Q.- An employee asked if she can be reimbursed for housekeeping expenses from her dependent care FSA. Can she?
A.- To be eligible for reimbursement, an expense must be for the care of a qualifying individual. Expenses are for the care of a qualifying individual only if the main purpose of the expense is the person’s well-being and protection. If the person providing care to a qualifying person also provides minor household services for the qualifying individual, those amounts may be reimbursed. For example, if a housekeeper is doing minor household services while caring for a child, those services do not need to be separated out and can be paid as part of the child’s dependent care expense (i.e., if the caregiver is doing the child’s laundry, cleaning the child’s room or making the child dinner). The same would hold true if the housekeeper is performing minor household services for an adult dependent.
