Archer MSAs were designed to help self-employed business owners and employees of small businesses to save for future medical expenses. With that being said there are some strict requirements to be considered an eligible individual:
- You (or your spouse, if married) must either be self-employed or employed by a small business who had an average of 50 or less employees over the past two calendar years.
- You (or your spouse, if married) must be covered under a High Deductible Health Plan (HDHP) and have no additional non-HDHP health coverage.
- You can’t be enrolled in Medicare.
- You can’t be claimed as a dependant on someone else’s tax return.
That said, no new Archer MSA accounts have been established after 2007 as the account was replaced by the HSA.
As a result, there are only two ways to make contributions to an Archer MSA:
- You were an active participant in one before 2008.
- You became an active participant for a tax year ending after 2007, by reason of coverage under a high deductible health plan (HDHP) of an Archer MSA participating employer.