What does FSA mean?

FSA stands for Flexible Spending Account. An FSA allows you to voluntarily set aside a portion of your paycheck to pay for approved health care expenses. The money you put in your FSA is deducted from your paycheck before taxes are taken out, which means that you'll have less income to report at tax time and more money in your pocket. If FSA funds are not used by March 15 of the year following contribution, the funds are forfeited and cannot be rolled-over to the next year or refunded.

How do I know which products are FSA-qualified?

Qualifying items online are marked with an FSA symbol to make them instantly recognizable. In stores, your receipt at checkout will clearly identify qualified products with an "H" to the right of the item code (UPC), as well as provide a subtotal of the FSA-eligible purchases.

Our systems are designed to recognize qualified items based on eligibility requirements in IRS guidelines. When a FSA debit card is used to purchase items, only items that meet the requirements will be debited from the FSA. Non-eligible items must be paid for with another form of payment.

Program eligibilities vary, and only your plan administrator can tell you which products and services qualify.

New Restrictions: Beginning Saturday, January 1, 2011, purchases of many over-the-counter medications will only be eligible for pre-tax healthcare account reimbursement when they are purchased with a prescription. Read details here (PDF 138kb), or visit the IRS website for more information.

How do I pay for eligible health care items with my FSA funds?

When you shop online at Walmart.com, you´ll email or print out and submit the purchase confirmation page to your FSA account administrator for reimbursement.

When shopping in-store at your local Walmart, you´ll have two options:

• Use an FSA debit card supplied by your health insurer, and the cost of your eligible health care purchases will automatically be deducted from your account. There is no need to submit any receipts.
• If you don't have an FSA debit card, save your receipts, which will identify the FSA-eligible items with an "H" to the right of the item code (UPC). Submit the receipts to your insurer for reimbursement.

What is the Walmart item validation / substantiation program?

Participating FSA Processors Cards and an eligible item list are maintained within the Walmart system.

When a participating card is presented for payment, Walmart´s cash registers will only charge the FSA card for the eligible items. Non-eligible items will require payment with cash, check or another form of payment.*

* FSA cards may not have been accepted at your Walmart or Sam´s Club for a specific purchase because the item(s) being purchased was not FSA-eligible.

It's also possible that the specific FSA program in which you are enrolled does not participate in Walmart's FSA item validation program. Please be aware that there are many FSA processors and not all of them have signed an agreement to participate.

To use an FSA card, inform your TPA or insurance administrator that you would like them to participate in Walmart's FSA item validation program.

There will occasionally be instances in which your specific FSA administrator may not have entered into an agreement with Walmart stores, but your card can still be accepted. In this situation, your FSA administrator may be limiting your purchases to the co-pay amount or multiples of the co-pay amounts. The transaction can also be declined if you do not have a prescription on file in the Walmart Pharmacy system.

In any situation where you are not able to use your FSA card, contact your benefits administrator for help.