Form 2441 DCFSA - Plan Year vs. Tax Year

[Tempor]

Hi - I'm trying to fill out Part III of Form 2441 and I'm getting confused on questions asking about what happened in certain years (2020, 2021, etc).

Is the form referring to the Tax Year? Or my FSA Plan Year? My FSA plan year is from July -> June, so the 2021 FSA plan year isn't even done yet (it ends in June of '22).

For example, Line 12 asks for the amount of dependent care benefits I "received in 2021". Is this Tax Year 2021 (which includes half of Plan Year 2020 and 2021)? Or is this Plan Year 2021 (which is still accumulating here in 2022)?

Line 13 asks how much I "carried over from 2020 and used in 2021". Since my Plan Year 2020 went until June 2021, is that what they mean by "carryover"? Just the amount of the Plan Year that was used in 2020 vs 2021 (all the same Plan Year)?

Line 14 asks for the amount I "forfeited or carried forward to 2022" and I'm not sure what to put here either. My Plan Year 2022 hasn't even started yet, but I do have some funds to use here in 2022 that's from my Plan Year 2021 (which is still active)... so I'm not sure if that's what they mean by "carryover".

I really wish my employer didn't have this offset Plan Year...

[BillM223]

Unless otherwise specified, "year" on IRS forms means the year of your tax return, which for almost all taxpayers is the calendar year (a very few individual taxpayers have fiscal year returns).

"2020" refers to a plan year ending in calendar year 2020, and likewise, "2021" refers to a plan year ending in calendar year  2021. So a plan year for 2021 could start from January 2, 2020 to January 1, 2021 and end from January 1, 2021 and December 31, 2021.

[Tempor]

Thanks @BillM223 - I guess I have a followup question then:

I was hired in Aug 2020 and immediately took part in the company's DCFSA, which was Plan Year 2020 (the 2019 FSA Plan Year ended June 2020). Box 10 of my W-2 for that year showed the Dependent Care benefits I had contributed from my hire date, Aug '20 to EOY '20.

From what you're saying, it sounds like that was an error? According to your reply, Box 10 (and therefore Line 12 in Part III of 2441) should be for a Plan Year that ended in 2020, which would've been my employer's Plan Year 2019 (which is prior to my employment)...

[BillM223]

What's important is that box 10 on your 2020 W-2 counted for the calendar year 2020 tax return, as do any expenses that were spent and reimbursed in calendar year 2020.

When asked, you had no carryover from 2020 used in 2021, because you hadn't made any contributions to your FSA on the 2020 plan (as you noted).