Wellness Med Care

HSA / FSA tax savings estimator

Money routed through an HSA or FSA skips federal income tax, and usually payroll tax too. This estimates what that is worth at your bracket.

2026 limits: HSA $4,400 self-only / $8,750 family (+$1,000 if 55+). Health FSA $3,400.
The rate on your last dollar of income, not your average rate.
Payroll contributions also skip the 7.65% FICA tax.

An estimate, in your browser. Nothing about your finances is sent or stored.

What the estimate includes

Contributions avoid federal income tax at your marginal rate. Contributions made through payroll - which covers all FSA contributions and most workplace HSA contributions - also avoid the 7.65% Social Security and Medicare payroll tax. Direct HSA contributions made outside payroll still get the income tax deduction but not the payroll tax break - the arithmetic difference between the two routes is exactly the FICA line this estimator shows.

The estimate deliberately leaves out:

  • State income tax, which most states also waive but a couple do not for HSAs - check yours
  • Investment growth in an HSA, which compounds untaxed and is the larger prize over decades
  • Bracket effects if the deduction itself drops you into a lower bracket

A rule many account holders do not know

HSA rules set no deadline for reimbursing yourself: a qualified expense paid out of pocket today can be reimbursed from the account, tax-free, in any future year, as long as the receipt exists. Some account holders use that rule to leave the balance invested and compounding untaxed for years. Whether that fits your finances is a question for a tax professional - what is certain is that the rule only works with receipts kept permanently.

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