Yes! You can transfer funds between your Parking and Transit benefits, provided it complies with your employer's policies. Please verify with your internal policy for confirmation.
According to the IRS, unused parking and transit benefits can:
- Remain in the designated account for future use
- Be applied to another qualified transportation account (for example transit to parking, or parking to transit), provided the statutory limits are not exceeded
- But they can’t be refunded to the participant
Forma supports the balance transfer between Parking and Transit accounts. You can request to transfer a balance between Commuter benefits by directly reaching out to the Forma Support team through live messaging in the lower right corner in your portal or by email at support@joinforma.com.
If you only have one type of Commuter account currently, say, transit, and would like to transfer your funds to a parking account, Forma can open a parking account and transfer those funds for you. However, please note that only parking expenses incurred after the parking account is established can be reimbursed.
If the request is made by the 20th of the month, the transfer effective date would be the 1st of the following month. If the request is made after the 20th of the month, the transfer effective date would be the 1st of the month after the next month.
Example:
You have $120 in your transit account and want to transfer the balance to your Parking account, which already has a $100 available balance.
If you submit your request on February 20, then on March 1, you’ll see an available balance of $220 in your Parking account. (The original $100 balance in your Parking account, plus the $120 transfer from your Transit account.)
If you submit your request on February 21, then on April 1, you’ll see an available balance of $220 in your Parking account. (The original $100 balance in your Parking account, plus the $120 transfer from your Transit account.)
Important Note:
When transferring funds between commuter benefits, Forma must take the IRS monthly maximum into account. For example, you would like to move $900 to your parking account and the IRS maximum is $300. If you are not making any payroll contributions to your parking account, then the funds will transfer over a 3-month period.