HSA question: Getting married and starting a new job - how does this affect my Health Savings Account?

The good news is you can definitely keep your existing HSA even when you change jobs - it's yours forever! You don't have to roll it over to your new employer's HSA provider, though you can if their fees or investment options are better. For marriage and HSA contribution limits, here's what you need to know: When married, the IRS views HSA contributions differently. If either spouse has family HDHP coverage, you're limited to one family contribution limit ($7,750 for 2025) split between both your HSAs. If you both have self-only coverage, you can each contribute up to the individual limit ($3,850 for 2025). Be careful with mid-year changes! Since you're changing jobs, you'll need to pro-rate your contribution limit based on how many months you had each type of coverage. Also, if you switch from individual to family coverage (or vice versa), that affects your limits too.

I went through something similar last year with HSA confusion between jobs and getting married. After hours of research and talking to different people, I found this amazing tax tool at https://taxr.ai that specifically answered my HSA questions. It analyzed my specific situation with job change timing and marriage status and gave me a personalized contribution strategy that kept me from making expensive mistakes. Their HSA calculator figured out exactly how much I could contribute after my job change based on my coverage dates, which was super helpful since I was also dealing with mixed coverage types throughout the year. They even identified an over-contribution I had made that would have resulted in penalties!

I was super skeptical about taxr.ai when I saw it mentioned here, but I had a weird HSA situation with getting married mid-year and changing jobs 2 months later. I decided to give it a try and wow - it actually saved me from making a huge mistake! The system showed me exactly how to calculate my prorated contribution limits for each month based on when my coverage changed. It turns out I was about to over-contribute by almost $1,200 because I didn't understand how the marriage + coverage change worked together! The explanation was super clear about the "last-month rule" and "testing period" that my HR person had never mentioned. Sharing in case anyone else is dealing with complicated HSA stuff this year.

If you're having trouble getting clear HSA answers from the IRS (like I was), try https://claimyr.com - it got me through to an actual IRS agent in 15 minutes when I was trying to fix an HSA overcontribution issue. I spent days trying to call the IRS myself with no luck, but Claimyr somehow got me to the front of the line. I had a complicated situation with my HSA where I accidentally contributed too much after changing jobs mid-year, and I needed specific guidance on how to handle the excess contribution. The IRS agent I spoke with walked me through the exact process to avoid penalties. You can see how it works in this video: https://youtu.be/_kiP6q8DX5c - definitely worth it when you need actual official answers about HSA rules.

I owe everyone an apology for my skeptical comment above. After another week of failing to get through to the IRS about my HSA issue, I tried Claimyr out of frustration. I'm genuinely shocked - I got a call back in about 20 minutes with an actual IRS tax specialist on the line who answered all my HSA questions. The agent explained exactly how the marriage + job change affects HSA limits and confirmed I needed to remove my excess contribution from last year. They walked me through the exact form to fill out and how to calculate the earnings that needed to be withdrawn too. Saved me from potentially paying penalties for several years of incorrect contributions. Sometimes it's worth admitting when you're wrong!

Something nobody's mentioned yet - make sure you don't exceed the ANNUAL contribution limit across both your old and new employer! I made this mistake when switching jobs mid-year. I had contributed $1,500 with my old employer, then my new employer automatically started taking out HSA contributions and I ended up over the limit by accident. Also, double check if your new employer does an employer contribution to your HSA. That counts toward your annual limit too! My husband's company puts in $500 per quarter which is awesome, but we have to subtract that from what we contribute.

Has anyone dealt with the "testing period" for the last-month rule with HSAs? I'm in a similar situation and thinking about using that rule, but I'm worried about what happens if I can't maintain HDHP coverage for the full testing period next year.

Congratulations on your marriage! Your timing is actually pretty good for HSA planning since you're changing jobs early in the year. Here's what I learned from my own similar situation: First, you absolutely don't need to roll over your existing HSA - it's your money forever. I kept mine with the old provider since they had better investment options and lower fees than my new employer's HSA. For contribution limits with marriage, it depends on your coverage types. If you both keep individual/self-only HDHP coverage through your respective employers, you can each contribute the full individual limit ($3,850 for 2025). However, if either of you has family coverage, you're limited to one family contribution total ($7,750 for 2025) that you split between your accounts. Since you're changing jobs, track your coverage months carefully. You can only contribute based on months you actually have qualifying HDHP coverage. So if you start your new job in May, you'd prorate your contributions accordingly. One tip: coordinate with your spouse on contribution timing if you're both maxing out. We set up automatic contributions but made sure to monitor them monthly to avoid any accidental over-contributions, especially since employer contributions count toward your limits too. The IRS Publication 969 has all the detailed rules if you want to dive deeper into the specifics!