An account made up of funds deducted from an employee’s pretax earnings. This account can be used to pay for child care or medical costs not already covered by the plan. Any money left in the account at the year’s end is forfeited.

-An account that is often funded through a voluntary salary reduction agreement and allows the account holder and dependents to pay or be reimbursed for qualified out-of-pocket medical expenses with pre-tax dollars. FSAs allow $500 each year to be rolled over into an FSA for use in the following year. Beyond that limit FSA dollars are “use-it-or-lose-it” benefits, meaning that they are forfeited if not used for qualified expenses during the year.