Health Savings Account Answer Book, Eighth Edition

Health Savings Account Answer Book answers every HSA question...clarifies every HSA issue...in a format that's quick and easy to use. It tells you virtually everything you have to know to profit from HSAs - from how they work, what they offer participants, and how they can benefit employers to helping you determine how well they will fit your company or clients.

In quick-access, Q&A format, the Answer Book:

• Cuts through the hype and current confusion surrounding HSAs
• Helps you accurately weigh all their pros and cons
• Gives you the facts you need to make sound decisions...avoid pitfalls...answer employee challenges...and deal effectively with healthcare vendors

Health Savings Account Answer Book answers more than 600 key questions on all aspects of HSA establishment, administration, and compliance - including rules and penalties, medical coverage, contributions and deductions, distributions, rollovers and transfers, fiduciaries, filing requirements, and more. For example…

• What are the advantages HSAs offer over the other consumer-driven health plans?
• When is the deadline for making annual contributions?
• When is a mid-year enrollee treated as being HSA eligible for the entire year?
• How are rollovers from an HRA and FSA made?
• How are the tax-free qualified funding transfers to an HSA from an IRA or Roth IRA treated?
• What are the advantages to an employer of allowing employees to contribute to an HSA on a pretax basis through a cafeteria plan?
• How does an employer make accelerated HSA contributions?
• What happens if an employee fails to establish an HSA?

Health Savings Account Answer Book, Eighth Edition, offers the practitioner in-depth analysis of the full range of issues concerning these plans. Highlights include:

• Discussion of the changes made in January 2012 to IRS model Forms 5305-B (trust version) and 5305-C (custodial version) for establishing an HAS
• Discussion of the prohibition on lifetime and annual limits on essential benefits under an HDHP
• Discussion of the objective factors that may indicate that an otherwise personal expense (e.g., gym fees) is for medical care and thus may be paid from an HSA on a tax-free basis
• Discussion of the proposed possible approach to calculating the actuarial value of employer HSA contributions for purposes of the refundable premium tax credit provisions for a group health plan and for employer payments under the shared responsibility provisions when full-time employees of certain large employers receive a premium tax credit
• Coverage of the HSAcontribution limits for domestic partners
• Discussion of the rules relating to the “commingling” of HSA assets
• Discussion of the Federal Reserve’s debit card interchange transaction fee restrictions and prohibitions against payment card network exclusivity arrangements and how the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act applies to debit cards used with HSAs
• Explanation of the guidance in Notice 2010-59 regarding changes to the rules for reimbursement of expenses for over-the-counter medicine and drugs after 2010
• Coverage of the guidance regardingthe 20 percent additional tax on distributions made after 2010 that are not used for qualified medical expenses
• Explanation of the potentially different tax treatment that may apply to distributions for medical expenses incurred by adult dependents

• Overview of HSAs
  • HSA/HDHP Providers
  • Other Defined Contribution Health Care Arrangements
  • Regulation
  • Advantages and Disadvantages
  • Future of HSAs
• General HSA Rules
  • Eligible Individual for Establishing an HSA
  • Establishment and Effective Dates
  • Divorced Parents
  • Qualified Medical Expenses
  • Dependents
  • Advantages and Disadvantages of HSAs
• Medical Coverage and Insurance
  • HDHP Requirements
  • Plan Deductible
  • Limitation on Benefits
  • Family Coverage vs. Self-Only Coverage
  • Other Health Plan Coverage
  • Miscellaneous Issues
• Contributions and Deductions
  • Making HSA Contributions
  • Eligibility for HSA Contributions
  • Other Employee Health Plans
  • Cafeteria Plan Grace Period Rules
  • Interaction Between HSAs and Health FSAs
  • Contribution Limitations
  • Catch-Up Contributions
  • Computing Annual Contributions
  • Special Computation Rules for Married Individuals
  • Deductions for Individual Contributions
  • Employer Contributions in General
  • Employer Responsibility
  • Exclusion and Deductibility of Employer Contributions
  • Timing of Contributions
  • Excess Contributions
  • Employer Contributions and ERISA
  • Comparability of Employer Contributions
  • IRS Reporting by Individuals
  • Partnership Considerations
  • S Corporation Considerations
• HSA Rollovers and Transfers
  • Rollovers and Transfers from IRAs and HSAs
  • Qualified HSA Funding Distributions (IRA to HSA)
  • Qualified HSA Distributions (One-Time HRA and FSA Transfers to an HSA)
• Distributions
  • Taxation of HSA Distributions
  • Restrictions on Distributions
  • Medical Care Paid from an HSA
  • Medicine and Drugs
  • Distributions Used for Long-Term Care Insurance
  • Premiums
  • Deemed Distributions Due to Prohibited Transactions
  • Transactions with Service Providers
  • Other Prohibited Transaction Exemptions
  • The 10 Percent Additional Tax
  • Returning Distributions Mistakenly Made Death Distributions to Designated Beneficiaries
  • Income Tax Withholding on HSA Distributions
• Administration and Compliance
  • HSA Documents
  • Permissible Investments
  • Account Fees
  • Trustees and Custodians
  • Reports
  • Form Filing Requirements
• Federal and State Laws Affecting HSAs
  • ERISA
  • HIPAA Privacy
  • Medicare Part D
  • State Benefit Mandates
  • State Tax Consequences
  • Davis-Bacon Act
  • USA Patriot Act
  • Securities Law
  • Use of Electronic Media
  • Creditor Protection
• APPENDIX A - Extracts from Relevant Code Sections
• APPENDIX B - IRS Notices
• APPENDIX C - IRS Announcements
• APPENDIX D - IRS Revenue Rulings
• APPENDIX E - Department of Labor Releases
• APPENDIXF - Annual HSA Limitations
• APPENDIX G - How Health Savings Accounts Compare to Health Flexible Spending Arrangements (FSAs) and Health Reimbursement Arrangements (HRAs)
• TABLES
• INDEX