If you have a flexible spending account through work, there's a decent chance a chunk of your own money is sitting in it right now, quietly running out of time.
Unlike a savings account, an FSA is a use-it-or-lose-it arrangement.
Miss the deadline, and whatever's left typically goes back to your employer.
The catch is that "the deadline" isn't one single date.
It depends on your specific plan, and the rules shifted again for 2026.
Most people assume December 31 is the hard stop for every account.
Many employers offer either a grace period, which pushes your spending window into mid-March, or a carryover, which lets a limited amount roll into next year.
Some plans offer neither, and a few offer both.
You have to check your own paperwork or portal to know which one applies to you.
The carryover limit for 2026 sits at $680, up from $640 last year.
That's per person, and it only matters if your employer adopted the carryover option.
If your plan uses a grace period instead, you generally get until March 15 to spend down the prior year's balance.
These two features don't stack in most plans, so don't assume you get both.
The average account holder forfeits somewhere in the low hundreds of dollars a year, according to benefits industry surveys, and that's real money that already came out of your paycheck.
You elected the amount months ago, pre-tax, and now you have to convert it into eligible purchases or watch it evaporate.
Prescription glasses and contacts, dental work, therapy sessions, hearing aids, certain bandages and first-aid supplies, menstrual products, sunscreen with SPF, and most over-the-counter medicines now qualify without a prescription.
That last category opened up a few years back and still catches people off guard.
You can't just swipe your FSA card at the register for everything.
Some items need a prescription or a letter of medical necessity, and some retailers require you to run the purchase through a separate eligibility check at checkout.
If you wait until the final week, you may not have time to sort out documentation.
A few practical moves worth making this month.
Log into your FSA portal and look at your exact balance and deadline.
Then price out what you'd actually use: a new pair of glasses, a dental cleaning, a stockpile of eligible basics.
If you're close to the line, a single eye exam and frames can burn through several hundred dollars fast.
If you're married and both of you have FSAs, you each have your own separate limit and your own separate deadline.
And if you're staring at a balance you genuinely can't spend, ask your HR team whether your plan allows a run-out period, which is a short window after the plan year ends to submit claims for expenses you already incurred.
It won't save unspent money, but it can rescue receipts you forgot to file. **The bottom line:** an FSA is a bet you make on your own future medical spending, and the house keeps whatever you don't use.
Check your deadline today, spend with a plan, and treat the carryover limit as a cushion, not a strategy.
Final Thoughts
Free money it is not, but losing it is entirely avoidable.