Submitted by Ronaldo0720 t3_10q1nqk in personalfinance

Hello,

So i switch to a new employer and canceled my previous company HSA and cllsed the account. They sent me a HSA check but it's made under my name. So i can't just mail it to the new HSA administrator health equity. I made a mistake in not choosing check payable to health equity. What do i need to so in this case?

Can i deposit it in my bank account and then send money to health equity? Thank you

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nkyguy1988 t1_j6n9jkm wrote

Did you tell them the money is for a 60 day rollover? If it's a transfer, as you know it's not payable correctly. Doing a 60 day rollover shouldn't be an issue.

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Ronaldo0720 OP t1_j6nambq wrote

I just went online to payflex and closed the account and requested a check. I didn't know that i had to ask for a check payable to new HSA administrator so they just sent it to me.

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sciguyCO t1_j6n9urs wrote

>Can i deposit it in my bank account and then send money to health equity? Thank you

Yes. Two things to be aware of:

  1. You have 60 days to complete this "indirect rollover". Take longer than that and the withdrawal will be counted as a distribution, triggering tax/penalty if you don't have sufficient medical expenses to balance against it.
  2. When doing the deposit, your new HSA should allow you to mark it as a "rollover deposit" (or some similar term). This would cause this deposit to not count towards your annual contribution limit. And being reported as that allows you to align this rollover deposit with the withdrawal from your old HSA.

Your new HSA may allow you to do that rollover deposit online with an electronic fund transfer.

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Ronaldo0720 OP t1_j6nagnh wrote

Thank you so much for this info. I posted below options for health equity to rollover. Should i just pick option 3 then ?

Option 1 — Check I have included a check for the amount of the distribution from another HSA. Please make check payable to HealthEquity. When you provide a check as payment, you authorize HealthEquity to either use the information from your check to make a one-time, Back Office Conversion (BOC), electronic fund transfer from your account if eligible, or to process the payment as a check transaction. Funds processed via BOC may be withdrawn from your account as soon as the same day your payment is received.

Option 2 — Use verified EFT account already on file associated to my HSA. Please provide last 4 of account number .* Note: Account must be verified for contributions in order for HealthEquity to pull the funds via EFT.

Option 3 — One-time electronic funds transfer (EFT). (Form must be accompanied by a copy of a voided or an actual check)

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sciguyCO t1_j6nbwyc wrote

Those just appear to be your options for moving money into the HSA. Whether that deposit gets marked as a rollover or a regular contribution would be a different selection. Unless you've already told HealthEquity you're doing a rollover and that was the next step?

Long-term, having a verified bank account "linked" with your HSA is handy, which appears to be option 2. That simplifies your ability to get money into / out of the HSA as needed. Usually you provide your checking account info, the HSA does a "test" deposit / withdrawal (sometimes multiples) of some small amount. Once those transactions shows up at your bank you come back to the HSA and provide the amount they sent to confirm all the info was correct.

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Ronaldo0720 OP t1_j6ncqav wrote

Those are the options to select to rollover the HSA. I think option 2 makes sense. That means they pull the money from my bank account instead of me actually sending them as option 3 says.

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DeluxeXL t1_j6ndr9t wrote

If you didn't write the check, don't assume it can be converted to ACH debit entry. It's safer to deposit the check and have the HSA debit your bank account.

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sciguyCO t1_j6nf1lw wrote

Exactly. It's a bit more preparation you'd have to do now (setting up that link before you can complete the rollover), but that'll keep your bank information on record for future use.

There is one other limitation I forgot to mention. The IRS only allows you to do one indirect HSA rollover every twelve months. So if you happen to need to do another rollover before January 2024, you'd have to make sure that future one is done as a "direct" transfer between the HSA providers. I think that twelve month period is based on the date of the withdrawal from the sending HSA, but I'm not 100% sure.

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Ronaldo0720 OP t1_j6ngv52 wrote

Thank you guys for your help. Much appreciated!

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Asgardian_Force_User t1_j6neael wrote

Do you intend to invest this money? I ask because you could just open a retail HSA at Fidelity and put the money there.

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Ronaldo0720 OP t1_j6ngz39 wrote

No i don't intend to invest it. Just keep it there for any Helath care uses.

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Asgardian_Force_User t1_j6nrj64 wrote

Well, you could always go to your local bank, deposit the money in your checking account, and then initiate a transfer to your new HSA via their portal. As long as it is done within 60 days from the distribution you’re good.

I would also tell you to consider opening a personal HSA at Fidelity. It has no fees, if you change jobs in the future you can always just roll the company HSA balance to the Fidelity HSA, you can invest the money inside, and if you need to use it for medical expenses, you can always withdraw the cash.

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Ronaldo0720 OP t1_j6o732h wrote

Thank you for your advice. Sounds like the only option to do.

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