Health Savings Account Funding Questions

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KeenToRetire
Posts: 4
Joined: Fri Sep 08, 2023 9:57 am

Health Savings Account Funding Questions

Post by KeenToRetire »

Good Morning Bogleheads,

I have an HSA that I fund thru pre-tax deductions from my employer. When I retire before Medicare eligibility, I plan to continue with a high deductible plan that allows an HSA.

Questions:
1. How would contributions at that point work exactly? I presume that they would be made with after tax dollars since I would have no W2 income.
2. Would that post-tax contributions get intermingled with the pre-tax funds? If so, could that cause tax issues later if funds are withdrawn for non-medical expenses?
3. Would I be able to deduct the after tax contributions from my taxes?
4. Should I have a separate HSA account for after tax contributions to keep things simple?

Thank you,
-KeenToRetire
jebmke
Posts: 30412
Joined: Thu Apr 05, 2007 2:44 pm
Location: Delmarva Peninsula

Re: Health Savings Account Funding Questions

Post by jebmke »

If you make contributions with your own funds after retirement you complete form 8889 on your taxes and this will be deducted from your income. If all is done properly there are no after-tax vs. pre-tax dollars.

There really is no reason to have a separate account.
Don't trust me, look it up. https://www.irs.gov/forms-instructions-and-publications
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MP123
Posts: 4529
Joined: Thu Feb 16, 2017 2:32 pm

Re: Health Savings Account Funding Questions

Post by MP123 »

jebmke wrote: Tue Feb 04, 2025 9:11 am There really is no reason to have a separate account.
Agreed. There is no concept of "basis" in an HSA, as there is in an IRA with non-deductible contributions, so there's really nothing to separate.

Contributions that you make directly are deductible and those made through payroll reduce your W2 income. The only difference is that payroll contributions also avoid FICA taxes, but if you're retired you'll avoid those anyway.
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