For 2026, you can contribute up to $3,400 to a Health FSA and up to $7,500 to a Dependent Care FSA. Those are the IRS ceilings, and the FSA contribution limits for 2026 apply to what comes out of your paycheck on a pre-tax basis. Your employer can set a lower cap in its own plan, so the number on your enrollment form may be smaller than the federal maximum.
Health FSA Limit for 2026
The Health FSA salary reduction limit is $3,400 in 2026, up from $3,300 in 2025.1Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2025-32 The money comes out of your pay before federal income tax, Social Security tax, and Medicare tax are calculated, so every dollar you route through the account reduces your take-home pay by less than a dollar.
Health FSA funds cover medical, dental, and vision costs your insurance doesn’t pay. The $3,400 cap is per employee, not per family. If you and your spouse each have access to a Health FSA at work, you can each contribute up to $3,400, for a combined household total of $6,800.1Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2025-32 You can also use your own FSA to pay for a spouse’s eligible expenses even if your spouse doesn’t have an account.
Dependent Care FSA Limit for 2026
The Dependent Care FSA limit jumps to $7,500 per household for 2026, whether you file jointly or single. Married filing separately drops the cap to $3,750. This is a big shift. The limit had been frozen at $5,000 by statute for decades. Legislation signed in mid-2025 raised it to $7,500 for tax years beginning after December 31, 2025.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 129 – Dependent Care Assistance Programs The new number is not indexed to inflation, so it stays at $7,500 until Congress moves it again.
Dependent Care FSAs cover childcare, after-school programs, adult daycare, and similar expenses that let you (and your spouse, if you’re married) work or look for work.
One constraint catches people off guard: your contribution can’t exceed the earned income of either spouse. If one spouse earns $6,000 for the year, your household’s Dependent Care FSA is capped at $6,000, no matter what the federal ceiling says. A full-time student spouse is treated as having a minimum monthly income under the tax code for this calculation.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 129 – Dependent Care Assistance Programs
How the Limits Work for Married Couples
The two accounts treat couples differently, and confusing them is a common enrollment mistake.
Health FSA limits are per person. Each spouse can contribute up to $3,400 through their own employer’s plan. Filing status is irrelevant.
Dependent Care FSA limits are per household. The $7,500 ceiling is a combined number. If you contribute $5,000 through your employer’s plan, your spouse can put no more than $2,500 into theirs. Married filing separately splits the cap in half at $3,750 per person.2Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 26 USC 129 – Dependent Care Assistance Programs Couples who don’t compare elections before open enrollment sometimes overshoot the household cap and end up with a tax mess to untangle at filing time.
Your Employer May Set a Lower Cap
The IRS figures are the legal ceiling, not the floor. Employers routinely set their own limits below the federal maximums. A company might restrict Health FSA elections to $2,500 or hold its dependent care cap under $7,500. Reasons vary, from managing plan costs to meeting nondiscrimination testing requirements that keep the plan from tilting too heavily toward high earners.
The specific limits at your workplace, along with any carryover or grace period rules, live in your plan’s Summary Plan Description. Federal law requires your employer to furnish this document in language a typical participant can understand.3Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 29 USC 1022 – Summary Plan Description If you can’t find yours, HR or the benefits administrator has to provide a copy on request. Read it before you elect. That’s where you’ll find out whether your employer has set a sub-limit and whether unused funds carry over.
If You Have an HSA, Watch the FSA Type
A standard Health FSA disqualifies you from contributing to a Health Savings Account. The IRS treats a general-purpose Health FSA as “other health coverage” that conflicts with HSA eligibility.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 969 (2025) – Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans
A Limited-Purpose FSA is the workaround. It reimburses only dental and vision expenses, so the IRS considers it compatible with an HSA.4Internal Revenue Service. Publication 969 (2025) – Health Savings Accounts and Other Tax-Favored Health Plans The same $3,400 contribution limit applies. You can’t use both accounts to reimburse the same bill, but you can allocate different expenses between them. Not every employer offers a Limited-Purpose FSA, so confirm what’s available if you’re on a high-deductible plan with an HSA.
Carryover, Grace Period, and What Happens to Unused Money
How much to elect depends partly on what your plan does with money you don’t spend. Health FSAs follow a use-it-or-lose-it rule: whatever sits in the account at the end of the plan year is forfeited.5Internal Revenue Service. Modification of Use-or-Lose Rule for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements The IRS lets employers soften that with one of two options, but not both.
- Carryover. Your plan may let you roll up to $680 of unused Health FSA funds into the next plan year for 2026. Carried-over money doesn’t count against next year’s $3,400 election, so you could have access to as much as $4,080 in a single year.1Internal Revenue Service. Rev. Proc. 2025-32
- Grace period. Instead of a carryover, your plan may give you an extra two and a half months after the plan year ends to spend the balance. For a calendar-year plan, that runs through March 15. Anything unspent after the grace period is forfeited.5Internal Revenue Service. Modification of Use-or-Lose Rule for Health Flexible Spending Arrangements
Dependent Care FSAs are also use-it-or-lose-it, and the carryover option available to Health FSAs does not apply. Most plans allow a run-out period, typically about 90 days, to submit claims for expenses you already incurred during the plan year. A run-out lets you file paperwork for old expenses; it doesn’t let you incur new ones.
Check your plan documents before you set your election. Employees regularly forfeit balances they could have carried over or spent during a grace period, simply because they didn’t know the option existed.