FSA Funds for Family Members: Eligibility, Limits, and Claims

You can use FSA funds for family members well beyond yourself, but the rules split sharply between the two account types. A Health FSA reimburses medical costs for your spouse, your tax dependents, your children through the end of the year they turn 26, and qualifying relatives you support. A Dependent Care FSA is narrower: it covers care for your children under 13 and for a spouse or other dependent who can’t care for themselves, and only when the care lets you work. Getting the categories straight is the difference between a paid claim and a denied one.

Family Members Covered by a Health FSA

IRS Publication 969 lists four groups whose medical costs a Health FSA can reimburse:

Your spouse, automatically, with no additional test.
Anyone you actually claim as a dependent on your federal return.
Someone who would be your dependent except that they filed a joint return, earned too much gross income, or couldn’t be claimed because you’re claimed on someone else’s return. They still qualify for Health FSA reimbursement.
Your child through the end of the tax year in which they’re still 26. Living arrangement, student status, and whether they appear on your return don’t matter.¹

That last category is more generous than most employees realize. A 24-year-old adult child who lives in another state and files their own return can still have medical bills paid from your Health FSA.

Parents, Siblings, and Other Qualifying Relatives

An aging parent, a sibling, or another relative can also qualify if they meet the dependency tests under IRC Section 152. Three requirements matter:

Relationship or household. The person is related to you by blood, marriage, or adoption (parents, siblings, in-laws, aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews), or lives with you as a member of your household for the entire year.
Support. You provide more than half of their total financial support for the year, counting housing, food, clothing, medical care, and other necessities.
Citizenship. The person is a U.S. citizen, U.S. national, or resident of the United States, Canada, or Mexico.²

For Health FSA purposes, the gross income test that normally applies to qualifying relatives is waived. That’s a meaningful distinction. Under the general dependency rules, a qualifying relative must earn less than the exemption amount ($5,200 in 2026) to be claimed. For Health FSA reimbursement, that income cap doesn’t apply, so a parent earning more than $5,200 can still have medical expenses covered from your account as long as you provide over half their support.

Domestic Partners

An unmarried partner isn’t automatically covered. They qualify only if they meet the same qualifying-relative tests: living with you all year as a household member, receiving more than half their support from you, and meeting the citizenship rule. The gross income test is waived here too. A partner earning a full salary and splitting expenses with you generally won’t pass the support test, and their medical bills won’t be reimbursable.

Family Members Covered by a Dependent Care FSA

A Dependent Care FSA follows completely different rules. Funds can only pay for care that allows you (and your spouse, if married) to work or look for work. Qualifying individuals are:

Your child under age 13, whom you claim as a dependent. Once the child turns 13, they no longer qualify, even mid-year.
Your spouse who can’t care for themselves because of a physical or mental condition, if they live with you for more than half the year.
Another dependent (or someone who would be your dependent except for a joint-return filing or income above the threshold) who can’t care for themselves and lives with you for more than half the year.³

The care has to be employment-related. Hiring a sitter so you can go out to dinner doesn’t count. If your spouse is a full-time student or unable to provide self-care, you can still claim expenses as though the spouse were employed.

Divorced or Separated Parents

Custody changes the picture for a Dependent Care FSA. Only the custodial parent can use one for the child’s care. The custodial parent is the one with whom the child lived for the greater number of nights during the year; if the nights were equal, it’s the parent with the higher adjusted gross income. This rule holds even if the noncustodial parent claims the child as a dependent under a release of exemption. The noncustodial parent cannot use their Dependent Care FSA for that child.

Health FSAs work differently. If the child is under 27, either parent can reimburse the child’s medical expenses from their Health FSA regardless of custody, because the under-27 rule carries no dependency or residency requirement.¹

What Each Account Can Reimburse

Health FSA Expenses

A Health FSA covers most out-of-pocket medical, dental, and vision costs not paid by insurance: doctor visit copays, prescriptions, insulin, dental cleanings and fillings, braces, eyeglasses, contact lenses and supplies, laser eye surgery, and mental health services.⁴ Over-the-counter medicines and menstrual care products have been eligible without a prescription since 2020, including pain relievers, allergy medication, and first aid supplies.

Not reimbursable: health insurance premiums, long-term care insurance premiums, cosmetic surgery that doesn’t address a deformity or illness, teeth whitening, and any expense another plan already covers. Gym memberships and personal training don’t qualify unless prescribed for a specific diagnosed condition.

Dependent Care FSA Expenses

Eligible costs include daycare fees, in-home babysitter or nanny wages, before- and after-school programs, the care portion of au pair expenses, and preschool tuition. Day camp generally qualifies. Overnight and sleep-away camps do not, even if the camp runs during your working hours. Kindergarten tuition and beyond is considered education rather than care, so it isn’t eligible.

2026 Contribution Limits

For 2026, the maximum you can put into a Health FSA through salary reduction is $3,400, up from $3,300 in 2025. Your employer can add to that amount if the plan allows, though total contributions still can’t exceed plan limits.

The Dependent Care FSA changed more dramatically. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act raised the annual household cap from $5,000 to $7,500 for married couples filing jointly, and to $3,750 for married individuals filing separately. This is the first increase to the Dependent Care limit in roughly four decades. If both spouses work and you have young children, the extra $2,500 in pre-tax capacity is worth a fresh election calculation.

Filing a Claim for a Family Member

For a Health FSA claim, you need an itemized receipt or an Explanation of Benefits from your insurer showing the family member’s name, date of service, provider, a description of the service or item, and the amount charged. A credit card statement or cash-register total won’t satisfy the requirement.

For a Dependent Care FSA claim, you need the care provider’s name, address, and taxpayer identification number (a Social Security number for an individual, or an employer identification number for an organization). The same information goes on Form 2441 at tax time.³

Most administrators accept claims through an online portal or mobile app where you upload receipts and identify the family member. Many plans also issue FSA debit cards. Processing times vary, but many claims are paid within one to two business days by direct deposit.⁵

Tax Reporting for Dependent Care Benefits

Health FSA contributions and reimbursements generally require no additional tax forms; the pre-tax deductions reduce your taxable wages automatically on your W-2.

Dependent Care FSA benefits are different. Your employer reports the total dependent care benefits paid to you in Box 10 of your W-2. You then complete Part III of IRS Form 2441 to calculate how much can be excluded from income. Any excess above the allowable exclusion is added back to taxable wages on Form 1040. You also identify your care providers on Form 2441 with their taxpayer identification numbers. If you can’t supply correct provider information, the IRS can disallow both the exclusion and any related credit.⁶

Deadlines and the Use-It-or-Lose-It Rule

FSA funds don’t roll over indefinitely. Under the default rule, money left in your account at the end of the plan year is forfeited to your employer. This applies to both account types.

Your plan may offer one of two safety valves, though not both:

A grace period of up to two and a half months after the plan year ends to incur new expenses and spend the remaining balance. For a plan year ending December 31, the grace period extends through March 15.
A carryover of up to $680 of unused Health FSA funds into the next plan year. Anything above $680 is still forfeited. Dependent Care FSAs are not eligible for carryover.⁷

Employers aren’t required to offer either. Check your plan documents to see what applies to you. If you leave your job mid-year, unused Health FSA funds typically revert to the employer unless you elect COBRA continuation for the FSA. For a Dependent Care FSA, you can still submit claims for expenses incurred before your termination date, but new expenses after you leave aren’t reimbursable.

1
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 969 (2025), Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 U.S. Code 152 – Dependent Defined
3
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 503 (2025), Child and Dependent Care Expenses
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 502 (2025), Medical and Dental Expenses
5
FSAFEDS. FAQs
6
Internal Revenue Service. Instructions for Form 2441 (2025)
7
Internal Revenue Service. IRS Notice 2013-71 – Modification of Use-or-Lose Rule for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements