Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC)
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This section has information on the earned income tax credit.
Policy
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) received as a monthly advance with the participant's regular wages is not countable. EITC received monthly is considered not countable unearned income.
EITC lump sum payments are considered liquid assets and are not countable as a resource.
Countable income is used to determine an income budget. (See Income Budgeting to see how FAA determines the income budget.) FAA needs to know about income that is both countable and not countable to determine whether a budgetary unit’s income is exceeding their expenses. (See Income Eligibility for more information about how FAA uses countable and not countable income.)
Verification
The participant has the primary responsibility for providing verification. (See Participant Responsibilities – Providing Verification for additional policy.)
For NA, all of the following income is required to be verified before eligibility is determined:
●Reported on a new application, during the interview of a new application, or changes reported before the eligibility determination of a new application.
●Changes after an eligibility determination of a new application (e.g., a renewal application, mid approval contact, etc.) and any of the following apply:
The source of the income has changed.
The income is questionable(g) or unclear(g).
The reported income amount has changed by $51 or more.
The previous verification in the case file is more than 59 calendar days old.
For CA, all income is required to be verified before determining eligibility.
Examples of verification that can be used for Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●A copy of a paycheck stub.
●Copy of checks when the gross earnings are listed.
●A printout from a third-party payroll verification source provided by the participant.
●Federal and state tax documents
●A collateral contact with the employer or their payroll authority.
NOTE Collateral contact is not used when contacting the employer would jeopardize the participant's employment or when the employer does not accept telephone verification.
●Participant statement verification when any of the following occur:
Other attempts to obtain verification have failed
Obtaining documented or collateral contact verification may cause harm or undue hardship(g) for the participant.
NOTE A participant’s statement is not allowed to verify income when it is considered questionable.
Legal Authorities
45 CFR 260.33
last revised 10/02/2023