José R. Rodriguez
Human Resources Dept.
800 E. Overland
Room 223
El Paso, Texas 79901
Phone (915) 546-2218
Fax (915) 546-8126
humanresources
@epcounty.com
County Benefits - Cafeteria/Section 125 Flex Plan
- Cafeteria Plan
- Cafeteria Plan (125)
- (Also called FLEX Plan)
- A Cafeteria Plan (authorized under IRS Code § 125) is a written benefit plan maintained by a company for the benefit of its employees. As a participant, you can pay your portion of certain nontaxable benefits with before-tax dollars by salary reduction rather than with after-tax dollars through payroll deductions. In other words, you can have your payment for qualified benefits deducted from your paycheck before your employer calculates your payroll taxes.
- FAQs
- What is the Cafeteria Plan?
- How does this plan work?
- What is the Unreimbursed Medical Expense account?
- How does Unreimbursed Medical Expense account work?
- What is the Dependent Care Reimbursement Account?
- How does the Dependent Care Reimbursement Account work?
- Important things you should know about the plan
- What is the Cafeteria Plan?
- It is a flexible employee benefit plan. It is a voluntary plan that allows you to pay for the following expenses before taxes:
- * Medical Insurance Premiums
- * Costs not covered by health plan (unreimbursed medical expenses)
- * Dependent Day Care
- back to top
- How the does this plan work?
- The plan reduces your taxable income by the cost of the benefits you choose. Thus, both social security and federal withholding taxes will be reduced, producing a net increase in take home pay.
- back to top
- What is the Unreimbursed Medical Expense account?
- This benefit allows for the pre-tax reimbursement of medical expenses that insurance does not pay. This account should be used by employees who have predictable expenses.
- back to top
- How does the Unreimbursed Medical Expense account work?
- Each time you have a medical expense, simply submit the claim to you insurance company as usual. When the insurance company processes the claim, an Explanation of Benefits (EOB) will be returned to you. Send to Butterworth & Macias ., a copy of the EOB and proof of payments for the portion the insurance carrier did not pay. Butterworth & Macias will process the receipts and send you a reimbursement check.
- back to top
- What is the Dependent Care Reimbursement Account?
- This benefit allows you to pay for child care expenses on a pre-tax basis. There is a child care tax credit available to the employee at the end of the year so it is important to compare the tax credit versus the Dependent Care Reimbursement account to determine which option is better for you-you can not do both. To aid you in determining which choice is best for you, we have provided a worksheet entitled "Dependent Care Estimation Worksheet."
- back to top
- How does the Dependent Care Reimbursement Account work?
- When you pay a dependent care expense, obtain a reciept with the dates of services, cost of services, the name of the dependent, and the provider of services. Send a copy of this reciept to Butterworth & Macias we will process the reciepts and send you a check.
- back to top
- Important things you should know about the plan:
- . Any money that you allocate for a reimbursement account must be used by the end of your plan year or that money will be forfeited back to your employer. That is the law! Thus, it is critical for you to accureately predict what your expenses will be, or be conservative in your allocations.
- . You may not change your choices until the plan year has ended unless there is a change in your family status (marriage, divorce, birth or adoption of a child, death of a spouse or child, beginning or ending of spouses employment.)
- back to top