Job changes

What happens to your FSA when you leave a job

Quitting does not usually refund an FSA, and it does not usually let you keep spending it either. What happens depends on three dates: when coverage ends, what you incurred before it ended, and how long the plan lets you submit.

Open the FSA deadline checker

Last reviewed October 2026. General information for out-of-network therapists, not legal or billing advice. Payer rules change — confirm with the payer before you bill.

Try the free check first. It runs entirely in your browser, takes about three minutes, and never uploads client data.

Run a free check

Coverage ends, but the money does not come back

A health FSA is funded by salary reduction, and the election generally cannot be changed during the plan year. When your employment ends, your coverage under the plan generally ends on your last day of employment (or the end of that month, if the plan says so). From that date you cannot incur new eligible expenses.

What you already contributed does not become cash. The balance can only be used for expenses incurred while you were covered — plus, in most plans, expenses incurred before coverage ended that you submit afterwards during the run-out period.

Uniform coverage cuts both ways

Health FSAs are subject to the uniform coverage rule: your full annual election is available from the first day of the plan year, even though the money comes out of your pay over the year. If you leave in March having elected the full amount, you may already have had access to more than you contributed.

That is why an employer cannot simply refund your contributions when you leave, and why the leftover balance is forfeited rather than paid out.

The run-out period still applies to expenses you already had

A run-out period lets you submit claims after the plan year ends — and, in most plans, after your coverage ends — for expenses incurred while you were covered. It is the one part of the FSA that survives a resignation without any election on your part.

It is often roughly 60–90 days after the plan-year end in practice — common practice, not an IRS rule, so check your SPD. The IRS sets no default, so the only reliable answer is in the plan document or from the FSA administrator. Ask in writing, and ask what happens to claims submitted after the run-out closes.

Note the order of operations: the run-out decides which claims get paid, and a carryover is calculated after it ends. If your plan has a carryover, an expense incurred before your coverage ended and submitted during the run-out still draws down the balance.

COBRA for a health FSA is limited, and usually not worth it

A health FSA is a group health plan, so COBRA continuation can apply, but the obligation is limited. Under 26 CFR 54.4980B-2 Q&A-8, a plan generally only has to offer COBRA for a health FSA when the benefit still available for the rest of the plan year is more than the premium it could charge for that period (your remaining contributions plus up to a 2% administrative charge).

In practice, COBRA tends to be required only when a large unused balance is still available compared with the premium you would pay for the rest of the year. When it is offered, you pay the premium with after-tax money.

If it is offered, decide on the numbers: what is left, the monthly premium, and how much care you expect before the year ends.

Dependent care FSAs behave differently

A dependent care FSA is not a group health plan, so COBRA does not apply to it. Coverage ends with employment, and there is no carryover — the carryover rule is health-FSA only. A grace period, if the plan offers one, may still let you incur expenses after the plan year ends.

The dependent care limit for plan years beginning in 2026 is $7,500 ($3,750 if married filing separately), and it is not inflation-indexed. Because contributions are usually spread over the year, leaving mid-year often leaves a gap between what you contributed and what you can still claim.

What survives a resignation, in one table

The three things people ask about are the spend deadline, the claims window and the balance itself. They behave differently, which is why the answer to "do I lose it?" depends on which one you mean.

What	After your last day	What decides it
New expenses	Not reimbursable	The coverage end date in the plan document
Expenses already incurred	Still reimbursable	The plan’s run-out period and the claims deadline
Unused balance	Forfeited, not paid out	The plan rules and whether a carryover applies
COBRA for the health FSA	Only if the plan has to offer it	26 CFR 54.4980B-2 Q&A-8
COBRA for a dependent care FSA	Not available	It is not a group health plan

What to do in the first week after you resign

Five practical steps, in order:

Get the coverage end date in writing from HR — it decides which sessions are eligible.
Ask for the run-out deadline and the claims address or portal, and ask whether the deadline survives your departure.
Collect compliant superbills for every session up to the coverage end date, including the ones you have not submitted yet.
Submit everything before the run-out closes; a late claim is not paid even if the expense was eligible.
If you are offered COBRA for the health FSA, compare the premium with the remaining balance and your expected expenses before you decide.

Keep the documentation clean

A claim submitted during a run-out window is reviewed like any other: it needs the date of service, a description of the service, the person who received it, the provider and the amount. A credit-card slip or a "balance forward" statement usually is not enough on its own.

That is the part Superbill is for: it turns a year of sessions into superbills that carry all five fields plus the CPT and ICD-10 codes, in your browser, before the run-out window closes. General information only — your plan document and administrator decide what is eligible. If you are also billing an insurer, confirm with the payer separately.

What the free check catches

CPT vs. session length (90832 = 16–37 min, 90834 = 38–52, 90837 = 53+, nothing under 16)
Telehealth POS 02 / 10 vs. POS 11, and modifier 95 pairing
Diagnosis pointers A–D that don’t resolve to a code on the client
NPI format and check digit, TIN, member ID, units, signatures
DOS age against the 60 / 90 day timely-filing warnings