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Can I Reimburse 2018 Eligible Expenses with 2019 HSA Contributions?

Published July 8, 2022

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Short answer: Yes—2019 HSA contributions can be used to reimburse 2018 eligible medical expenses if they were incurred after your HSA was established.

Reimbursing 2018 expenses with 2019 contributions

One common question people have about their Health Savings Account (HSA) is whether they can reimburse 2018 eligible expenses with their 2019 HSA contributions. The answer to this question is yes, you can indeed reimburse 2018 eligible expenses with your 2019 HSA contributions. Let’s break it down further:

When you incur a medical expense that is considered eligible for HSA reimbursement, you can access those funds at any time, even if the expenses were from a prior year, as long as they were incurred after your HSA was established. This means that if you had eligible medical expenses in 2018, but did not withdraw funds from your HSA to cover them, you can use your 2019 HSA contributions to reimburse those expenses.

It's important to keep proper documentation of your eligible medical expenses, such as receipts and Explanation of Benefits (EOB) statements, to support your reimbursement claims. This will help you stay organized and ensure that you are accurately using your HSA funds.

Many people often wonder if they can use their newer HSA contributions to reimburse older medical expenses, such as those incurred in 2018. The good news is that the answer is yes! You can absolutely reimburse your 2018 eligible expenses using the funds from your 2019 HSA contributions.

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