Leveraging Tax Day

Tax Day in the U.S. is fast approaching. April 15 is a national touchpoint that creates an opportunity to promote the multiple tax advantages of a Health Savings Account (HSA).

HSAs make sense

When coupled with a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP), an HSA provides participants many advantages.* These include:

● Affordability. HDHPs have lower premiums and higher out-of-pocket costs. HSAs make these plans work.
● Flexibility. Participants have control over how they spend their HSA dollars on a variety of healthcare expenses such as deductibles, vision, and alternative medicine.
● Portability. People own their HSA, allowing them to keep their savings when they change jobs or retire.
● Value. Employees can build equity because an HSA acts as a long-term savings vehicle. (Even more so if employers contribute to participants’ HSAs.)
● Deductability. HSAs allow participants to save pre-tax dollars on healthcare expenses, reducing their taxable income which results in tax savings.

*Depending on individual circumstances and changes in tax laws, there could be limitations on and disadvantages to contributing to an HSA. Employers should encourage participants to consult a qualified financial advisor about the potential impact of participating.

HSAs make cents (and dollars).

HSAs include additional advantages than are not commonly understood. Participants can benefit from these three and more:

1. There is an April 15th loophole that allows participants to retroactively fund the previous year’s HSA after they know their qualifying expenses from the previous year.
2. Adult children who ARE covered under a parent’s health plan AND who are NOT claimed as a dependent on a parent’s tax return, can fund their own HSA.
3. Qualifying expenses can be reimbursed years after they’re incurred, not just in the year in which they occur. And HSA qualifying expenses are defined more broadly than an insurance company’s⏤ranging from aspirin to acupuncture (with a receipt). These HSA reimbursements are not taxed, unlike withdrawals from a 401(k), making HSAs potential rainy-day accounts.

April 15th frames your messaging.

Tax season creates a timely opportunity to remind participants of the tax advantages that a health saving account offers. Below are a few ideas to help get you started.

● Use tax season as a natural segue to a discussion of the tax benefits of an HSA, piggybacking your internal marketing efforts on other media messaging about tax deadlines.
● Remind potential participants that they have until April 15 of the current year to fund HSA dollars that can be used for qualified expenses incurred the previous year.
● Focus on a one or two-week campaign leading up to April 15th for maximum impact, but don’t limit your efforts to educate employees about the often overlooked value of this benefit all year long.

Smith can help.

Need more ideas or help executing the ideas above? Contact Smith Communication Partners; employee communication is what we do.