Originally Posted by
eblend
Nothing really stops you, but you are not supposed to, since health spending account it tax free. Might get audited but highly unlikely. In reality it's hardly worth it. If your benefits already cover 90%, and you need to hit lesser of $2,352 or 3% of net income, unless you have a ton of expenses for the year, you won't hit that mark. All else being equal, you would need to spend $23,000 on health/dental in a 12 month period (doesn't have to be a calendar year) to get to a point where you can even start claiming anything. It really only makes a difference when you have low income or lots of expenses that aren't covered by benefits. Back when I got my laser eye surgery 13 years ago, I just started working downtown as a casual employee and didn't have any benefits. I paid $3000 out of pocket for the surgery but didn't claim it as I had no idea. A year later I realized it could be claimed and did a change to my return which netted me $600 in a refund. I was low income so it made a difference, but for a normal healthy person it takes a lot to get any benefit out of this.