Document in, deadline out
FSA forfeiture calculator
Your pay stub carries both halves of this: the per-check FSA deduction and the year-to-date total. Put the election and what you have spent against it here and you get the number that matters — how much disappears, and on exactly which day.
Runs in your browser. Estimates only — check your plan documents for the governing rules.
Your account
2026 limit: $3,400.
In your summary plan description. A plan can offer carryover or a grace period, never both.
Most are December 31, but non-calendar plan years are common.
Federal + FICA + state, for the pre-tax comparison.
On pace to forfeit
$820
Spend by December 31, 2026 — 133 days left. Replacing that $820 out of pocket takes about $1,171 of gross pay, because the FSA dollars were never taxed.
Where the money stands
| Annual election | $2,400 |
| Claimed so far | -$900 |
| Remaining balance | $1,500 |
| Protected by carryover (max $680) | $680 |
| At risk on the deadline | $820 |
Read this before December
- ▲Carrying $680 into 2027 keeps you covered by a general-purpose health FSA, which is disqualifying coverage for HSA contributions. Spending to a $0 balance by December 31, 2026 — or having the carryover moved to a limited-purpose FSA — is what preserves the $4,400/$8,750 HSA contribution.
Spend it on something that counts
A leftover balance goes further on care you were going to need anyway — an eye exam and a year of contacts, dental work, a spare pair of prescription glasses, a hearing aid, or a stocked medicine cabinet. Sunscreen, menstrual products and over-the-counter medicine all qualify without a prescription.
The carryover trap, in one line
A carryover looks like the safe option — the money follows you into next year instead of vanishing. But a general-purpose health FSA balance is disqualifying coverage, so carrying $680 forward can cost you the entire $4,400 self-only or $8,750 family HSA contribution next year. Zeroing the balance by the plan year end, or asking whether the employer converts carryovers into a limited-purpose FSA, is the fix.
Questions people ask about this
How much of an FSA can carry over to next year?
For a 2026 health FSA plan year, up to $680 can carry into the 2027 plan year — but only if your employer chose the carryover option. An employer may instead offer a grace period of up to 2.5 months, or neither, and it cannot offer both carryover and a grace period on the same health FSA. Dependent care FSAs can never carry money over.
Can an FSA balance really block my HSA?
Yes, and this is the expensive one. Being covered by a general-purpose health FSA is disqualifying coverage for HSA contributions. If a balance carries into the next plan year, that coverage continues and you cannot contribute to an HSA while it lasts. Spending the account to a $0 balance by the end of the plan year, or having the employer route the carryover into a limited-purpose FSA, is what preserves HSA eligibility.
What is the difference between a grace period and a run-out period?
A grace period extends the time to incur new expenses, usually to March 15. A run-out period only extends the time to submit claims for expenses already incurred during the plan year. Plans routinely have a run-out period and no grace period, which is why people think they have until March and then find out the spending deadline was December 31.
What are the 2026 FSA limits?
The 2026 health FSA salary reduction limit is $3,400 with a $680 maximum carryover. The dependent care FSA limit rose to $7,500 per household for 2026 ($3,750 if married filing separately), up from $5,000.
Is forfeited FSA money just a lost dollar?
It is worse than a lost dollar. FSA money was withheld pre-tax, so to replace $500 of forfeited balance you would have to earn roughly $650 before federal tax, FICA and state tax. That is why a December spend-down on genuinely needed care is usually worth the trouble.
Let the stub fill this in
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