1. Your receipts
One per line: date, amount, optional note. End a note with the word reimbursed if you already took that money out of the HSA.
2. Assumptions
Result
Questions people ask
What is the HSA shoebox strategy?
You pay medical bills from your regular money, keep every receipt, and leave the HSA invested. The IRS sets no deadline for reimbursing yourself, so any qualified expense incurred after the HSA was opened can be withdrawn tax-free years later, in any amount up to the total of those receipts. The HSA keeps compounding tax-free in the meantime.
How much does it actually save?
Only the tax on the growth of the dollars you would otherwise have reimbursed. If you reimburse yourself today and invest that cash in a taxable account, the gains are taxed at capital-gains rates; left inside the HSA they are not. The tool computes that difference for your balance, return and horizon. It is not free money from nowhere, and with a zero return or a zero tax rate it is zero.
Is there a time limit on reimbursing myself?
Federal rules do not set one, as long as the expense happened after the HSA was established and you did not deduct or reimburse it elsewhere. You should keep documentation that would satisfy an audit, such as the receipt, the date and proof it was a qualified expense and was not reimbursed by insurance. Check current IRS guidance and your state's rules.
Which expenses count and which receipts are left out?
Qualified medical expenses under IRS rules. Expenses incurred before the HSA was opened never qualify, so the tool leaves receipts dated before your opening date out of the pile. Anything already reimbursed is excluded too. Mark a line with the word reimbursed at the end of its note to exclude it.
What if I need the money before retirement?
Withdrawals up to your total unreimbursed receipts are tax-free at any age. Withdrawing more than that for non-medical reasons is taxed as ordinary income, plus a 20% additional tax before age 65. The result shows what any excess over your receipts would cost at the age and tax rate you enter.
Do all states treat the HSA the same?
No. A few states, including California and New Jersey, tax HSA contributions or earnings, which would reduce the saving. This tool models federal treatment only.
Is this tax or financial advice?
No. It is arithmetic on the figures you type: a constant return, annual steps, and a flat capital-gains rate. It does not know your eligibility, your plan's investment menu, or what the IRS will accept. Talk to a qualified tax professional before relying on it.
Not decided
Whether you are eligible to contribute, whether a receipt is a qualified expense, or whether the IRS or your state would accept your records. The model uses one constant return, annual steps, no dividend tax drag in the taxable account, no inflation, and ignores state tax on HSA money. Keeping receipts for years carries a record-keeping risk and a liquidity cost: the money you spend out of pocket is not available to you meanwhile.
Related tools: the HSA contribution limit calculator, the ACA subsidy cliff calculator, and the retirement withdrawal sequencer.