Health FSA money is easy to ignore until it is gone. People elected a deduction in the fall, felt it in the paycheck, and then forgot the account. December 30 is when HR sends a panicked note. By then the eye-care appointment is booked into January and the balance forfeits. The useful send happens in November and the first week of December. This is a deadline campaign. It is not tax advice. Your administrator and your plan document decide the rule.
Treat the FSA like the rest of financial wellness communication: one dollar amount, one date, one action. Park the reminder on the year-round calendar so it is not invented on the last Friday of the year. If enrollment is still open when you are planning this, the open enrollment checklist is where you confirm the plan’s forfeiture rule before anyone writes copy. Guessing a grace period is how you create a bill you cannot undo.
Say the date, the balance, and one eligible line
Lead with the date the money must be incurred or submitted, using the words your plan actually uses. If you can segment, put the person’s remaining balance in the first sentence. “You have $214 left. Spend or submit it by December 31.” A generic “use your FSA” note gets archived. A balance gets a calendar hold.
If you cannot see balances, say that plainly and send people to the one screen or phone number where the balance is shown. Do not invent a balance. Do not say “most people have money left.” You do not know that.
Eligible items in one line. Glasses, contact lenses, prescribed sunscreen, and a list your administrator has approved. Link to the administrator’s eligible-expense list. One line in the message, the full list on the page. Where to spend: the on-site eye clinic, the pharmacy counter, or the reimbursement form, whichever is real for your plan. Name the cutoff time, including the time zone, if claims must be submitted by a clock time.
Grace period and carryover: confirm, then speak
Some health FSAs offer a grace period. Some offer a carryover. Some offer neither. The details are plan-specific and they change. Before you write either phrase, read the plan document or get the sentence from your administrator in writing. Then repeat that sentence. If you do not have it yet, say “check your plan’s year-end rule on this page” and link to the administrator. Leave the words “grace period” and “carryover” out until you can define them for this plan.
Dependent care FSA rules are different from health FSA rules. Do not blend them into one forfeiture note. If you run both, send two messages with two dates. People will mix the accounts if you do. A dependent who aged out, a job change, or a household that never submitted a receipt needs the account that matches the deduction on the pay stub.
Run-out periods for submitting receipts are a third date. If receipts can be filed after the plan year for expenses incurred before the deadline, say both dates. “Incurred by” and “submitted by” are the pair that prevents a forfeited balance with a shoebox of receipts. Put both dates in the November note and repeat them once in early December.
November and early December, on purpose
Send the first note in early November, while people can still book an appointment. Send the second in the first week of December to anyone who still has a balance, if you can segment. Suppress people at a zero balance so you do not train them to ignore you. A third note is optional, and only for balances above a threshold you choose with finance. December 30 is a missed campaign. It is a courtesy at best.
People who will not open the portal need a text. Use the rules in text message employee communication: consent, one action, a link. The text can say “Health FSA deadline is December 31. Your balance and eligible items are on this page.” Leave medical details out of the text. The page can require a login for the personal balance. The text itself should still make sense if it is read over someone’s shoulder.
Frontline shifts need the same dates on a break-room card with a QR code. A noon webinar about FSA strategy will miss the people most likely to forfeit a small balance they cannot see. Managers may say the date and point to the page. They should not advise what is eligible. Hand them the one-line list and the administrator’s phone number.
What to report
Report dollars used before the deadline and dollars forfeited, by location if you can, compared with last year. That is the outcome. Page views on the FSA article are a diagnostic. If forfeiture drops at headquarters and holds steady at the warehouses, you have a reach problem. Add the SMS and the QR before you rewrite the headline.
Share the result with finance in January, while the number is still real, and put next November’s two sends on the calendar the same day. The measurement guide is the pattern: one behavior, a baseline, and a note about what else changed. Copy for the two sends can start from the templates library. Have the administrator approve the dates before the first send. A wrong date is worse than a late one.
Key takeaways
- This is a deadline message. It is not tax advice.
- Lead with the date and, when you can, the person’s balance.
- Eligible items in one line. The full list lives on the administrator’s page.
- Confirm grace period or carryover in the plan document before you name either.
- Send in November and early December. Suppress zero balances if you can.
- Text the date and the link to people who will not open the portal.
Frequently asked questions
What if we cannot see individual balances?
Say the deadline and send people to the one place the balance is shown. Skip any sentence that implies you know what they have left. Segment later, when the administrator can give you a file. A fake personalized number destroys trust faster than a generic date.
Can we mention a grace period?
Only after you confirm that this plan has one, and only in the administrator’s words. Some plans have a carryover. Some have neither. If you are waiting on that answer, link to the plan rule and leave the label out of the subject line.
Is an FSA reminder tax advice?
No. Tell people the plan’s deadline, where to see a balance, and where to read eligible expenses. Questions about what they can deduct, or how a forfeiture shows up on a W-2, go to payroll and the administrator. Do not improvise from a blog post or a group chat.
Why not wait until the last week of December?
Appointments and shipping take time. A December 30 text catches people who already missed the window to incur the expense. November books the visit. Early December catches remaining balances. Keep the last-day note as a spare.
Put the forfeiture date on the calendar in November. Start with a balance, a date, and one place to spend.
Pairs strategic thinking with a drive to get it right every time. With 16+ years of experience — including a communication practice in Sydney, Australia — she specializes in simplifying complex benefit programs.
