HSA withholding error - is it too late to do anything about it?

[neophyte]

The background is, for some reason, my employeer doesn't allow us to set our automatic HSA withholding high enough to hit the max.

I remembered earlier this month and called the benefits office to arrange to have an additional one time amount withheld from my paycheck this month in order to hit the max. It was put into the system that day. I received a call a couple days later confirming the details and then I was told my request had been processed and given a confirmation number.

I got my pay stub today and sure enough they didn't withhold it. It's only about $75 but still annoying. I'm going to try to call them tomorrow, but I'm not sure anyone will be working. Is there anything that can be done about this at this point? Or retroactively in 2019?

[bacchi]

Deposit it yourself as a 2018 contribution.

You'll pay the FICA tax but it'll still be income tax free.

[terran]

Deposit it yourself as a 2018 contribution.

You'll pay the FICA tax but it'll still be income tax free.

+1

Remember to enter it appropriately on form 8889 so you get the deduction.

[neophyte]

:(   I was hoping to avoid FICA too.  I guess lesson learned. I'll try to get this straightened out in November next year.

If I initiate a transfer today, but it doesn't go through until next year, is it still considered a 2018 contribution?

[terran]

You can make a contribution any time up until the tax filing deadline for the year to which you want the contribution to apply. Just make sure you indicate it's for 2018 when you make the contribution.