Understanding HSA rollovers

Rolling over your HSA when you change jobs — also known as an HSA transfer — can help you continue to build your balance and get closer to your investment goals, while helping minimize fees.

Did you know that your Health Savings Account, or HSA, is portable — as in, it can go with you from job to job? Portability is a key benefit of an HSA versus some other kinds of health accounts, such as a Health Flexible Spending Account (FSA). Learn more about the basics of HSAs. The money you put into your HSA is yours to keep and to use towards eligible expenses, both now and into retirement as long as there are funds in the account — so why not take it with you when you start a new job? This article will cover some of the key reasons why you’d want to roll over your HSA, and how to make that happen.

The advantages of rolling over your HSA from a previous employer:

1. Simplicity: By consolidating your HSAs into one account, you don’t have to keep track of balances in multiple accounts, and you won’t have multiple sets of tax documents after the rollover year. It’s also simpler to track expenses and balances with one account, one debit card, and one mobile app.
2. Fees: If you have an HSA from a prior employer, or your current employer’s prior HSA provider, you may be responsible for paying the monthly administration fee and possibly other fees through a deduction from your HSA. These fees can reduce your account balance over time. By rolling over your HSA funds to the provider your employer currently works with, there’s a good chance the admin fee is being covered by your employer.
3. No closure due to inactivity: If your HSA is still with a previous employer (or your current employer’s previous HSA provider), and there’s no account activity on the account for a certain amount of time, and/or the account balance drops below a certain threshold, the previous provider may close the HSA.
4. Ability to meet investment thresholds: One of the advantages of an HSA is that it can give you the option to invest the assets in the account once it reaches a certain balance. If you have multiple HSAs with different HSA providers, you may not have enough money in any of them to reach that investment threshold. By consolidating your HSA assets in one account, your account balance may be high enough to give you the option if you wish to start investing.
5. Maintain employer support: If you have any issues with an HSA provider that your current employer doesn’t work with, you may have to handle those issues directly with the HSA provider, without any employer support.
6. Keep pre-tax contributions via payroll deductions: If you continue contributing to your old HSA, you must do it via direct, post-tax payments to the previous provider, rather than via pre-tax payroll deductions. This means rather than getting the income tax advantages upfront as contributions are made through payroll, you’ll need to take the HSA deductions when you file your taxes.
    

Your HSA rollover options:

How your HSA is rolled over to a new provider is driven by the policies and procedures of the HSA provider currently holding your funds, and whether or not your current employer is facilitating the transfer.

• If your current employer is facilitating a transfer, they typically will have a window of time in which you’ll either give electronic consent to roll over your funds or you’ll complete a transfer form that your employer will forward to their previous HSA provider.
• If you are rolling funds over from a prior employer, or you missed your current employer’s window to roll over funds from their previous provider through their employer-assisted process, you will need to complete a form. The form may be provided by the provider holding the funds, or you may be required to fill out a form from the new provider and send it to the other provider.

To find out how you can roll over an HSA you have with a prior employer, reach out to the provider holding the funds. To find out how you can roll over an HSA from a provider your current employer used previously, contact your employer or that provider.

If you’d like to roll over an HSA from a previous provider to your Voya HSA, complete an HSA rollover form and send it to the previous provider. You can also call Voya Customer Service at (833) 232-4673 for assistance.