FSA on dependent care was too high

[TPApril]

Participant misinterpreted the dependent care cap and pledged $5,000 instead of $2,500. What are the options for the participant - can she stop future payments without a qualifying event and recover the excess that is not eligible?

[QDROphile]

Correction of mistakes is lore. I think the lore on this type of mistake is that is is not correctable unless the the plan limited the election to $2500, so it was also a mistake of the plan rather than a mistake of the individual's understanding of tax law. Certain types of mistake by an individual are correctable, such as an impossibility. An example would be an election for childcare when the individual had no children (don't start arguing about the pregnancy anticipatory elections). Other facts and conditions can be important, even for a type of erro that can be corrected. Lore is hard to pin down, but some of it rests on informal IRS represenative comments. I am not aware of any particular documented comment on your situation.