Income Only in Month Received 430-05-50-15-20

(Revised 11/01/04 ML2941)

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Actual anticipated income during the certification period must be counted only during the month it is normally received, unless income averaging is used.

 

Households receiving income on a recurring basis will not have their monthly income varied merely because of changes in mailing cycles or pay dates or because weekends or holidays cause additional payments to be received in a month.

Example:

An employer may issue checks early because the normal payday falls on a weekend or a holiday. Income will be counted in the month it would normally be received, rather than the month it is actually received.

 

For households in receipt of a state or federal assistance payment such as TANF, General Assistance (GA), SSI, or Social Security payments, on a recurring basis, payment is considered as having been received once a month, even if mailing cycles may cause two payments to be mailed in one month and none in another month.

 

Wages held at the request of the employee must be considered income in the month in which they would otherwise have been paid by the employer.

 

Wages held by the employer as a general practice, even if in violation of law, will not be counted as income to the household until actually received.

 

For households initially approved for both food stamps benefits and TANF at the same time, the initial TANF grant must be considered when prospectively determining the initial month of food stamp eligibility and benefits if it can be reasonably anticipated during the initial month.

 

The initial TANF grant must be anticipated for the initial month of food stamp eligibility if authorization of initial month's TANF benefit is made prior to the last five working days of the month.

 

Example:

A household applies for both TANF and food stamps on May 20, and is authorized for initial month's TANF benefit in the amount of $300 on May 30. The initial TANF grant of $300 cannot be anticipated for May because TANF authorization was not completed prior to the last five working days of May. Therefore, the May TANF grant is not used to determine initial May food stamps.

 

If TANF authorization is completed on May 26, instead of May 30, the $300 initial TANF grant is used as anticipated income for May.