There is no problem starting to administer a new FSA plan mid-fiscal year with Fast-Flex Plus. Just set up the new client as you normally would (enter employee data and plan fiscal year dates), then update withholdings for every pay day that has already occurred. You can either do this one-pay-day-at-a-time (Main Menu>Data Entry>Update Withholdings) or with one big year-to-date "special" withholding for each participating employee (Main Menu>Data Entry>Transaction File>Global; see page 58 in the manual under "Select Withholding/Gain if..." to add a "special" withholding).

It usually depends how far into the year you are which way you go. If you are well into the year, go for the single year-to-date withholding. If you choose to go with the single withholding for each flex-plan trust for each participant, always stop one payday short and then use the "Main Menu>Data Entry>Update Withholdings" option to post paycheck withholdings for the most recent payday. (Unless you do this, the software will not be able to calculate the total-year Medical funds available for reimbursement.)

Next, (and this is the slightly tricky part) request reimbursement(s) for all money that has already been paid to each employee. Use "Main Menu>Data Entry>Transaction File" to do this. The transaction type will be "Reimbursement Request". The dollar amount can be a year-to-date lump sum instead of individual reimbursement requests. Finally, for this special situation, be sure the Transaction Date you enter for the year-to-date reimbursement request is a "past" date, meaning yesterday or before. Please DO NOT default to the current date, this one time!

Note: Whenever you specify a date prior to today's date for a reimbursement request, the software will ask, "Was this request for reimbursement paid?" If you answer "YES", the computer will automatically create both the request for reimbursement and a corresponding "payment" transaction of equal dollar amount. This is what you want to happen as you are entering year-to-date "payment" transactions. Normally, "payment" transactions are only created, automatically, when you print checks, and there are both outstanding reimbursement requests and sufficient funds in the FSA trusts.

When you actually do print reimbursement paymrents (checks) for the first time with Fast-Flex Plus, be sure to specify the "Print checks beginning date" as the date when you started administering your FSA plan with Fast-Flex Plus, not the beginning date of the plan fiscal year. By doing this, you will not issue printed checks for requests that the prior administrator has already paid.