8901 / What are the tax benefits that can be realized by providing employee benefits through a cafeteria plan?
As a general rule, a participant in a cafeteria plan is not treated as being in constructive receipt of taxable income solely because he or she has the opportunity – before a cash benefit becomes available – to elect among cash and “qualified” benefits (generally, nontaxable benefits).1A participant must elect the qualified benefits before the cash benefit becomes currently available in order to avoid taxation. That is, the election must be made before the specified period for which the benefit will be provided begins—generally, the plan year.2
A cafeteria plan may, but is not required to, provide default elections for one or more qualified benefits for new employees or for current employees who fail to timely elect between permitted taxable and qualified benefits.3
Benefits provided under a cafeteria plan through employer contributions to a health flexible spending arrangement (FSA) are not treated as qualified unless the plan provides that an employee may not elect to have salary reduction contributions in excess of $2,500 (this amount is indexed annually for inflation, see Q 8902) made to the FSA for any tax year.4 Under IRS Notice 2012-40: