@BillM223 wrote:
Actually, no, you can't make a prior year contribution to your old HSA.
The reason is that to make an HSA contribution for a prior year, you have to have had HDHP coverage in that prior year. You apparently did not have HDHP coverage in 2021.
The contribution applies to a tax year for which the contribution is intended; in this case, your contribution before April 18, 2022 for the prior year, would have bee deductible in tax year 2021. However, because you did not have HDHP coverage in tax year 2021, you cannot contribute to either HSA for 2021.
Your new HSA is considered established on the date that you first funded it (presumably in 2022). Had the gap been less than 18 months, then the start date of the new HSA would have been the start date of the old HSA. But 5+ years is too much of a gap. And since you did not have HDHP coverage in 2021, you can't make the contribution anyway.
The taxpayer did not ask to make a 2021 contribution to the new HSA, they want to make a lump sum 2022 contribution and then immediately withdraw it to reimburse themselves for a 2021 expense. And the taxpayer can do this because account #1 which was opened in 2014 is still open. There has been no gap in the existence of the HSA account. At worst, the taxpayer can use their 2022 eligibility to make a lump sum contribution to account #1 and then withdraw it to reimburse themself. However, I also believe that because account #1 has been open continuously, the taxpayer could contribute either to account #1 or account #2 and then withdraw to reimburse themself.
