Actual Income
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This section includes budgeting the actual income received from daily wages, day labor, on-call, odd jobs, and terminated employment when less than a full month of income is received.
Policy
FAA budgets the actual income without conversion in the budget month(g) when any of the following applies:
●A participant is paid without an established pay frequency.
●Less than a full month of income(g) is received.
●The receipt of income is unpredictable.
NOTE When the income frequency is reasonably expected, the income is converted to a monthly amount.
FAA requests, verifies, and reviews a participant’s income received during 30 calendar days or more to determine the reasonably certain income to be received during the approval period.
NOTE FAA requests more than 30 calendar days of income when the application and interview dates are in different months.
FAA budgets actual income for all of the following income situations:
●For the budget month when an income source terminates, and all of the following apply:
No other income is expected to be received in the following month.
Less than a full month of income is received.
●For the budget month when an income source begins and less than a full month of income is received. See Anticipating Income for more information about budgeting a new source of income.
●Income is received or expected to be received occasionally, irregularly, or infrequently.
NOTE When a pay frequency is reasonably expected based on established history, FAA converts the income to a monthly amount. (See Example1 and Example 2)
●Pay is received or expected to be received each day a participant works, including and not limited to, any of the following:
Daily wages or daily labor
On Call
Odd jobs
NOTE When a pay frequency is reasonably expected, FAA converts the income to a monthly amount. See Frequency Codes for more information about how income is converted.
●Income is received or expected to be received once a month, including, and not limited to, any of the following:
Social Security Administration (SSA) benefits
Supplemental Security Income (SSI)
Retirement and Pension Benefits
See Anticipating Income for other income budgets that use actual income, including any of the following:
●A new source of income
Procedures
When the participant is present, have them sign the Authority to Release (FAA‑1765A) form to contact any companies or businesses involved. The FAA-1765A can be faxed or emailed to the participant's employer when it is not possible to use the Application for Benefits (FAA-0001A) or the HEAplus Authority to Release signed statement.
When determining a budget using actual income, see one or more of the following for each budgeting month based on a discussion with the participant and the verified income:
Verification
System interface and the case file(g) must be reviewed before verification is requested. No additional verification is needed when AZTECS interface or HEAplus hubs have verified the information.
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.
Terminated Employment Verification
When a participant’s employment status is terminated in a budget month, all of the following information needs to be verified:
●Date of termination
●The last date worked
●Last date paid
●Verification of all the income and pay dates in a budget month.
●The gross amount and date of the last pay date when income terminates a budget month.
●Verification of the gross amount and dates of leave pay received after the participant terminated employment.
NOTE Verify the gross amount for the last pay dates is required only when the income received in the budget month is determined.
AZTECS Keying Procedures
See one or more of the following for each budgeting month:
Examples
1) Clark applies for NA for himself and completes the interview on 03/17. The only income Clark receives is from day labor. Clark explains work is only available at random times from various employers, and they pay him at the end of each day he works. Clark provides all of his paycheck subs from a 30-day income period, 03/17 back to 02/16:
●02/16 pay date 4.80 hours $20.00 Gross pay
●02/18 pay date 2.50 hours $10.00 Gross pay
●02/23 pay date 3.20 hours $15.00 Gross pay
●02/25 pay date 2.5 hours $10.00 Gross pay
●02/27 pay date 3.90 hours $17.00 Gross pay
●03/01 pay date 4.10 hours $20.00 Gross pay
●03/07 pay date 5.60 hours $25.00 Gross pay
●03/13 pay date 3.50 hours $15.00 Gross pay
Clark’s total gross pay for the 30-day income period is $132.00.
Clark’s actual income of $132.00 counts toward his eligibility and benefit amount for each month of his approval period.
2) Jake’s wife, Janice, works part-time for the local grade school. When Janice works, he stays home with the baby. When Janice is not working, she stays with the baby and Jake works with his brother-in-law’s construction crew doing day labor for $50 per day.
Review of the pay history in the last 30 calendar days shows that Jake has consistently worked three days per week. When asked, Jake confirmed that he anticipates this to continue based on Janice’s work schedule.
Jake’s income is budgeted with a weekly frequency. ($50 x 3) x 4.3 = $645 per month.
Legal Authorities
AAC R6-12-508(D)(1-2)
7 U.S.C. 2014 (f)(1)(A)
last revised 10/02/2023