Can Dependant Care FSA participants who have lost preschool and childcare services due to facility closures reduce their DCA elections or terminate altogether?

Yes. They can reduce or terminate their dependent care elections. Their childcare needs have changed.

However, we are also counseling our clients that as long as both parents are still working, even if they don’t have services they can claim from this time, they can still contribute to the plan and not change anything as long as they will at some point be able to claim their full election using dates outside of the shelter-in-place closures. Typically, this won’t be hard to do since childcare/preschool can be so expensive that participants can typically submit $5000 in claims using only 2-5 months in date ranges.

Contact Sterling for if you have questions.