Contributions can be made by the HSA account holder, by others on behalf of the account holder, or by employers on behalf of the HSA account holder. The following guidelines apply when making contributions:

The maximum annual contribution you can make in any one tax year is the maximum established by law.

Year	Individual Coverage	Family Coverage
2010 and 2011	$3,050	$6,150
Maximums are indexed annually

If you are at least 55 years of age and not currently participating in Medicare you can take advantage of a catch-up contribution of $1,000 per year. You can make the maximum contribution no matter when you turn 55 in the tax year.

If the effective date of your HDHP is other than January 1, you can make the maximum contribution allowed by the IRS; however, special guidelines apply.

If you contribute the maximum amount in a year where your HDHP is in force less than 12 months, regulations require that you remain a qualified individual for every month in that tax year following the effective date of the HDHP plus the entire 12 months of the following tax year known as the "testing period".

If you do not remain a qualified individual during the "testing period", then a portion of your contributions are subject to incomes taxes and a 10% additional tax penalty.

Example:
	An individual purchased an HDHP Self-Only Coverage effective 09/01/10   They contributed the maximum of $3,050 in 2010 even though the qualified HDHP was not in effect during the entire 2010 tax year.   They will need to remain a qualified individual from 09/01/10 to 12/31/11 to avoid the contributions from being subject to income taxes and penalties.   If they did not remain a qualified individual as of 03/01/10, the contributions attributed to 01/01/10 through 08/31/10 (8/12 of $3,050 or $2,033.33) are subject to income taxes and a 10% additional tax penalty.

The income taxes and the 10% additional tax penalty will not apply if the individual becomes disabled or dies during the "testing period".

The "testing period" requirement also applies if you make the maximum catch-up contribution.

You can avoid contributions being subject to the "testing period" requirements if you pro-rate your contributions based on the number of months you are covered by a qualified HDHP in any given tax year. To take the example above, an individual would calculate the maximum contribution as follows: $3,050 divided by 12 months = $254.16 x 4 months of HDHP coverage (09/01/10-12/31/10) = $1,016.66, the maximum contribution for 2010.