Debit Card Substantiation Requirements

FSA Debit Card Substantiation Requirements

All FSA Debit Card transactions must be substantiated, somehow, in order to confirm that all items paid for with pre-tax dollars are eligible for a tax break. Some of these transactions can be substantiated electronically, but others may require you to submit a paper claim and follow-up documentation to support your purchases.

Examples of Electronic Substantiation (no follow-up documentation required):

- Purchases that match a known co-pay amount for health, vision or dental plan you have selected through your employer (a known co-pay is a flat dollar amount in your employer's medical, dental, vision or pharmacy plan that you pay for things like office visits and prescriptions). If your insurance plan has co-insurance, or cost sharing, you can use the card to pay for these expenses, but you will be prompted to provide documentation to substantiate your purchase.

- Purchases that match any combination of up to five times a known co-pay amount for the health, vision or dental plan you have elected through your employer.

- Purchases that are made at a retail outlet with an Inventory Control System in place that restricts purchases with your pre-tax dollars to FSA eligible expenses.

- Recurring expenses at the same provider for the exact same dollar amount. If you have a recurring expense, you may provide follow up documentation to ASIFlex one time and ask that it be marked to your account as a recurring expense. This way, each time you swipe your card at the same provider, for the exact same dollar amount, follow up documenation will not be required.

You will be required to follow-up with substantiating documentation for all other purchases with your FSA Debit Card, including co-payments for your spouse's insurance plan. When you make a purchase that cannot be electronically substantiated, your FSA account will show up as being overpaid by that amount. When you submit the documentation to substantiate your purchase, your account will go back to normal. Click here to see follow-up documentation requirements.

Example 1: Tom goes to his dentist and pays $272 for his portion of the expense for a root canal with his FSA Debit Card. The purchase amount does not match a known co-pay, and it cannot be electronically substantiated. Two days after Tom makes the purchase, he receives an email from ASIFlex asking for supporting documentation to insure that his purchase was eligible for a tax break. Tom faxes his statement from his dentist, along with the email from ASIFlex, and his FSA goes back to normal.

Example 2: Tom goes to the local vision center store and purchases glasses that cost $145 for his child with his FSA Debit Card. Two days later, Tom receives an email from ASIFlex asking for supporting documentation to insure that the purchase was eligible for a tax break. Tom doesn't immediately follow-up with the documentation, thinking he will provide this information at the end of the month. However, Tom submits a claim for $25 in prescription medication he paid for with cash. ASIFlex processes the claim and his account shows up as being over-reimbursed by $120. At the end of the month, Tom submits the itemized statement from his vision provider along with the email he received from ASIFlex. ASIFlex processes the claim and issues a reimbursement for $25 (for the prescription medication he paid for with cash).