<prompt> Human: I am at a war with the DOE because they had me furnish my pay stubs for income verification and calculated my dependent care FSA reimbursement as income. According to them they ignore any deductions so my 100 FSA deduction is ignored but my 100 reimbursement is not, overstating my yearly income by 5200 annually. I do not know how to explain to them what I thought was a very common concept of an FSA. I gave them an example annually, gave the examples of those who elect to just use the DC child credit, or those who use FSA debit cards. But I am being denied. My children are now being charged full price for every meal theyve had so far this year and Im told until I am current they cannot participate in activities such as field trips. I mainly would like advice as what other departments in the state or federally I can ask for help or documentation which helps someone understand an FSA does not add to my income. Assistant: Please provide an example of the numbers from one of of your paystubs.Human: Ignoring insurance etc which dont affect calculation, some rounding but close to actuals:The reduced lunch limit is 45,000 for family of fourMy wage 845 weekly , approx 44,000 annually, so I feel I made the requirements, I know my salary, dont get overtime, and have no extra incomeWeekly pay stub 845 wages, 100 fsa deduction, 100 fsa reimbursement from previous period. Pay Check Amount 845DOE calculation, 845 wages, 100 FSA reimbursment, gross income 945 weekly 49,140Assistant: The problem is the way this is shown on your paystub.Since this is salary before deductions and you have a net zero deduction showing -100, 100 on the same check they are correctly counting the reimbursement as income.Where is the reimbursement coming from for it to be on your paystub? If your employer is repaying you for your contribution somehow, then that really is income and you really do make 49,000. You are contributing it from your salary but being paid for it in ADDITION to your salary. Or at least that is what is shown here.Human: But I make 44,000, a total of 5,000 is deducted throughout the year, and reimbursed when i supply receipts. I can only reimburse up to the amount that is deposited ytd. Lets say I waited till 2018 to submit receipts, so through 2017, my salary was 44,000, with 5,000 deducted towards fsa so my net pay was 39,000. When I submit my expenses to get reimbursed in 2018, wouldnt my net pay then be 44,000? I dont see how it becomes 49,000 as you say.  <response>: You need to go to your payroll department to have them sort this out. Either there is an issue with how this is being reported, or there is something you arent fully understanding. Either way, they are the ones who can help you sort this out. 