IRS and US Treasury Issue Proposed Regulations for HSAs

While other tax-favored benefits provided by employers are subject to rules of non-discrimination between highly compensated employees and non highly compensated employees, HSAs are subject to rules stating employer pre-tax contributions to employee HSA accounts must be comparable.

The Department of Treasury said in a press release that regulations state that all employer contributions to employee HSAs must be the same amount or same percentage of the High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) deductible for employees within the same category (single or family) of health plan coverage.

The proposed regulations also address issues such as what to do if an employee has not established an HSA at the time an employer funds employee HSAs, and steps that can be taken if contributions are determined to not be comparable.

The regulations provide an exception to comparability rules for employer HSA contributions made through cafeteria plans.

The proposed regulations are  here .