The Gusto Benefits Card Manager (GBCM) is the online portal you can use to manage transactions and view balances for your FSA, HSA, DCFSA, and commuter benefits.
Manage your contributions and reimbursements
When you sign in to your GBCM, the dashboard displays your accounts and recent transactions.
Manage claims
If your card is declined at a vendor, it's because the card cannot verify whether you're making a qualified purchase. Pay out of pocket, save your receipt, and follow the steps in this article to submit your claim for reimbursement.
Click the menu bar on the top-left side of your account. Select Claims to access your claim information.
Update your personal info and add dependents
Activate your card
The card automatically activates the first time you use it on an eligible expense.
To register for the GBCM for the first time, follow the steps below.
If you've left your company and did not register for your Gusto Benefits Card Manager account during your employment: It’s not too late to register with the steps below. If you're prompted to enter your employer information in Step 1, reach out to [email protected] for your sign-in credentials.
Once you're registered, you can access your Gusto Benefits Card Manager at this link or from the Benefits tab of your account.
Gusto Benefits Cards are mailed prior to the effective date. It'll arrive in a blank white envelope and we'll email you once it's been sent.
Sign in to your benefits card manager to report it lost or stolen.
To submit a claim, follow these steps:
We’ll let you know once your claim has been approved or denied. To avoid a denied claim, make sure you’re using your Health FSA for eligible expenses only. Learn more from the IRS.
Note: This is relevant for customers who have their benefits managed by Gusto. If your benefit is managed externally, reach out to your account administrator for guidance.
Need to submit claims after leaving your company?
If your benefit has a runout period, you may have extra time to submit claims for qualifying expenses incurred during your employment. Check out the FSA, DCFSA, HSA, or commuter benefits article for more info.
If you didn’t register for your Gusto Benefits Card Manager account during your employment, reach out to [email protected] for your sign-in credentials.
If approved, you'll receive an email with reimbursement information so you can choose how you'd like to be reimbursed.
If you find a transaction that you did not complete yourself and you believe it to be fraudulent, here's how to dispute it.
Note: If you recognize the transaction but the service provider charged the wrong amount, contact your provider directly to discuss the transaction.
If the dispute is approved, you should see a refund on your account within 55 days.
Your Gusto Benefits Card should be used as a credit card, although we recognize that certain vendors do require a PIN.
To find your Gusto Benefits Card PIN, you will first need to register for your Gusto Benefits Card Manager account.
Once registered and logged in, hover over your name on the icon bar and click Debit Card(s). Click into your card and choose View PIN to access the PIN for your card.
If your Gusto Benefits Card has been misplaced or stolen, report it as soon as possible with these steps:
If you don’t have the option to issue another card to yourself, reach out to [email protected] and we can re-issue your Gusto Benefits Card.
If your company offers multiple benefits savings accounts through Gusto and you enroll in more than one, you will use the same Gusto Benefits Card for all transactions.
For example, if you enroll in commuter benefits and an FSA, you will use one Gusto Benefits Card for commuting expenses and eligible medical expenses.
Here's how to reset your password:
If you have a recurring Health FSA expense, you don’t have to submit documentation every time. As long as the expense is an approved card transaction for the same amount each time, our Benefits Team can set up a recurring expense for you after documentation has been submitted and the transaction approved at least once.
Once you’ve successfully submitted documentation for the recurring expense that’s been approved, reach out to our team [email protected] and we can set up the recurring expense.
Keep in mind that if the amount of the transaction is anything other than the approved amount, you will be required to submit documentation.
If your FSA is managed by Gusto and we need more info to process a transaction, we will email you a request to provide documentation.
Employees who use their Gusto Benefits Card at a vendor who has not implemented an inventory information approval system (IIAS)—a system that contains known IRS approved medical and pharmacy expenses—will receive an email notification from [email protected] that requests substantiation to validate the transaction's eligibility as an FSA expense.
In order to validate the expense, follow the instructions in the email to provide documentation for your FSA transaction in your Gusto Benefits Card Manager.
Once uploaded, it will be reviewed by our claims team within 3–5 business days, at which point you will be notified via email.
How to provide documentation for an FSA transaction
For a Health FSA, include the following info in your documentation:
For a Dependent Care FSA, include the following info in your documentation:
Note: If you are unable to provide documentation online, you can provide it via fax. Print the email that we sent to you requesting the missing documentation. Fax this email, along with your documentation, to (844) 791-8320.
If you used your Gusto Benefits Card on an ineligible Health FSA or Dependent Care FSA expense, we’ll email you with next steps. This can result in a temporary card suspension until the ineligible expense is resolved.
To resolve an ineligible expense, you can either offset the balance with an eligible expense, or you can pay it back from your bank account.
Option 1: Offset the balance with an eligible expense
Your card is reactivated once the offset is processed and you no longer owe a balance for an ineligible expense.
Option 2: Pay the expense back from your personal bank account
The repayment will be processed within 7 business days. When you submit a repayment the "Balance Due" is removed from your home page, but the expense is still listed as "ineligible." If approved, the expense will be updated.
If your card is temporarily suspended and you want to pay for eligible expenses in the meantime, you can pay out of pocket and submit a claim with your receipt.
Note: This is relevant for customers who have their benefits managed by Gusto. If your FSA is managed externally, reach out to your account administrator for guidance.
You can submit a Dependent Care FSA claim over the balance that you have available, but you'll only be reimbursed up to the amount you have in the account (if approved). The remaining balance will be put "on hold" until your account is funded and then you'll be reimbursed in increments.
That means that each time deposits are made after you’re deducted via payroll, a reimbursement will be immediately initiated until the full amount of your claim has been satisfied or you've reached your annual election.
Your Dependent Care FSA funds can be used on care for qualified dependents that assist an employee in working or looking for work. For a comprehensive list of eligible expenses in addition to what makes a dependent “qualified,” see IRS Publication 503.
Commuter benefit funds can be used on either transit or parking expenses.
Transit:
Parking:
Commuter benefits are regulated by the IRS to make sure that the pre-tax dollars are being used on qualified transit expenses.* Some transit vendors—while conveniently located at public transit stations—may sell other miscellaneous items like newspapers, coffee, parking passes, etc. As a result, if your team uses their commuter benefits cards at one of these vendors, they may be spending pre-tax dollars on unqualified expenses.
There are two settings for how to manage these expenses, which will default to Self-Managed upon setup. If you'd like to change this setting to Managed, contact our team.
Option 1: Self-managed
Your team will be able to use their cards at unapproved transit vendors, which could be non-compliant. If the company is audited by the IRS and found in violation, the company and employee(s) may be responsible for paying tax penalties. If an IRS audit does occur, receipts will be required as proof of eligible transit expenses—make sure you or your team keep them if needed down the line. Ultimately, if your team uses their cards compliantly, this is the more convenient option.
Option 2: Managed
We’ll validate the vendors to make sure they’re compliant and approve or deny your team’s transactions when they use their cards. Any kiosks or vendors that sell unqualified products as defined by the IRS will be rejected (this is very common at local commuter stations). This means that your team may be denied expenses and will need to submit claims for reimbursements to use their commuter benefits. While this option is less convenient, it’s more compliant and reduces the risk of penalties.
If you'd like to change your settings, sign in to your account and reach out to our team.
*Specifically reference question 16
The IRS requires that you purchase transit passes with your pre-tax commuter card only at authorized transit vendors, which are vendors, kiosks, or machines that sell transit passes only. If you try to purchase your transit pass at Walgreens, Whole Foods, or any merchant that sells anything other than transit passes, it will be denied. For more on the IRS regulation, check out these resources: IRS Publication 15-B and Section 132(f) of the Internal Revenue Code.
San Francisco Bay Area
CalTrain and BART station machines are unauthorized vendors because you can also buy parking passes at these kiosks.
For BART, CalTrain, Muni and many other transportation resources in the Bay Area, we recommend that you autoload a Clipper Card online.
Washington D.C. and Maryland Area
Washington D.C.‘s WMATA SmarTrip and Baltimore’s Charm Card are unauthorized vendors because the funds loaded into those accounts can be used to pay for ineligible expenses, such as parking. If you need to use your commuter card in the D.C. or Maryland areas, follow the steps in the dropdown below to submit a claim for an unauthorized vendor.
If you need to spend your commuter benefits card at an unauthorized transit vendor, follow these steps to get reimbursed:
As of May 2023, Lyft and Uber are no longer eligible commuter expenses. Both Lyft and Uber discontinued their vanpool programs in early 2023, making their services ineligible for commuter benefits.