I have a HSA, and my employer allows pre-tax HSA contributions. I'm working on my 2015 taxes and it turns out it would be beneficial to make a contribution now for 2015 (which I believe is possible?) and claim the deduction for doing so.
However I'm finding some conflicting information about whether it's permissible to make a post-tax deduction (which is what I'd be doing now for 2015, obviously) if it's possible to make pre-tax deductions. The only clear statement I can really find is from Wikipedia's article on HSAs which says:
Contributions from an employer or employee may be made on a pre-tax basis through an employer. If this option is not available through the employer, contributions may be made on a post-tax basis and then used to decrease gross taxable income on the following year's Form 1040.
However I don't think this is trustworthy. In particular I'm pretty sure that the contributions can be used t decrease taxable income on that year's 1040 so I'm not sure I believe the "if not available" clause.
I found this IRS publication which seems to say that this is allowed:
Contributions made by your employer are not included in your income. Contributions to an employee's account by an employer using the amount of an employee's salary reduction through a cafeteria plan are treated as employer contributions. Generally, you can claim contributions you made and contributions made by any other person, other than your employer, on your behalf, as an adjustment to income.
So, my employer can contribute their money, or my employer can contribute my money from my paycheck, and I can't claim it, but otherwise "generally" I can claim contributions made as an adjustment to income. In other words, even though I didn't set up my paycheck to contribute to the HSA, I can still do so now for 2015 and deduct it from my income.
Is this a correct analysis?