Tax-Advantaged Accounts: What You Need to Know for 2016
Sample plan documents and forms your co-op can use to adopt, amend, and offer CBA-administered tax-advantaged plans in 2016 are now available online. The open enrollment period for the 2016 plan year will be November 1–30.
To locate these documents, log into the Employee Benefits website and go to Co-op Insurance > Tax-Advantaged Accounts. Then go to the page you need:
Information on The 125 Plan and HRA Debit Card is also available here.
Deadline for returning documents to CBA is October 1
If your co-op is:
- adopting a new plan, the following documents must be sent: a completed Adoption Agreement, Payroll and Funding Form, and Administrative Services Agreement;
- amending its plan, a new Adoption Agreement must be sent;
- terminating a plan,this must be requested in writing;
- sponsoring a 125 plan, you must provide your 2016 payroll calendar;
- making changes to its HRA funding policy, you must return a completed Payroll and Funding Form by this deadline.
- Finally, if your co-op has new banking information for any plan, you must return a completed Payroll and Funding Form
New plan features in 2016
Two new items to note for the upcoming plan year:
- There is an increased participant contribution limit for health flexible spending accounts (health FSAs) and limited-use (LU) health FSAs, from $2,500 to $2,550. The total employer and participant contribution limit remains $5,000.
Action: If your co-op already offers a 125 plan with a health FSA and/or LU-health FSA, you will need to execute the plan amendment for this change, distribute a summary of material modifications (SMM) to participants, and execute a Board resolution if your co-op requires it.
- A deductible HRA option is available. The deductible HRA requires participants to spend a certain amount of their own money before being reimbursed from the HRA. This HRA reimburses only medical deductible.
Action: If your co-op wishes to convert its standard HRA to a deductible HRA, you will need to execute the plan amendment for this change, send a completed Deductible HRA Adoption Agreement to CBA, and distribute a summary of material modifications (SMM) to participants.
Resources for more information
In addition to sample documents and forms, the tax-advantaged accounts pages noted above contain other resources to help your co-op make decisions about offering these plans and the adoption process:
- On each page, look for checklists that will walk you through the adoption process.
- The 125 Plan – An Overview and The HRA Plan – An Overview (found under “2016 Forms – BAs”) provide details on each plan type and what options your co-op can offer.
- The Benefits Administrator’s Guide: Tax-Advantaged Accounts contains additional information about offering health FSAs, HRAs and HSAs.
A webinar on 2016 tax-advantaged plans will be held on September 15. Stay tuned to I&FS Weekly for details.
If you have questions about tax-advantaged accounts, contact CBA at 866.673.2299, option 1, then 4, or email cba.fsa.hra@nreca.coop.