fsas are offered as an individual employee benefit so each member of a married couple can have his or her own fsa account assuming one is available to each separately at work. fsas allow employees to set aside salary tax-free to pay for health-care expenses not covered by insurance for themselves and their dependents. that includes deductibles co-pays and co-insurance for medical and dental care. fsa limits as of today there's no maximum contribution set for health fsas; it's left up to your employer to set one and many employers do establish a maximum says anne waidmann a director of human resource services for price waterhouse cooper. a $5 000 cap on contributions is most common. that means you and your spouse may currently be able to contribute $5 000 each for a total of $10 000. but health reform will usher in some changes for these tax-free accounts. starting in 2013 for example the maximum contribution an employee can make to an fsa will be $2 500. "if an employee and spouse are both employed and earn more than $2 500 each they can each contribute that amount to their fsas for a total of $5 000 " waidmann says. until that change takes effect however check with your employer to find out what the maximum contribution is for 2011 and 2012. . for a list of medical expenses covered by an fsa you can check the irs's website.
can both married spouses have flexible spending accounts? does their combined contribution need to be under $5 000?