The Internal Revenue Service said companies that promote using tax-free HSA and FSA funds for food and fitness items may be misleading consumers.
Fitness equipment and healthy smoothies are just some of the items purchased with tax-free dollars that are now being questioned by the IRS. For years, Americans have been using tax-free dollars from health savings accounts to cover a wide variety of health and wellness items, including eyeglasses, tampons, massage devices, acupuncture and even fitness equipment deemed medically necessary by a doctor.
The agency says that unless consumers meet strict criteria, they can’t use funds from their HSA and FSA accounts to pay for things that promote their “general health and wellness.”Calley Means, a co-founder of Truemed, a company that helps people obtain letters of medical necessity to purchase items with HSA funds, said that the IRS is on shaky legal ground and overstepping into the relationship between patients and their doctors.
The IRS spokesman said that some products, such as fitness trackers, might qualify as a medical expense if a person with a medical condition is advised by their doctor to purchase it. But only in “rare” circumstances can things like food or supplements be considered a medical expense, the spokesman said.To qualify as a medical expense, supplements must be “recommended by a medical practitioner” as treatment for a specific medical condition.
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