Are Vitamins HSA Eligible and Tax-Free? How to Know

Are vitamins HSA eligible? Often they are. 

Some companies allow you to purchase preventive supplements and services, including vitamins and other qualified medical expenses, with your health savings accounts and card. 

Your health savings account (HSA) card can purchase many necessities that you have. This includes feminine hygiene products, blood pressure monitors, and pain relief. And yes, nutritional supplements of many kinds are included as well. 

If you have a flexible spending account, you can also use this money to purchase health care products as well, but the products allowed are more limited than an HSA card. 

Are vitamins HSA Eligible? How to know

Many vitamins and supplements, such as glucosamine and fiber supplements for constipation are eligible for HSA spending accounts. 

For FSA/HSA eligibility, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) Code Section 213(d) states that expenses can be deducted from your taxes. This is true in the case where supplements are used as medical care expenses for a specific medical condition.

“The term “medical care” means amounts paid— for the diagnosis, cure, mitigation, treatment, or prevention of disease, or for the purpose of affecting any structure or function of the body.”

Of note, this does not include the cost of preventive services. So you should receive guidance from your doctor or healthcare provider on which supplements qualify as medicine or medical care. 

But, this is a loophole that can include most supplements as well. Nutritional counseling is covered by HSA too. Weight loss aids are even covered if used to treat medical diseases.

After speaking with your provider, you can feel free to use the following companies that accept HSA. And, because they are over-the-counter products, you don’t need a prescription for them. 

For a full list of HSA-covered expenses, you can visit Cigna. 

Benefits of using HSA for vitamins

Because HSA accounts are free from taxes, using your HSA for vitamins can save you around 20-30 percent cost in the long term on these products.  

Just make sure to save your receipts in case of HSA audits.  

HSA Eligible Vitamin Companies

Fullscript

Fullscript is a health practitioner dispensary with access to over 300 professional-grade nutritional supplement brands and herbal supplements. This company is fully HSA-approved, so you can feel comfortable browsing all the supplements they provide. 

You can trust Fullscript because all the vitamin brands and nutrient supplements that they carry are third-party verified for quality and potency.  With over 20,000 nutritional products, you are sure to find the products that are best for you here. 

Another great thing about Fullscript is that they are a net Carbon Zero-certified company.  

They carry a big assortment of vitamins, fish oil, probiotics, fiber supplements, joint health supplements like glucosamine and MSM,  herbs like holy basil, ashwagandha, turmeric, and even essential oils. 

Seeking Health

Seeking Health is a reputable vitamin company with fast delivery and shipping free.  This company includes many HSA-eligible expenses, including vitamin products that are independently tested with Good Manufacturing Practices certification. 

Formulated by Dr. Ben Lynch, there are many supplements that are tailored to your specific health needs. HSA-eligible vitamins here include vitamin D3 with vitamin K2, methylated vitamins, prenatal vitamins, B complex vitamins, probiotics, electrolytes, fish oil, and more. 

You can also earn rewards when using this company, so the more you buy, the more you save. 

Amazon

Amazon HSA store has almost 600 vitamin products alone that are HSA-eligible expenses. From prenatal care to fish oil and glucosamine as well as immune supplements like vitamin C, you can find many of your home health care needs here. 

Bonus: add tampons, first aid kits, and personal care items to your shopping cart while you are at it, or some medical foods like fiber supplements. 

Are vitamins FSA eligible?

It depends.  You can use your flexible spending account to buy prenatal vitamins, but you are not covered for products like multivitamins. 

There is overlap with FSA/HSA accounts, but most people use FSA accounts to reimburse for paid medical expenses, childcare, home health, or known upcoming procedures rather than supplements. 

And, you will need proof from your doctor of your diagnosis to get reimbursed for health care expenses. 

In a nutshell, your HSA card allows you to take advantage of more comprehensive medical care and supplies than a flexible spending account for medical expenses incurred. 

Summary

You will save money and be assured that you are getting medically covered supplements by using Fullscript, Seeking Health, or Amazon products. 

It goes without saying that your health and wellness will also reap the benefits too. 

Healthy RD

Heidi Moretti, MS, RD is The Healthy RD.  A registered dietitian for 23 years as well as a book author of the new book Gut Fix and The Whole Body Guide to Gut Health, Heidi has a passion for functional nutrition and natural medicine.  She has researched supplements and natural medicine throughout her career.  One of her biggest loves is helping people gain function and vitality by tackling the root causes of illness.