IM-135 September 1, 2020; IM-32 March 12, 2013
Cash remaining from an assistance check or other budgeted monthly income received during the month of the eligibility determination is considered as income only. Assistance checks can include monies from SSI, SSDI, TA and VA, this is not and inclusive list of the types of income that is considered an assistance check but only a few examples.
If inclusion of cash remaining from an assistance check or other budgeted monthly income causes countable resources to approach or exceed the resource maximum, exclude the income from the resource determination. Evaluate total resource eligibility to determine if the amount of monthly income on deposit should be pursued.
EXAMPLE: Rick’s combined, verified resources total $580. Andrew is processing this case and does not know how much of that is monthly income, but he does not pursue the matter because Rick will fall below the resource maximum whether the income is included or not.
If the participant’s resources are approaching the resource maximum, discuss with the participant into which accounts monthly income is deposited. Deduct the participant’s declared portion of monthly income from the correlating account(s).
Treat funds on a direct benefit card, such as child support, in the same manner as a checking account. Consider income remaining on the card the month following the receipt of the payment as an available resource.
If income is received annually (such as sale of livestock in the fall) and put aside in a separate account for yearly maintenance, consider one-twelfth of the amount as income. Do not consider the remainder as cash and securities for 12 months from date of the sale of livestock, etc. Consider the amount left over at the end of the 12 month period as cash and securities.
The money remaining from monthly income would be entered in FAMIS as Resource Class LR = Liquid Resources with Excl Rsn = CI CURRENT MONTH’S INCOME on the Liquid Resource (FMW0) screen.