Employees have to decide before the start of the plan year (during open enrollment) whether they want to contribute to their FSA, and if so, how much they want to contribute. The amount is then divided out across the employee's paychecks for the whole year, although the full amount is available for withdrawal as of the first day of the plan year. Normally, employees cannot make changes to their FSA election during the plan year unless they have a qualifying event. But in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, employers were allowed (but not required) to relax these rules in 2020 and 2021. As of 2022, however, the normal rules are once again in place for all employers. So a qualifying event is necessary in order to make a mid-year FSA election change.