Railroad Income Benefits
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This subject includes information about benefits paid to qualified railroad employees and dependents.
Policy
Payments to a participant from the Railroad Retirement Board (RRB) are countable unearned income.
When participants are eligible for Social Security and Railroad, the benefits are combined into one payment issued by the RRB.
Railroad benefits include and are not limited to any of the following:
●Retirement benefits
●Disability benefits
●Spouse, dependent, and survivor’s benefits
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.)
Procedures
When more information is needed send any of the following notices:
●More Information Needed – Nutrition Assistance (NA) (F011)
●More Information Needed – Cash Assistance (CA) (A011)
You can find contact information for the United States Railroad Retirement Board at RRB.gov. Click on field office locator or call 1 (877) 772-5772.
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.
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.
Examples of verification that can be used for Railroad Retirement Income include, and are not limited to, any of the following:
●Benefit award letters from Social Security Administration (SSA), Statement of Earnings Veteran’s Administration (VA), RRB, and other agencies
●Bank records
●Signed statement from the agency or payer providing the income
●Collateral Contact
●Participant statement verification when one of the following occur:
Obtaining documented or collateral contact verification may cause harm or undue hardship(g) for the participant.
When all of the following occur:
●Other attempts to obtain the verification have failed. This includes documented and collateral contact verification.
●The participant has requested assistance from FAA.
●The worker has evaluated the request for assistance and cannot obtain the verification from another acceptable source.
●The participant statement is not questionable(g).
AZTECS Keying Procedures
Key any the following Unearned Income Codes in the INC TYPE field on UNIC based on the type of payment:
●RR RE for Regular Retirement
●RR DS for Disability
●RR ER for Early Retirement
●RR OT for Other
●RR SU for Survivor
●RR WI for Widows
●RR UI for Unemployment Insurance
●RR SI for Sickness Insurance
Document the case file(g) thoroughly to support keyed codes, amounts, and frequencies. See the AZTECS Data Entry Guide for instructions on keying the AZTECS income screens.
NOTE Documentation must support determinations of eligibility and benefit level. Document in sufficient detail to ensure that any reviewer can assess whether the determination is reasonable and accurate. Include specific information regarding the reason the income is determined to be normal. (See Budgeting Income Documentation Requirements for additional information.)
Legal Authorities
7 CFR 273.9(b)(2)(ii)
last revised 10/02/2023