Comparability rules apply whenever employers seek to fund employee HSAs outside of a Section 125 cafeteria plan.

Essentially, the objective of the government regulation (IRS 26 CFR 54) is to see that similarly situated employees are treated the same.  New rules have changed the treatment of unionized employees and provided flexibility to make different HSA contributions for different classes of family insurance coverage, according to HSA Resources.

HSA Resources has just announced that it has released its revised Employer Comparability Worksheet. This worksheet is designed to help health insurance agents and employers understand the rules regarding "comparability" for employer contributions to employee HSAs.

The worksheet contains a series of questions that employers can answer.  The first section contains two questions that will determine whether an employer is even subject to comparability rules.  If the employer determines that they must follow those rules, two subsequent sections of questions will help identify the next steps for them.

Whitney Johnson of HSA Resources believes that this worksheet “provides employers an easier step-by-step method to learn how this rule applies to them -- rather than reading and trying to understand the IRS's 45 pages of regulations”