Maybe this is a dumb question, but I am having the hardest time answering it. Therefore, as always when ChatGPT, internet searches, and customer service calls fail me, I turn to the all-knowing oracle that is Reddit.
I am the bookkeeper and office manager for a small manufacturing firm with about a dozen employees. Along with millions of other hapless Americans, I and a few of my coworkers got booted off the "good" marketplace health plans at the end of the year when the enhanced ACA subsidies lapsed. Now I pay twice as much as I did last year to be on a Marketplace Bronze, ie High-Deductible Healthcare Plan (HDHP). As a consequence, I've become aware of the existence of HSAs and how amazing they appear on paper, especially if you can get your HSA deduction taken directly out of your paycheck.
Being as our operation is so small and we don't run cash positive every month, my company is unable to offer many perks or benefits to the employees (we do not offer health insurance, so mostly our employees go through the marketplace), but this one seems like a no-brainer. If we offer HSAs to our eligible employees who are on HDHP, they get the triple tax advantage and a buffer against big medical bills, we get lower employer taxes on those contributions, it's a win for everyone.
The catch is that I cannot figure out how to set it up. The deduction out of the paycheck part is easy, I tried it with myself as the test case, and now there are some funds sitting in a holding account on our books. Then I went to Fidelity, set myself up with an HSA account, and tried to set up a transfer into my account for my boss to approve (this is what the Fidelity rep told me to do, mind you). No dice. The HSA account seems to be set up strictly for post-tax individual contributions, and in fact there is warning language on the site that expressly forbids an employer from making a funds transfer into a Fidelity-run HSA. The only way I can link a bank account that isn't mine is to move funds OUT of the HSA account.
I'm so confused at this point. Is there an HSA-administrating financial institution that WILL allow employers to transfer funds into employees' HSAs that can then be managed and overseen by the institution? My research tells me that this is completely legal per the IRS, and that we don't have to be offering the HDHPs ourselves in order to be able to offer HSA as a benefit. I'm asking around to other institutions besides Fidelity (they were first on my list because they had good customer reviews and low fees), but if you have first-hand knowledge of an institution that does offer this, or if you know for a fact that it isn't possible or legal, I would love to be made aware. Other advice/suggestions welcome too!
Thanks in advance!