After a Qualifying Life Event (QLE), employees have a set amount of time to make changes to their current pre-tax enrollment status. The change process requires informing the Plan Administrator and completing a new Election Form/Salary Reduction Agreement within 30 days after the occurrence (or within 60 days after the occurrence in the case of a special enrollment right due to loss of eligibility for Medicaid or state children's health insurance program coverage, or eligibility for a state premium assistance subsidy from a Medicaid plan or through a state children's health insurance program with respect to coverage under the Health Plan).
For most QLEs, the effective date will be the first day of the month after the qualifying life event took place.
Example: Robert had an FSA with an annual election of $1,500. He got married in February of the same plan year and chose to increase his FSA election to $2,000. The effective date of the new FSA election (with the amount of $2,000) would be March 1.
Note:
The only exception is childbirth. The effective date of the new enrollment can be dated back to the date of birth rather than the first of the following month.