Dependent Care Assistance

[Guest afreeling]

If a participant enrolls in Dependent Care Assistance for their child Through their employer's S125 plan. They have contributed each pay period but has not submit any claims for the child's care yet. They then find out in the middle of the year that the child is not theirs. Because they technically do not have any qualifying individuals, can they retroactively de-enroll form the dependent care assistance plan?

[LRDG]

It would depend on if it's court ordered perternity(sp) or something similar, and other details before making a decision.

[J Simmons]

afreeling,

That's a curious situation. Whose child is it? How did this couple come to have a child they thought was theirs but turns out not to be? Is this an adoption that turned sour? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Guest Sieve]

A child is not the only person that dependent care assistance programs can cover. If the cafe plan provides, you can pay for dependent care for someone who is not related but who shares your household and meets other requirements (which this young child would meet, even if not the biological or adopted child of the employee). If this child met the requirements of such a "qualifying relative", then I don't see how retroactive revocation--even if allowed--would be permissible. And, why would this individual want to make a change retroactively, anyway, if there already were child care expenditures that just hadn't yet been reimbursed?

[LRDG]

It's true that adult dependent care is eligible, and dependent's by virtue of custodial parents are covered covered by DC assistance. However the post says 'child', so were'r not talking about a disabled adult, or anything but paternal dependent based on the info provided. If not I've misunderstood and would appreciate clarification.

if there already were child care expenditures that just hadn't yet been reimbursed?

None have been claimed based on the info provided.

Example: Summer day camp for school age children needing supervision for working parents during summer break from school, but that doesn't necesseraly apply to this situation. There would be deductions and funding of the DC FSA, but no reimbursement request until summer camp, June, July, August, for a calender plan year that would be the sixth through the eighth month of the plan year.

It appears the participant thought the dependent was "their child". They no longer believe this is "their child". There have been no reimbursement requests for expenses, only a request to amend the election based on the child who was thought to be a biological child, who is no longer thought to be so, based on the info provided.

Even if there were expenses reimbursed, it would likely be settled in court. Statistics indicate non-biological parents are raising children unaware they aren't the biological parent is estimated at 25% of the population. To put this simplistically, this has been going on for a long time. Think biblical terms.