Another FSA question - Amazon and reimbursements

Submitted by m4gpi t3_10024zn in personalfinance

I did look, so apologies for another FSA question. I need to finish the purchases today, and I’m the dummy who put it off.

I have a little money left to spend, and an FSA card that Amazon recognizes for those kinds of expenses. There are specific items I want, that I think they should be listed as FSA/HSA eligible (filters for a CPAP machine, for example) but they are not.

Similarly, I’d like a blood pressure monitor, but there are some models listed as eligible, and some that aren’t; the one I want isn’t eligible and the card rejects the purchase. Weird.

  1. is Amazon the true decider of what is eligible vs what isn’t? A personal bp monitor is a personal bp monitor, regardless of manufacturer, right?

  2. Assuming I make the purchase with a personal account and then request reimbursement, what happens if the item(s) exceed the remaining balance - will I get at least reimbursed to the balance, or only to the items that stay under? Ie if I purchase 101.00 (including sales tax) of items but only have 99.00 in the balance, will I be reimbursed 99, or something less, or not at all on a single receipt?

Happy new year all, thank you.

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Comments

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ahj3939 t1_j2f6a66 wrote

Amazon is unique the way they work because they sell so much stuff and anyone can go and list something for sale.

Labeled as "FSA Eligible" is really just within the vendor's internal system. If you tried to buy that item with FSA debit card it would not go through. For reimbursement it doesn't matter

All that matters is if the item really is FSA. Your FSA is going to check if the item is eligible per the IRS rules, they are not going to check if the seller marked the item as FSA or not. In fact the seller could make an error and your claim would be denied because the item does not qualify as FSA item.

For example I bought a BMW first aid kit for my car from a car parts store and then submitted reimbursement from my FSA without any problem.

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shadow_chance t1_j2f8cgc wrote

The IRS (and really Congress) are the authority. Amazon lists items as FSA eligible so their purchase system accepts FSA cards.

> will I be reimbursed 99

Should be $99. You should request this amount and not the $100. In my experience FSA providers are lazy/incompetent. I had one reject my LASIK claim even though I uploaded the bill from my doctor that had all the billing codes and amounts. However, the bill had a boilerplate box that said "Insurance pending: $0". They rejected it because this evidently meant that insurance may have been paying and you can't double dip.

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pancak3d t1_j2f1r74 wrote

I believe Amazon deeming certain items as HSA/FSA eligible is purely to allow you to directly use the HSA/FSA card. Amazon is absolutely not the authority on what does and does not qualify -- if you think an item qualifies you simply buy it with another payment method, save the receipt, and reimburse yourself from the account. I recommend doing this anyway as it allows you to take advantage of cashback credit cards. It also facilitates returns/refunds etc.

If you pay $101 for something and only have $99 in the account, you'll submit the entire expense, and be reimbursed $99. You could reimburse the remaining $2 later, if the FSA balance increases. Some FSA administrators will keep track of this for you and automatically send you a $2 check as soon as you're funded.

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m4gpi OP t1_j2f80ln wrote

Thank you for the reassurance. That all makes sense.

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