Dependent Care Accounts

AudreyHpbrn · November 2011

Do you have one and do you like it? Thinking about enrolling this benefit cycle for it but I keep going back and forth.

Thoughts and opinions please.

OxAMYxO · November 2011

It makes sense, tax wise, but I feel like it's not a HUGE benefit. Kind of a PITA every two weeks to claim the reimbursment.. eh, it's probably worth it though!

shannie21 · November 2011

I did it for the first time this past year, and put a VERY small amt in it since I wasn't sure how it would work, so it takes like months before I build up enough to even send in a receipt to be reimbursed...so it's just so so for me. I did it through my work, so you have to fax everything in and it takes them forever to send you a check. I'm going to look into how it's done via DH's work for this next year as we will probably be putting in enough to cover what it's going to cost us to put the boys in a summer program since our DCP is retiring at the end of the year.

njh514 · November 2011

We do it and while it makes great sense tax wise, it has a way of being a huge PITA through my employer. It's easier through my husband's employer. The only difference is that through mine it's a seperate deposit at the end of the 3rd week of the month. For him it's the same deposit as his paycheck so there's an extra week we go "without" an income. We do the full $5K per year and always have.

brynners · November 2011

We do it and have no problems. We can submit claims every two weeks, but since we pay monthly, we just submit claims monthly. I take out the full amount I know we'll pay in daycare. DH's limit maxes out at $5K, so I pick up the rest through my work.

robynlynn83 · November 2011

I do it through work and do the full $5000 each year (duh, obviously with four kids) and it's beneficial for us, easy to do, etc.

kim_and_tony · November 2011

Considering we go throught the $5000 within the first four months of the year, we do it. My work uses ADP and it really is pretty convienient. However, I only submit claims probably six times a year, so it isn't a PITA trying to get money back all of the time.

SB&J · November 2011

Whatever tax bracket you're in = you will be "saving" that much by doing this. We have done it since we have worked at an employer that offers it. I can't see any reason not to. Thankfully submitting the expenses to ours is easy, you can do it whenever you want with a paper form that you fax over. Then they just reimburse you on your paycheck.

I always wish we could do WAYYY more, since we burn through it very early in the year. But every bit helps, why not.

NebraskaBride06 · November 2011

We do it. Like PP, mine is super simple to submit claims so it's a no-brainer. I've done it 2 years now and this year I'm about a month short since we switched daycares earlier this year. But still totally worth my time. I submit a claim once a month.

cubluebride · November 2011

SB&J:

Whatever tax bracket you're in = you will be "saving" that much by doing this. We have done it since we have worked at an employer that offers it. I can't see any reason not to. Thankfully submitting the expenses to ours is easy, you can do it whenever you want with a paper form that you fax over. Then they just reimburse you on your paycheck.

I always wish we could do WAYYY more, since we burn through it very early in the year. But every bit helps, why not.

THIS!! Why wouldn't you want to have the tax savings on money you know you are going to spend.

Also, I think $5K is the max per family. So we can't contribute $5K to my company's flex and $5K to DH's company flex.

By the way, I think this amount is significantly lower than it should be. The tax code needs to catch up with reality. We go through this amount in the first 1/3 of the year, and we only have one kid.

::stepping off my soapbox now::

katie00224 · November 2011

Since C was due in May, and we weren't 100% sure of how long I would take for maternity leave or how much daycare would cost we put $2500 into DH's DCA account.

Above all for us, it's nice to just have the $$ set aside since for some reason it seems like you're not actually paying for dc when the reimbursement comes. Not sure if this even makes sense, it's more of a mental thing for me.

DH's is super easy, we fill out a form, DC lady signs it, fax it in and they auto reimburse until the account runs out. The funds don't have to accumulate before we use them which also is a huge perk.

For 2012, DH and I will split the cost between each of our DCA's.

Dependent Care Accounts

Re: Dependent Care Accounts

Choose Another Board

Search Boards