Employees can use this account to pay for eligible dependent care expenses with pre-tax dollars up to $5,000 per family per year. The option is a replacement for the federal childcare tax credit. Each plan year employees elect the amount they will use pre-tax for dependent care expenses to be deducted in equal increments from their paycheck. The monies are held in a separate account for each employee until the employee submits an eligible dependent care expense claim. Unlike the Health Care Account, only the amount that has been deducted to date can be reimbursed to participants. Please review the Dependent Care Expenses to be certain of the eligibility of the desired reimbursement.

Important Notes:

• Dependent care benefits elected under a cafeteria plan offset the federal tax credit for dependent care allowable on their federal tax return.
• Both spouses must work or attend school full time to take advantage of this benefit.

Once you determine what your pre-tax elections will be for the year for Health Care reimbursement and Dependent Care reimbursement, you cannot change those elections unless you have one of the following Qualifying Life Events (QLE) occur:

• Birth
• Death
• Adoption
• Marriage
• Divorce
• Change in employment status of a spouse

Unless you have a QLE, you must wait until the next open enrollment period to make changes to your contribution amount. Also, understand that you need to use all the money each year that you set aside. If you do not use all the money by the end of the plan year, the money will be forfeited. So make sure you calculate your expenditures accurately so that you can get the most for your (tax-free) money!

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