Flexible Spending Account - Coverage Period

Coverage Period

An FSA's coverage period ends either at the time the plan year ends for one's plan or at the time when one's coverage under that plan ends. An example of such an event is the loss of coverage due to a separation from the employer.

This means that if, for example, a person is employed by a company from January through June and covered on their cafeteria benefits plan (including FSA) during that time, but does not elect and pay for continued coverage under that plan (i.e., COBRA), the person's coverage period is defined only as January through June, not January through December as one might think. In this example, all covered expenses must be incurred between January and June of that year.