8830 / What rules govern employer contributions to employee HSAs? Must an employer who offers HSAs to its employees contribute the same amount for each employee?
“Comparable contributions” for this purpose are contributions that either are the same amount or the same percentage of the annual deductible limit under a high deductible health plan (HDHP).3 “Comparable participating employees” include all employees who are in the same category of employee and have the same category of coverage.
Category of employee refers to full-time employees, part-time employees, and former employees.4 Category of coverage refers to self-only coverage and family-type coverage. Family coverage may be subcategorized as self plus one, self plus two, and self plus three or more. Subcategories of family coverage may be tested separately, but an employer may not contribute less to a category of family coverage with more covered persons than to another category with fewer covered persons.5
For years beginning in 2007 and thereafter, participating highly compensated employees may not be treated as comparable to non-highly compensated employees.6