Yes, you can use an FSA for your child. A Health Care FSA reimburses your child’s medical, dental, and vision expenses through the end of the year they turn 26, and a Dependent Care FSA reimburses daycare, preschool, and similar work-related care costs for children under 13. Employers may offer one, the other, or both, and you can use them at the same time for different types of expenses. Because the money comes out of your paycheck before federal income tax and payroll taxes are withheld, every dollar goes further than if you paid the same bills with take-home pay.
The Two FSAs and What Each One Covers
Employers offer FSAs under a cafeteria plan authorized by the Internal Revenue Code. The two accounts follow separate parts of the tax code and cover different things.
A Health Care FSA reimburses out-of-pocket medical, dental, and vision costs for you, your spouse, and your children. Eligible expenses follow IRS Publication 502 and range from prescription medications to braces to home diagnostic equipment.
A Dependent Care FSA reimburses work-related care expenses that let you and your spouse work or look for work. That includes daycare, preschool, before- and after-school programs, and summer day camps.
A child’s dental bill would go through the Health Care FSA. That same child’s daycare tuition would go through the Dependent Care FSA. You elect each account separately during your employer’s open enrollment period.
Which of Your Children Qualify
Health Care FSA: Through Age 26
Your Health Care FSA covers medical expenses for your child through December 31 of the year they turn 26. It does not matter whether the child is a student, employed, or living on their own. The rule applies to biological children, stepchildren, and eligible foster children. The age-26 threshold comes from a provision added by the Affordable Care Act and is written directly into the tax code’s health plan reimbursement rules.
For children under 19 (or under 24 if a full-time student), the general dependent rules also require that the child share your home for more than half the year and not provide more than half of their own support. Temporary absences for school, medical treatment, or military service do not count against the residency requirement.
Dependent Care FSA: Under Age 13
The Dependent Care FSA has a stricter age cutoff. Your child must be under 13 at the time care is provided. The only exception is a child of any age who has a physical or mental disability that prevents self-care. The child must live in your home for more than half the year, and both you and your spouse must be working or actively looking for work. If one spouse is a full-time student or physically unable to care for themselves, that spouse is treated as having earned income for DCFSA purposes.
Eligible Medical Expenses for Your Child
The IRS defines Health Care FSA eligible expenses broadly. For children, the most common categories include:
- Dental care: cleanings, fillings, extractions, sealants, fluoride treatments, and X-rays. Orthodontic treatment, including braces, is fully eligible, and you can reimburse the cost across multiple plan years as payments are made.
- Vision care: prescription eyeglasses, contact lenses, eye exams, and laser eye surgery.
- Prescription medications, including asthma inhalers, insulin, and allergy medications.
- Over-the-counter medications such as pain relievers, allergy medicine, antacids, cold medicine, and first-aid supplies. Since the CARES Act took effect in 2020, no prescription is required.
- Home diagnostic equipment such as thermometers and blood pressure monitors.
- Speech therapy, occupational therapy, and psychological counseling when provided by a licensed practitioner for a medical condition.
Vitamins, supplements, and general wellness products remain ineligible unless a doctor prescribes them to treat a specific diagnosed condition. For dual-purpose items that could be used for either medical or cosmetic reasons, your FSA administrator will typically require a Letter of Medical Necessity from your child’s doctor before approving the claim.
Travel to your child’s medical appointments also counts. For 2026, you can claim 20.5 cents per mile driven for medical care, plus tolls and parking. Bus, taxi, and rideshare fares for trips primarily for your child’s medical care are reimbursable as well.
Eligible Dependent Care Expenses
The Dependent Care FSA covers care that lets you work, not education. That line matters because some programs blend both, and the IRS treats them differently.
Eligible: licensed daycare centers, in-home nannies or babysitters who are not your dependent, au pair care costs, preschool and nursery school below the kindergarten level, before- and after-school programs, and summer day camps, including specialty camps focused on sports or computers.
Not eligible: overnight camps, kindergarten tuition or higher-grade tuition, summer school, tutoring, food and clothing costs, and care provided by your spouse or by your own child under age 19.
The preschool-to-kindergarten line is important. Preschool and nursery school programs for children below kindergarten age qualify because the IRS treats them as care. Once a child enters kindergarten, the tuition itself is not reimbursable, but before- and after-school care for that kindergartner still qualifies.
If your caregiver is an individual rather than a daycare center, you will need their taxpayer identification number, either a Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number, to submit your claim and to report the payments on your tax return. Tax-exempt organizations like churches or schools are an exception; you can note “Tax-Exempt” in place of an identification number.
2026 Contribution Limits and the Forfeiture Rule
For the 2026 tax year, you can contribute up to $3,400 to a Health Care FSA through payroll deductions. This limit applies per employee. If both you and your spouse have access to a Health Care FSA through separate employers, each of you can contribute up to $3,400.
The Dependent Care FSA limit for 2026 is $7,500 per household if you are married filing jointly or a single parent, or $3,750 each if married filing separately. This increased limit was enacted by the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act and is a significant jump from the previous $5,000 cap that had been in place for decades.
FSA funds do not roll over indefinitely. Money left in your account at the end of the plan year is forfeited unless your employer has adopted one of two optional relief provisions:
- Carryover: your plan may let you carry over up to $680 of unused Health Care FSA funds into the next plan year. Carryover does not apply to Dependent Care FSAs.
- Grace period: your plan may give you an extra two months and 15 days after the plan year ends to spend remaining funds on eligible expenses incurred during that window.
Your employer can offer a carryover or a grace period, but not both. Some plans offer neither, and every unspent dollar is lost on the last day of the plan year. Check your plan documents or ask your benefits administrator which option, if any, applies. Because of the forfeiture risk, estimate your family’s expenses carefully during open enrollment rather than contributing the maximum by default.
Rules for Divorced or Separated Parents
When parents are divorced, separated, or living apart, only the custodial parent can use a Dependent Care FSA for that child’s care. The custodial parent is the one the child lived with for the greater number of nights during the year. If the number of nights was equal, the custodial parent is the one with the higher adjusted gross income.
Even if you are the noncustodial parent and claim the child as a dependent on your tax return under a Form 8332 release, that does not give you Dependent Care FSA eligibility. The overnight-stay test controls.
Health Care FSA rules are more flexible. Under the health reimbursement rules, a child of divorced or separated parents is treated as a dependent of both parents for purposes of medical expense reimbursement. Either parent can use a Health Care FSA to pay for the child’s medical expenses, regardless of custody arrangements.
Dependent Care FSA and the Child Care Tax Credit
You cannot use your Dependent Care FSA and the Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit for the same dollars of expense. Every dollar you run through your DCFSA reduces the maximum expenses you can claim for the credit dollar for dollar.
The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit allows you to claim up to $3,000 in care expenses for one child or $6,000 for two or more children. If you contribute $7,500 to your DCFSA for one child, you have already exceeded the $3,000 credit limit, so the tax credit is unavailable. If you have two or more children and contribute $7,500 to your DCFSA, the DCFSA contribution still exceeds the $6,000 credit ceiling, so the credit is unavailable in that case as well.
For most families, the DCFSA provides a larger tax benefit than the credit because FSA contributions avoid both income tax and payroll taxes. Lower-income families in a low tax bracket may come out ahead with the credit. Running the numbers both ways, or consulting a tax professional, before locking in your DCFSA election during open enrollment can save money.
How to Submit a Claim
Many Health Care FSA plans issue a debit card linked to your account, letting you pay at the pharmacy, doctor’s office, or optical shop without filing a separate claim. When the merchant is coded as a medical provider, the administrator can often auto-verify the purchase. For transactions that cannot be auto-verified, or when you paid out of pocket, you submit an itemized receipt or an Explanation of Benefits from your insurance company. Either document should show the patient’s name, the date of service, a description of the service or item, and the amount you owe after insurance.
Dependent care claims require a receipt or invoice from your care provider showing the provider’s name and address, the dates of service, the amount charged, and the name of the child who received care. You also need the provider’s taxpayer identification number. If the provider refuses to give you this information, you can still submit the claim by documenting your good-faith effort to obtain it.
Most administrators accept claims through an online portal or mobile app where you upload photos of receipts. Processing generally takes three to ten business days, after which the reimbursement is deposited into your bank account or mailed as a check. Because the money was contributed before taxes were applied, the reimbursement itself is not taxed again.
If You Pay a Nanny, You Still Owe Household Employer Taxes
Using your Dependent Care FSA to pay a nanny or in-home babysitter does not exempt you from household employer tax obligations. If you pay any single household employee $3,000 or more in cash wages during 2026, you are responsible for withholding and paying Social Security and Medicare taxes: 7.65 percent from the employee’s pay, plus a matching 7.65 percent from your own funds. You report these taxes on Schedule H when you file your annual return.
State unemployment insurance obligations may also apply and vary by jurisdiction. Paying the caregiver with pre-tax DCFSA dollars does not change the employment relationship or eliminate these tax responsibilities. Budget for the employer’s share of payroll taxes on top of the wages you plan to reimburse through your DCFSA, so tax time does not bring a surprise.