Updated October 9, 2026. Quick answer: Form 5498-SA is the information return an HSA, Archer MSA or Medicare Advantage MSA trustee files with the IRS, and the account owner gets a copy that shows contributions and the year-end value. The Rev. December 2026 instructions put the filing and statement deadline at May 31 of the following year, and tell you not to attach the form to your return. This page reads the form and the instructions together.
Form 8606 and Form 8889 for 2025, read line by line: Form 8889 lines 1 and 2 and Form 8889 lines 9 to 13.
What Form 5498-SA is and who gets it
The form title is “HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA Information”. The participant copy explains where it comes from: “This information is submitted to the IRS by the trustee of your health savings account (HSA), Archer medical savings account (MSA), or Medicare Advantage MSA (MA MSA).”
The filing duty sits with the account provider, not with you. The instructions to the trustee say “You are required to file if you are the trustee or custodian of an HSA, Archer MSA, or MA MSA.” “A separate form is required for each type of plan.” An HSA owner therefore receives the participant copy, Copy B, and the box 6 checkbox tells you which account type the form covers.
The form is for information only. The participant copy says: “Don’t attach Form 5498-SA to your income tax return. Instead, keep it for your records.” The deduction or exclusion itself is reported on a different form; the participant copy points to “See Form 8853 and its instructions or Form 8889 and its instructions.” The HSA side is explained at Form 8889.
The boxes, in the IRS’s words
The participant copy explains each box. The following table keeps the wording as printed:
| Box | What the participant copy says it shows |
|---|---|
| Box 1 | “Shows contributions you made in the calendar year and through April 15 of the subsequent year to your Archer MSA.” |
| Box 2 | “Shows the total contributions made to your HSA or Archer MSA in the calendar year shown on this form.” |
| Box 3 | “Shows the total HSA or Archer MSA contributions made in the subsequent year for the calendar year shown on this form.” |
| Box 4 | “Shows any rollover contribution from an Archer MSA to this Archer MSA in the calendar year shown on this form or any rollover from an HSA or Archer MSA to this HSA.” |
| Box 5 | “Shows the fair market value of your HSA, Archer MSA, or MA MSA at the end of the calendar year shown on this form.” |
| Box 6 | “Shows the type of account that is reported on this Form 5498-SA.” |
Boxes 2 and 3 carry a note: “Note: The information in boxes 2 and 3 is provided for IRS use only.” Box 1 is Archer MSA only; the trustee instructions say “No HSA information is to be reported in box 1.” Box 4 is kept apart from the others: “This amount isn’t included in box 1, 2, or 3.”
When the form is due and when you should receive it
The deadlines are written to the trustee, so the form reaches you on the trustee’s schedule:
| Step | What the instructions to the trustee say |
|---|---|
| File Form 5498-SA with the IRS | “File Form 5498-SA, HSA, Archer MSA, or Medicare Advantage MSA Information, with the IRS on or before May 31 of the subsequent year” |
| Give the participant a statement | “you must provide a statement to the participant (generally Copy B) by May 31 of the subsequent year.” |
| Optional earlier value statement | “You may, but you are not required to, provide the participant with a statement of the December 31 FMV of the participant’s account by January 31 of the subsequent year.” |
| Weekend or holiday | “If May 31 falls on a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday, you must file by the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or a legal holiday.” |
The instructions define the years used above: “The calendar year is the year that is entered on the top right of this form for the year the information is being reported. The subsequent year is the next year.” For this revision, the instructions say it is meant for “2026 information in early 2027.” That is why the deadline for a 2026 form falls in 2027.
Not every account gets a form. The instructions say “Generally, if a total distribution was made from an HSA or Archer MSA during the year and no contributions were made for that year, you need not file Form 5498-SA”. And in the year an owner dies, “you must generally file a Form 5498-SA and furnish a statement for the decedent.”
Reading contributions: boxes 2, 3 and 4
The form splits contributions by when they were made, not only by the year they count for. Box 2 includes a specific catch: “Include any contribution made in the calendar year for the prior year .” It also includes transfers from an IRA: “Also include qualified HSA funding distributions (trustee-to-trustee transfers from an IRA to an HSA under section 408(d)(9)) received by you during the calendar year.” The instructions also say about the participant’s designation: “For HSA or Archer MSA contributions made between January 1 and April 15 of the subsequent year you should obtain the participant’s designation of the year for which the contributions are made.”
The following is an illustration with made-up amounts, not an IRS example, of how those box rules split a year of contributions:
| Item | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Contributed during 2026 and designated for 2026 | $1,200 | Illustration |
| Contributed during February 2026 and designated for 2025 | $300 | Illustration |
| Contributed during February 2027 and designated for 2026 | $400 | Illustration |
| Box 2 (made in the calendar year): $1,200 plus $300 | $1,500 | Computed here |
| Box 3 (made in the subsequent year for the calendar year) | $400 | Computed here |
| Contributions designated for 2026: $1,200 plus $400 | $1,600 | Computed here; no single box prints it |
In the illustration, box 2 and box 3 are different slices of time. Neither box alone equals the contributions designated for 2026, which is why a year-end contribution total is worth checking against your own records and the limits on the 2026 HSA contribution limits and the 2027 limits. If a contribution turns out to be too large, see how to fix an excess contribution.
Payroll contributions and the deduction
The participant copy explains who gets which tax treatment: “Generally, contributions you or someone other than your employer makes to your HSA are deductible on your tax return.” “Employer contributions to your HSA may be excluded from your income and aren’t deductible by you.” “You and your employer can make contributions to your HSA in the same year.”
Employer money shows up elsewhere too: “employer contributions made to an HSA are shown in box 12 (code W).” That is the Form W-2 box. The form and its instructions do not say how the amount in your W-2 compares with boxes 2 and 3 of Form 5498-SA, so a reconciliation is a question for your own records and for the Form 8889 instructions, not something this form answers. For the MA MSA, the text is specific: “Neither you nor your employer can make contributions to your MA MSA.”
Which revision applies
The edition read for this page is Form 5498-SA (Rev. December 2026) with the Instructions for Forms 1099-SA and 5498-SA (Rev. December 2026), which is the revision irs.gov served when it was read on 2026-10-09. A later revision can change box wording or filing dates, so check the revision printed on the form you receive. “Continue to use these revisions for subsequent years until we issue a superseding revision.” “For the latest information about developments related to Form 5498-SA and its instructions, such as legislation enacted after they were published, go to www.irs.gov/Form5498SA.” The IRS keeps that page at About Form 5498-SA.
Common mistakes
- Attaching the form to the return. The participant copy says “Don’t attach Form 5498-SA to your income tax return.”
- Expecting HSA numbers in box 1. The trustee instructions say “No HSA information is to be reported in box 1.”
- Reading box 2 as the amount designated for the year. Box 2 can include “any contribution made in the calendar year for the prior year”, so it can differ from what you designated for the year.
Related: Form 8889, 2026 HSA contribution limits, 2027 HSA contribution limits, and fixing an excess HSA contribution.
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Answer againSources
- Form 5498-SA (Rev. December 2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f5498sa.pdf
- Instructions for Forms 1099-SA and 5498-SA (Rev. December 2026): https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/i1099sa.pdf
Read from the IRS documents linked above on October 9, 2026. General information, not tax advice. Your own facts decide the outcome, and a preparer, the account provider or the IRS is the right place to confirm anything consequential.