Pre-tax balance transfer file specifications

Pre-Tax Balance Transfer Overview

Pre-Tax Balance Transfer files are used to move any remaining balances from FSA, LPFSA, Parking, and Transit accounts managed by your previous administrator into Forma. This transfer usually takes place after the run-out period for your prior plan year has ended.

Based on the information in the file, Forma will allocate the correct balances to each employee’s account(s), making those funds available for use in their Forma accounts.

Important Notes:

• FSA and LPFSA balance transfer limits are subject to IRS regulations and may vary annually.
• It is the employer’s responsibility to ensure the correct account type is reflected in the transfer file.
  • Example: If an employee held an FSA balance but is now enrolled in an HSA for the current plan year, the balance should be designated as LPFSA on the transfer file to ensure compliance.
• Please send pre-tax files to Forma in the following order:

1. 1. 1. Demographics
      2. Elections
      3. Balance transfer

Employee records on the Balance Transfer file must have existing Demographic and Election records in Forma. If not, the record will fail.

Instructions

• Use the Pre-tax Balance Transfer Contributions File template in the File Integration Guide on page 20 to create the file (Only for FSA, LPFSA, Parking, and Transit)
  • An employee can have more than one record on this file if they are transferring balances from multiple plans (ex: FSA and Parking)
• Process the completed file in one of the following ways:
  1. Upload to the pre-tax/contributions SFTP folder.
  2. Log in to Forma Admin and upload the file under File Manager > Upload Production File > Pre-tax Contributions. For more information about File Manager, see Forma Admin: File Manager Guide - Production Files
  3. Securely email the file to [e-mail].

SFTP folder to process files

Upload balance transfer files to the pretax/contributions SFTP folder.

Process balance transfer files after the demographics and elections files have been processed to avoid errors.

File Naming

• Test files: YYYYMMDD_testrollover.csv 
• Finalized, production files: YYYYMMDD_rollover.csv
  (Where “YYYYMMDD” is the date you upload the file to Forma Admin)

File Template

Forma can only accept comma delimited (.csv) files.

Files must be valid UTF-8 encoded.

Review the Pre-tax Balance Transfer Contributions File section of the File Integration Guide pages 20-21 for a file template and data specifications.

FAQs

• Can I change the order of the columns? Yes, as long as the column name is correct and mandatory fields are included
• Can I include fields/data not outlined in the file specifications? Additional fields/data will not cause processing errors. However, Forma will not store the additional information in the system so it cannot be used for reporting.
• Can I exclude optional columns? Yes. You can choose to exclude the entire optional column or keep the column and leave the data fields blank if not applicable.