A flexible spending account (FSA) allows employees to be reimbursed for medical or dependent care benefits from an account they set up with pretax dollars. The salary-reduction contributions aren’t included in taxable wages reported on Form W-2 Wage and Tax Statement and they are not eligible as tax deductions.

Under a typical FSA, you agree to a deduction from each paycheck. That deduction is deposited into a special account. As you incur expenses, you file for reimbursement from the account.

Since these salary reductions are contributions to the account and aren’t included in your taxable wages on your W-2, you don’t enter them as a deduction on your tax return. They may appear in Box 14 of the W-2 for informational purposes only (which you can verify with your employer).

When you run the program alerts under the review section, you’ll be reminded of these Box 14 entries. This is to make sure people are aware that the amount won’t go elsewhere in the return. If the amount doesn’t need to appear elsewhere in the return, you can safely ignore this alert.

If you need help reporting your Form W-2 in the TaxAct program, go to our Form W-2 - Entering in Program FAQ.