwife on Oct 23, 2020 9:29:14 GMT -5
May I ask a related question? I'm not sure my logic is correct. If you put in $5000, and let's say you're at a 20% tax rate, so your tax savings is $1000. Does that mean that you could not spend $1000 of what's in your account and still break even?
We fully funded ours, but it runs April 1- March 31 so we made all the elections right before everything shut down. I feel reasonably confident that we will be able to use our full allocations.
icedcoffee, off topic in the OP, but can you get a debit card from your FSA account and just use that to pay instead of submitting receipts for reimbursement? Making that switch has made my life sooo much easier.
We were having trouble with things like my FSA administrator refusing to reimburse for a pair of Rx eyeglasses for H that I ordered from Zenni or someplace online, because none of the receipts had the correct arrangement to their specification of H's name (as opposed to mine), the Rx, and all the other data. But come on. Rx eyeglasses! Not a questionable expense!
Nope! But my kids are now 14, 11, and almost 9. So we no longer have after school care and also will address summer differently next year (covid helped with that giving me a lot more flexibility and also my girls will be 12 and 15 next summer, they can certainly watch their 9.5 year old brother for a few hours when I have to go into my lab/office). Also, DH is in process to getting a civilian job that will most likely be mostly working from home so that will help too. If summer camps run next summer we will send the 12 year old to 2 weeks of overnight and probably a 2 week drama day camp and 9 year old to 1 week overnight and 1 week fly fishing day camp and probably 1 or 2 other weeks of specialty day camps. I know I could use the reimbursement accounts for those, but I think it’s still fairly likely they won’t run so it’s not worth the risk.
It’s so freeing not to have to think about paying for daycare!
icedcoffee , off topic in the OP, but can you get a debit card from your FSA account and just use that to pay instead of submitting receipts for reimbursement? Making that switch has made my life sooo much easier.
We were having trouble with things like my FSA administrator refusing to reimburse for a pair of Rx eyeglasses for H that I ordered from Zenni or someplace online, because none of the receipts had the correct arrangement to their specification of H's name (as opposed to mine), the Rx, and all the other data. But come on. Rx eyeglasses! Not a questionable expense!
No, my current employer hasn't set that up as an option. It's so annoying. I wish we could.
We will. Our daycare/preschool remained open throughout COVID and they are now helping to facilitate distance learning. Even if we only had one child in full-time preschool, we'd hit the $5k within a couple of months.