The following payments shall be excluded as income
for supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP):
(A) Any gain or benefit that is not in
the form of money payable directly to the assistance group including in-kind
benefits. In-kind benefits are those for which no monetary payment is made on
behalf of the assistance group and include meals, clothing, public housing, or
produce from a garden.
(B) Payments made to a third party on
behalf of the assistance group are included or excluded as income as
follows:
(1) Public assistance
vendor payments are counted as income unless they are made for medical
assistance, child care assistance, energy assistance as defined in paragraph
(I)(4) of this rule, emergency assistance (including, but not limited to
housing and transportation payments) for migrant or seasonal farm worker
assistance groups while they are in the job stream, or housing assistance
payments made through a state or local housing authority.
(2) Public assistance
provided to a third party on behalf of an assistance group that is not
specifically excluded from consideration as income under paragraph (B)(1) of
this rule shall be considered for exclusion under the emergency and special
assistance category. To be considered emergency or special assistance and
excluded, the assistance must be provided over and above the normal public
assistance payment or cannot normally be provided as part of such
payment.
(3) Reimbursements made in the form of
vendor payments, monetary payments made on behalf of an assistance group by a
person or organization outside of the assistance group directly to either the
assistance group's creditors or to a person or organization providing a
service to the assistance group, are excluded on the same basis as
reimbursements paid directly to the assistance group in accordance with
paragraph (E) of this rule.
(4) In-kind or vendor payments that would
normally be excluded as income but are converted in whole or in part to a
direct cash payment under a federally authorized demonstration project or
waiver shall be excluded from income.
(5) Rent or mortgage payments made to
landlords or mortgagees by the department of housing and urban development
(HUD) are excluded.
(6) Monies that are legally obligated and
otherwise payable to the assistance group, but are diverted by the provider of
the payment to a third party for a household expense, shall be counted as
income and not excluded. When a person or organization makes a payment to a
third party on behalf of an assistance group using funds that are not owed to
the assistance group, the payment shall be excluded from income.
(C) The county agency shall exclude any
income that is specifically excluded by any other federal statute from
consideration as income for the purpose of determining eligibility for SNAP.
The following is a listing of some of the incomes excluded by federal statute.
The listing is divided into general income exclusions and exclusions applicable
to incomes of American Indians or Alaska natives.
(1) General
exclusions
(a) Income of a supplemental security income (SSI) recipient
determined necessary for the fulfillment of a plan for achieving self-support
(PASS) that has been approved under section 1612(b)(4)(A)(iii) or
1612(b)(4)(B)(iv) of the Social Security Act of 1935. This income may be spent
in accordance with an approved PASS or deposited into a PASS savings account
for future use.
(b) Federal emergency management assistance housing subsidies to
pay for temporary housing required as a result of a disaster and individual and
family grant assistance payments made under the Disaster Relief Act section
312(d) of the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, as amended in 1988 by Pub. L. No.
100-707, (11/1988).
(c) Assistance provided to children under the school lunch
program, the summer food service program for children, the commodity
distribution program and child and adult care food program (CACFP), Pub. L. No.
79-396, (06/1946), section 12(e) of the National School Lunch Act of 1946, as
amended by section 9(d) of Pub. L. No. 94-105, (10/1975), as amended by Pub. L.
No. 116-94 (12/2019).
(d) Assistance provided to children under the special milk
program, special supplemental food program for women, infants, and children
(WIC) and the school breakfast program, Pub. L. No. 89-642, (10/1966), the
Child Nutrition Act of 1966, section 11(b).
(e) Reimbursements from the Uniform Relocation Assistance and
Real Property Acquisition Policy Act of 1970, Pub. L. No. 91-646, section 216
(1/1971).
(f) Pub. L. No. 93-113, (10/1973), the Domestic Volunteer
Services Act of 1973, Titles I and II. Payments under Title I of the act
(including such Title I programs as volunteers in service to americorps
(VISTA), university year for action, and urban crime prevention program) to
volunteers shall be excluded for those individuals receiving SNAP or public
assistance at the time they joined the Title I program, except assistance
groups that were receiving an income exclusion for a VISTA or other Title I
subsistence allowance at the time of conversion to the Food and Nutrition Act
of 2008 shall continue to receive an income exclusion for VISTA for the length
of their volunteer contract in effect at the time of conversion.
Temporary interruptions in SNAP participation
shall not alter the exclusion once an initial determination has been made. New
applicants who were not receiving public assistance or SNAP at the time they
joined VISTA shall have these volunteer payments included as earned income. Any
payment to volunteers under Title II (retired senior volunteer program, foster
grandparents, senior companion program and others) are excluded from
income.
(g) Payments received under section 312(d), the Disaster Relief
Act of 1974, Pub. L. No. 93-288, (5/1974), as amended by section 105(i), the
Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Amendments of 1988, Pub. L. No.
100-707, (11/1988). Payments precipitated by an emergency or major disaster as
defined in this act, as amended, are not counted as income for SNAP purposes.
This exclusion applies to federal assistance provided to persons directly
affected and to comparable disaster assistance provided by states, local
governments, and disaster assistance organizations. A "major
disaster" is any natural catastrophe such as a hurricane or drought, or,
regardless of cause, any fire, flood, or explosion, that the president of the
United States determines causes damage of sufficient severity and magnitude to
warrant major disaster assistance to supplement the efforts and available
resources of states, local governments, and disaster relief organizations in
alleviating the damage, loss, hardship, or suffering caused thereby. An
"emergency" is any occasion or instance that the president of the
United States determines that federal assistance is needed to supplant state
and local efforts and capabilities to save lives and to protect property and
public health and safety, or to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe.
Most, but not all, federal emergency management assistance funds are excluded.
For example, some payments made to homeless people to pay for rent, mortgage,
food, and utility assistance when there is no major disaster or emergency is
not excluded under this provision.
(h) Payments to U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry and permanent
resident Japanese aliens or their survivors and Aleut residents of the Pribilof
islands and the Aleutian islands west of Unimak island, Pub. L. No. 100-383,
(8/1988), section 105(f)(2), wartime relocation of civilians, the Civil
Liberties Act of 1988.
(i) Income received (including reimbursements) by individuals
participating in programs under the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998,
section 181 (a)(2), as amended by Pub. L. No. 113-128, the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (WIOA), (7/2014) except as provided in rule 5101:4-4-19 of
the Administrative Code. This includes disaster relief employment income
received from national emergency grants under the WIA, Pub. L. No. 105-220,
(8/1998) section 181(a)(2), as amended by Pub. L. No. 113-128, the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), (7/2014).
(j) Any amount by which the basic pay of an individual is reduced
and reverted to the treasury shall not be considered to have been received by
or to be within the control of such individual, Pub. L. No. 99-576,(10/1986)
section 303(a)(1), Veteran's Benefits Improvement and Health Care
Authorization Act of 1986, that amends section 1411(b) and 1412(c) of the
Veteran's Educational Act of 1984 - GI bill.
(k) Funds received by persons fifty-five and older under the
senior community service employment program under Title V of the Older
Americans Act of 1987 are excluded from income, Pub. L. No. 109-365, (10/2006).
The organizations that receive some Title V funds are as follows: experience
works; national council on aging; national council of senior citizens; American
association of retired persons; United States forest service; national
association for Spanish speaking elderly; national urban league; and the
national council on black aging.
(l) Cash donations based on need received on or after February 1,
1988 from one or more private nonprofit charitable organizations, but not to
exceed three hundred dollars in a federal fiscal year quarter. Charitable
Assistance and Food Bank Act of 1987, Pub. L. No. 100-232,
(1/1988).
(m) SNAP benefits that may be exchanged for food at farmers'
markets under WIC demonstration projects, Pub. L. No. 100-435, (9/1988) section
501, that amended section 17(m)(7) of the Child Nutrition Act of
1966.
(n) Payments made from the Agent Orange settlement fund, Pub. L.
No. 101-201, (12/1989), or any other fund established pursuant to the
settlement in the Agent Orange product liability litigation, M.D.L. No. 381
(E.D.N.Y.)(1/1989) that are received on or after January 1, 1989. The disabled
veteran will receive yearly payments. Survivors of deceased disabled veterans
will receive a lump-sum payment. These payments were disbursed by aetna
insurance company. The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1989, Pub. L. No.
101-239, (12/1989), also excludes these payments. Pub. L. No. 102-4, (2/1991),
Agent Orange Act of 1991, authorized veteran's benefits to some veterans
with service-connected disabilities resulting from exposure to Agent Orange.
These VA payments are not excluded by law.
(o) Payments made under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act,
Pub. L. No. 101-426, (10/1990) section 6(h)(2), as amended by Pub. L. No.
106-245 (7/2000).
(p) The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1990, Title XI
revenue provisions, section 11111, modifications of earned income tax credit,
subsection (b) provides that any federal earned income tax credit shall not be
treated as income effective with taxable years beginning after December 31,
1990, Pub. L. No. 101-508, (11/1990).
(q) Pub. L. No. 101-610, (11/1990), National and Community
Service Act (NCSA) of 1990, section 177(d), applies to projects conducted under
Title I of the NCSA. Title I includes three acts: (i) Serve-America: the
Community Service, Schools and Service-Learning Act of 1990, (ii) the American
Conservation and Youth Service Corps Act of 1990, and (iii) the National and
Community Service Act.
There are about forty-seven different NCSA
programs, and they vary by state. Most of the payments are made as a weekly
stipend or for educational assistance. The higher education service-learning
program and the americorps umbrella program come under this title. The national
civilian community corps (NCCC) is a federally managed americorps program. The
summer for safety program is an americorps program; under which participants
earn a stipend and a one thousand-dollar postservice educational award. The
Serve America Act, Pub. L. No. 111-13, (4/2009), amended the National and
Community Services Act of 1990 but it did not change the exclusion. All
americorps payments shall be excluded.
(r) All student financial assistance, including grants,
scholarships, fellowships, educational loans on which payment is deferred, work
study, veteran's educational benefits, and the like, that are awarded to
an assistance group member enrolled at a recognized institution of
post-secondary education, at a school for the handicapped, in a vocational
education program, in a vocational or technical school, or in a program that
provides for obtaining a secondary school diploma or the equivalent of a
secondary school diploma shall be excluded from consideration as income for
SNAP purposes.
Educational income excluded for dependent
care costs shall not be deducted from income under the provisions of rule
5101:4-4-23 of the Administrative Code. Dependent care costs incurred that
exceed the amount excluded under the provisions of this paragraph shall be
deducted from income in accordance with rule 5101:4-4-23 of the Administrative
Code.
(s) Payments made under the youthbuild program under the Housing
and Community Development Act of 1992, Pub. L. No. 102-550, (10/1992). The
youthbuild program transferred from the United States department of housing and
urban development to the department of labor with the passage of the Youthbuild
Transfer Act of 2006, Pub. L. No. 109-281, (9/2006), that amended the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 1998. These payments are to be treated
like WIOA payments in accordance with paragraph (C)(1)(i) of this rule, except
as provided in rule 5101:4-4-19 of the Administrative Code.
(t) Payments from any child care provided or arranged (or any
amount received as payment for such care or reimbursement for costs incurred
for such care), Pub. L. No. 102-586, (11/1992) section 8, that amended the
Child Care and Development Block Grant Act Amendments of 1992 by adding section
658S.
(u) Payments made to individuals because of their status as
victims of Nazi persecution, Pub. L. No. 103-286, (8/1994).
(v) Pub. L. No. 103-322, (9/1994) section 230202, amended
section 1403 of the Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10602) to provide in part
that, "(e) Notwithstanding any other law, when the compensation paid by an
eligible crime victim compensation program would cover costs that a federal
program, or a federally financed state or local program, would otherwise pay,
(i) such crime victim compensation program shall not pay that compensation; and
(ii) the other program shall make its payments without regard to the existence
of the crime victim compensation program." Based on this language,
payments received under this program shall be excluded from income for SNAP
purposes.
(w) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the allowance
paid under Pub. L. No. 104-204, (9/1996) section 1805(d), as amended by Pub. L.
No. 106-419, (11/2000), to a child of a Vietnam veteran for any disability
resulting from spina bifida and certain other birth defects suffered by such
child. A monthly allowance from two hundred to one thousand two hundred dollars
is paid to a child under this public law.
(x) Combat-related pay received by a service member of the United
States armed forces (under the Consolidated Appropriations Bill, 2008, Pub. L.
No. 110-161, (12/2007)) and basic military pay not made available to the
assistance group while the service member is on deployment to a designated
combat zone.
(i) Pay is considered
combat-related when:
(a) Received in addition
to the service member's basic pay;
(b) Received as a result
of the service member's deployment to, or service in an area designated as
a combat zone as determined pursuant to executive order or public law;
and
(c) Not received by the
service member prior to the service member's deployment to or service in a
federally-designated combat zone.
(ii) Basic military pay
is considered available to the assistance group as follows:
(a) When the service
member was part of the assistance group for SNAP purposes prior to the
deployment to a designated combat zone, this amount would be his or her net
military pay.
(b) When the service
member was not part of the assistance group for SNAP purposes prior to the
deployment to a designated combat zone, this amount is the amount the absent
service member actually made available to the assistance group prior to
deployment to the designated combat zone.
(y) Disaster unemployment assistance provided under the Robert T.
Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, Pub. L. No. 100-707,
(11/1988), to individuals unemployed as a result of a major
disaster.
(z) Filipino veterans equity compensation funds payments under
the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (2/2009, Pub. L. No. 111-5)
made to certain veterans, or surviving spouses of veterans, who served in the
military of the government of the commonwealth of the Philippines during World
War II.
(aa) Any aid, services,
or incentives provided to an eligible beneficiary participating in programs
funded by the health profession opportunity grants (HPOG) under the Patient
Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-148,
(3/2010).
(2) Payments made to
American Indians or Alaska natives that are excluded by law. A list of funds
provided to American Indians or Alaska natives that are excluded by law can be
found at:
https://www.fns.usda.gov/funds-provided-american-indiansalaska-natives-are-excluded-law
(D) All loans, including loans from private individuals as well
as commercial institutions, are excluded as income. Educational loans on which
repayment is deferred shall be excluded pursuant to the provisions in paragraph
(C)(1)(r) of this rule.
(E) Reimbursements for past or future expenses are excluded to
the extent they do not exceed actual expenses and do not represent a gain or
benefit to the assistance group. No portion of benefits provided under Title
IV-A of the Social Security Act of 1935, to the extent such benefits are
attributed to adjustment for work-related or child care expenses shall be
considered excludable under this paragraph.
(1) When a reimbursement,
including a flat allowance, covers multiple expenses, each expense does not
have to be separately identified as long as none of the reimbursement covers
normal living expenses. Reimbursements for normal living expenses of the
assistance group, such as rent or mortgage, personal clothing, or food eaten at
home, are a gain or benefit and therefore are not excluded. To be excluded,
these payments must be provided specifically for an identified expense, other
than normal living expenses, and used for the purpose intended.
(2) The amount by which a
reimbursement exceeds the actual incurred expense shall be counted as income.
However, reimbursements shall not be considered to exceed the actual expenses,
unless the provider or the assistance group indicates the amount is
excessive.
(F) Monies received and used for the care and maintenance of a
third-party beneficiary who is not an assistance group member. When the
intended beneficiaries of a single payment are both assistance group and
non-assistance group members, any identifiable portion of the payment intended
and used for the care and maintenance of the non-assistance group member shall
be excluded. When the non-assistance group member's portion cannot be
readily identified, the payment shall be evenly prorated among intended
beneficiaries and the exclusion applied to the non-assistance group
member's pro rata share or the amount actually used for the non-assistance
group member's care and maintenance, whichever is less.
(G) The earned income of any assistance group members who live
with a natural, adoptive, or stepparent, or under the parental control of an
assistance group member other than a parent, who are elementary or secondary
school students, and who are seventeen years of age or younger. For purposes of
this provision, an "elementary or secondary school student" is
someone who attends classes to obtain a general equivalency diploma (GED) that
are recognized, operated, or supervised by the student's state or local
school district. The provision also applies to a student who attends elementary
or secondary classes through a home-school program recognized or supervised by
the student's state or local school district. This income is excluded even
during temporary interruptions in school attendance due to semester or vacation
breaks, provided the child's enrollment will resume following the break.
When the child's earnings or the amount of work performed cannot be
differentiated from that of other assistance group members, the total earnings
shall be prorated equally among the working members and the child's pro
rata share excluded. Individuals are considered children for this exclusion
when they are under the parental control of another assistance group member.
When an assistance group contains a student whose income is excluded and the
student turns eighteen during the month of application, the student's
earnings shall be excluded in the month of application and counted in the
following month(s). When the student turns eighteen during the certification
period, the student's income shall be excluded until the month following
the month the student turns eighteen.
(H) Money received in the form of a nonrecurring lump-sum
payment, including, but not limited to, income tax refunds, rebates, or
credits; retroactive lump-sum social security, SSI, public assistance, railroad
retirement pension, the learning, earning and parenting (LEAP) program
enrollment bonus payment, or other payment; retroactive lump-sum insurance
settlements; refunds of security deposits on rental property or utilities;
medical loss ratio rebates afforded under the Patient Protection and Affordable
Care Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-148 (3/2010); or prevention, retention and
contingency (PRC) payments made to divert an assistance group from becoming
dependent on cash assistance when the payment is not defined as assistance.
Temporary assistance for needy families (TANF) non-recurrent, short term
benefits are defined in 45 C.F.R. 260.31(b)(1) (revised October 1, 2001). These
payments shall be counted as resources in the month received, unless
specifically excluded from consideration as a resource by other federal
laws.
(I) Miscellaneous income exclusions.
(1) Irregular
income
Any income in the certification period that is
acquired too infrequently or irregularly to be reasonably anticipated, but not
in excess of thirty dollars in a quarter.
(2) Costs of
self-employment
The cost of producing self-employment income.
See rule 5101:4-6-11 of the Administrative Code for the procedures on computing
the cost of producing self-employment income.
(3) Income from
ineligible assistance group members
The prorated share of earned or unearned income
of an ineligible assistance group member in accordance with rule 5101:4-6-13 of
the Administrative Code.
(4) Energy assistance, as
follows:
(a) Any payments or allowances made for the purpose of providing
energy assistance under any federal law other than part A of Title IV of the
Social Security Act of 1935 (42 U.S.C. 601), including utility reimbursements
made by HUD and the rural housing service, or
(b) A one-time payment or allowance applied for on an as-needed
basis and made under a federal or state law for the costs of weatherization or
emergency repair or replacement of an unsafe or inoperative furnace or other
heating or cooling device. A down payment followed by a final payment upon
completion of the work will be considered a one-time payment for purposes of
this provision.
(5) Blood and blood
plasma sales
Any income that is acquired from the sale of
blood or blood plasma.
(6) Garage
sales
Any income that is acquired from garage
sales.
(7) Interest
income
Any interest income from savings or other
financial accounts.
(8) Bingo
winnings
Any income from bingo winnings.
(J) Certain payments from the child and adult care food
program
That portion of payments from the child and adult
care food program to assistance groups providing child care services intended
for the provider's own children's meals. See rule 5101:4-4-19 of the
Administrative Code for treatment of that portion of child and adult care food
program payments intended for providing services to children other than the
provider's own.
(K) Payments that are not considered income.
(1) Monies withheld from
an assistance payment, earned income, or other income source, or monies
received from any income source that are voluntarily or involuntarily returned
to repay a prior overpayment received from the income source, provided that the
overpayment is not otherwise excluded. However, monies withheld from assistance
from a federal, state, or local means-tested program (for example, Ohio works
first (OWF)) due to the assistance group's failure to perform an action
required under these programs, shall be included as income in accordance with
rule 5101:4-6-16 of the Administrative Code.
(2) Child support
payments received by OWF recipients that must be transferred to the agency
administering Title IV-D of the Social Security Act of 1935 to maintain OWF
eligibility.
(3) Governmental or
court-ordered foster care payments, guardianship payments, or kinship support
payments received by assistance groups with individuals who are considered to
be boarders in accordance with rules 5101:4-2-03 and 5101:4-6-03 of the
Administrative Code.
(4) In accordance with 7
C.F.R 273.9 (5/2015), any payment made to an employment and training
participant under 7 C.F.R 273.7 (5/2015) for costs that are reasonably
necessary and directly related to participation in the employment and training
program are excluded income. These costs include, but are not limited to,
dependent care costs, transportation, other expenses related to work, training
or education, such as uniforms, personal safety items or the other necessary
equipment, and books or training manuals. These costs are to not include the
cost of meals away from home.
