FLEXIBLE BENEFITS PLAN

GENESEE VALLEY BOCES
(585)344-7616

Cafeteria Plans/Flexible Spending Accounts are voluntary plans established by your employer that allow you to select various employee benefits which will be paid on a pre-tax basis.

Pre-Tax Premium Plan

This is a vehicle in which employee contributions for group insurance premiums can be deducted before taxes are calculated.  As a result, taxable earnings are reduced so employees pay less tax on earnings and receive more take home pay.  Group sponsored health, dental, vision, and term-life plans are all appropriate candidates for pre-tax premium treatment.

Flexible Spending Accounts

Health Care Reimbursement Plan
Dependent Care Reimbursement Plan

A Health Care Reimbursement Plan refers to a medical spending account that employees can use to pay for medical expenses that are not reimbursed through insurance or any other arrangement.  Insurance co-pays, deductibles, eyeglasses, and orthodontia and certain over-the-counter medications are common examples of healthcare expenses covered by this account. (Note: Healthcare Reimbursement Accounts are not allowed to reimburse insurance premiums.) 

A Dependent Care Reimbursement Plan is used to reimburse for employment-related childcare expenses that allow the employee and his or her spouse to be “gainfully employed.”  Typical dependent care expenses are those incurred to have a babysitter or day-care provider take care of an employee’s child (under the age of 13) while Mom and Dad are both working, or to take care of a spouse or other tax dependent who lives with the employee and is incapable of self-care.

The Health Care Reimbursement and Dependent Care Reimbursement Plans will allow you to pay for the above mentioned expenses with dollars set aside from your paycheck prior to taxes being taken out.  By redirecting a portion of your salary to a flexible spending account you pay for these items through a reimbursement method before the government takes taxes out of your paycheck.