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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-05-15
Create Health Savings Account Plans

Create Health Savings Account Plans

  • Set up benefits.
  • Set up payroll deductions.
  • Security:
    Set Up: Benefits
     in the Benefits functional area.
Define contribution limits and other details for health savings account plans.
A Health Savings Account (HSA) combines a lower-cost, high-deductible health insurance plan (HDHP) with a tax-favored savings account. The HSA enables employees to deposit money to pay for qualified health care expenses until they meet the medical plan deductible. Unlike a health care flexible spending account, the unspent savings in an HSA can roll over year after year and earn interest.
The U.S. Federal government sets the maximum contribution amount for HSA plans each year. Workers age 55 and over have an additional catch-up amount. Workday recommends that you create 1 plan for workers under 55 and another for workers 55 and over. With this approach, employees 55 and older can enroll in an HSA plan with a limit that includes both the HSA catch up and the regular HSA limits. This approach prevents employees 55 years or older from having to enroll in 2 plans to get the full benefit.
  1. Access the
    Create Benefit Plan
     task.
  2. As you complete this task, consider:
    Option Description
    Do Not Use
    When selected, Workday appends the
    Do Not Use
     label to the benefit plan name and hides it from
    Benefit Plan
     configuration prompts, as of the effective date. This check box doesn't hide the benefit plan name from configuration prompts in these tasks and business process:
    • Create
       or
      Edit External Payroll Deduction
       tasks.
    • Create
       or
      Edit External Payroll Earning
       tasks.
    • Review COBRA Eligibility Event
       business process.
    Health Savings Account Coverage Type
    Identify the health savings account type. Example:
    HSA
    .
    External Plan Description
    Select the URL address.
    When employees enroll in this plan, a link displays that opens the website in a new browser page.
    Participating Benefit Groups
    Associate the plan to specific benefit groups.
    Worker Plan Eligibility
    Select an eligibility rule that limits coverage to a subset of the employees in the selected
    Participating Benefit Groups
    .
    Currency
    Specifies the currency used to calculate the contribution amount for the benefit plan. Select the same currency used by the benefit groups that can enroll in the plan. Consider creating a separate benefit plan for each currency or country.
    You can only update this field if the
    Usage Count
     is zero.
    Frequency
    Specifies the amount that the employee can contribute during the specified frequency. Example: If you specify a maximum of $9300 USD at an annual frequency, the worker can contribute up to this amount during the 12-month period.
    During a single enrollment event, deductions and earnings on spending accounts and HSA plans have to have the same frequency.
    Schedule frequency overrides in Payroll.
    You can only update this field if the
    Usage Count
     is zero.
    Earnings and Deductions
    Map the contribution amounts to payroll (typically done through Workday Payroll or the Payroll Interface):
    Do Not Calculate Remaining Pay Periods
    Used during enrollment.
    • Select this check box to have the employee or administrator enter the number of remaining pay periods during midyear benefit events.
      If the benefit event type is Open Enrollment, Workday uses the Benefit Group frequency to calculate the remaining pay periods automatically. For other event types, Workday leaves the
      Remaining Periods
       field empty, requiring the employee to enter a value.
      During a single enrollment event, deductions and earnings on spending accounts and HSA plans have to have the same frequency.
    • Clear this check box for Payroll to use the period schedule when calculating the remaining pay periods.
    Don't select this check box after initiating open enrollment.
  3. In the
    Plan Costs
     section, consider:
    Option Description
    Participating Benefit Groups
    If contributions vary by benefit group, identify each group separately and assign the contribution amounts to the corresponding coverage targets.
    If all benefit groups have the same contributions, list all groups in the
    Participating Benefit Groups
     field and assign the corresponding coverage targets and contribution amounts.
    HSA Coverage Target
    Workday automatically enters
    Employee
     and
    Family
    .
    If you've selected the check box to
    Include an additional HSA Coverage Target Options
     on the
    Edit Tenant Setup - HCM
     task, Workday automatically assigns the
    Other
     coverage target.
    Maximum Contribution
    Enter the maximum contribution amount for the savings plan.
    This amount includes both the employee and employer contributions.
    Workers can enter an amount up to 1 USD over the maximum. With this method, Workday allows for rounding that might prevent workers from reaching the maximum annual goal amount.
    To prevent overcontributing, set a limit on the Payroll side to stop deductions at the maximum contribution level.
    Example: A worker with biweekly pay frequency elects the maximum amount of 7000 USD. The worker contributes 269.23 USD each pay period (7000/26 = 269.23067). The worker only contributes a total of 6999.92 USD (269 * 26 = 6999.98), 0.02 USD short of the maximum. However, if the worker elects 7001 USD, the worker can reach the 7000 USD limit.
    Minimum Contribution
    Enter the minimum amount that an employee must contribute to the savings plan.
    This amount doesn’t include employer contributions.
    Employer Contribution
    Enter the amount that the employer contributes to the savings plan.
  4. In the
    Expanded Plan Details
     section, add plan details for your employees so that they can see the specific features of the benefit plan.
    You can also add instructions and links to benefit plan information. Workday displays employee and employer contribution information.
  • Create or edit the benefit plan year definition and add this plan.
  • Access the
    Create Cross Plan Enrollment Prerequisites
     task to link the HSA plan to the prerequisite HDHP.
    IRS rules require that employees enroll in an HDHP before enrolling in an HSA plan.
    You must link an HDHP plan as a prerequisite to an HSA plan. Workday requires the link to determine the correct HSA contribution limit. The link also enables employees to access the HSA enrollment page.