WASHINGTON-Treasury and the Internal Revenue Services announced last week that withdrawals from health card flexible spending accounts are appropriate on over-the-counter medications. Treasury and IRS issued guidance clarifying that reimbursements for nonprescription drugs by an employer health plan are excluded from income and, therefore, acceptable for FSAs if properly substantiated by the employee. “Flexible Spending Accounts are an important tool in helping people meet their health care costs,” Treasury Secretary John Snow stated. “Since many prescription drugs have moved to the over-the-counter market, this action today makes paying for them a little bit easier to swallow.” “This action is a sensible expansion and simplification of the program consistent with existing law,” IRS Commissioner Mark W. Everson said.

Complete your profile to continue reading and get FREE access to CUTimes.com, part of your ALM digital membership.

Your access to unlimited CUTimes.com content isn’t changing.
Once you are an ALM digital member, you’ll receive:

  • Breaking credit union news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
  • Weekly Shared Accounts podcast featuring exclusive interviews with industry leaders
  • Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
  • Critical coverage of the commercial real estate and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, GlobeSt.com and ThinkAdvisor.com
NOT FOR REPRINT

© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.