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Lendari · 06-02-2011, 07:07 PM

Hello Tilted people, it's been a long time since I've posted here, but I thought of a question and figured that this might be a good place to get a bunch of opinions.

I recently started work at a new company. They had this thing called an FSA account... at my old employer they has a similar thing called an HSA account and every year I contributed 1000$ to it and every year it grew by 1000$. I once took a deduction for a 200$ dental visit. When I left... they gave me the cash from the account minus the taxes and everything was peachy.

The money was there if I needed it, expenses from the account were tax-free and when I didn't use it, it rolled over to make a nice emergency fund.

So at the new employer i filled out the FSA form the same... contribute 1000$ per year. This was supposed to be my new emergency fund (for a health plan that has a 2000$ deductible *omg*). There's one difference between FSA and HSA that no one mentioned.

If you don't spend it, you loose it. Literally, the feds steal the money from you at the end of the year... and that is NOT fucking happening. So basically I have < 6 months to spend 1000$. I'm 25, and I have no foreseeable expenses.

So here's what I want to do. I want to buy 1000$ of medical stuff, stuff that is reimbursable with only a receipt (so nothing that needs a prescription or doctors order) preferably only a few items. Submit a claim against the FSA and then return the items (so has to be physical goods that are returnable, not services).

I'm trying to think of how to reasonably pull this off.

The best I can come up with is to go to the biggest Wal-Mart I can think of and buy 1000$ worth of condoms or douches or aspirin (or all 3

), but finding someplace to buy that much stuff (and return it) seems like it might be problematic (this would be like 300 boxes of condoms) and raise too many eyebrows.

I'm not worried about the claim... these items are reimbusable, it's more like im kinda worried the store wont let me purchase in that quantity, or let me return them (any retail managers out there wanna give me an idea how you would handle this if a customer was trying to do this?)

Anyway, I was maybe hoping someone out there has some other ideas for items to buy that are FSA reimbursable and also returnable.

If worst comes to worst though, the feds are not getting that money.

---------- Post added at 07:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:36 PM ----------

Hah I might have figured out an idea...

Can I return my Walmart.com purchase to a Walmart store?

All merchandise sold and shipped by Walmart.com may be returned to a store within 90 days of receiving it, unless otherwise noted in the Return Guidelines by Department chart below. For items sold by a Marketplace Retailer, contact the retailer directly.

06-02-2011, 07:07 PM	#1 (permalink)
Lendari Upright	Recovering Money from FSA Account Hello Tilted people, it's been a long time since I've posted here, but I thought of a question and figured that this might be a good place to get a bunch of opinions. I recently started work at a new company. They had this thing called an FSA account... at my old employer they has a similar thing called an HSA account and every year I contributed 1000$ to it and every year it grew by 1000$. I once took a deduction for a 200$ dental visit. When I left... they gave me the cash from the account minus the taxes and everything was peachy. The money was there if I needed it, expenses from the account were tax-free and when I didn't use it, it rolled over to make a nice emergency fund. So at the new employer i filled out the FSA form the same... contribute 1000$ per year. This was supposed to be my new emergency fund (for a health plan that has a 2000$ deductible omg). There's one difference between FSA and HSA that no one mentioned. If you don't spend it, you loose it. Literally, the feds steal the money from you at the end of the year... and that is NOT fucking happening. So basically I have < 6 months to spend 1000$. I'm 25, and I have no foreseeable expenses. So here's what I want to do. I want to buy 1000$ of medical stuff, stuff that is reimbursable with only a receipt (so nothing that needs a prescription or doctors order) preferably only a few items. Submit a claim against the FSA and then return the items (so has to be physical goods that are returnable, not services). I'm trying to think of how to reasonably pull this off. The best I can come up with is to go to the biggest Wal-Mart I can think of and buy 1000$ worth of condoms or douches or aspirin (or all 3 ), but finding someplace to buy that much stuff (and return it) seems like it might be problematic (this would be like 300 boxes of condoms) and raise too many eyebrows. I'm not worried about the claim... these items are reimbusable, it's more like im kinda worried the store wont let me purchase in that quantity, or let me return them (any retail managers out there wanna give me an idea how you would handle this if a customer was trying to do this?) Anyway, I was maybe hoping someone out there has some other ideas for items to buy that are FSA reimbursable and also returnable. If worst comes to worst though, the feds are not getting that money. ---------- Post added at 07:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 06:36 PM ---------- Hah I might have figured out an idea... Can I return my Walmart.com purchase to a Walmart store? All merchandise sold and shipped by Walmart.com may be returned to a store within 90 days of receiving it, unless otherwise noted in the Return Guidelines by Department chart below. For items sold by a Marketplace Retailer, contact the retailer directly. Last edited by Lendari; 06-02-2011 at 06:50 PM..