TANF 3 Months Earned Income Disregard

What It Does:

Disregard the earned income plus self-employment income of the payee or spouse included in an ongoing TANF case for up to three consecutive months in any 12 month period if the total household income exceeds the “Total Requirements”, but is less than or equal to $2064.

When to use:

The TANF 3 Months Earned Income Disregard is used when a TANF payee or spouse who is added to the TANF benefit on an ongoing TANF case reports new earned / or self-employment income. It should also be used in instances where there is a pay increase, increase in hours, or increased profits from self-employment. (Note: Income added at the time of certification) cannot be disregarded. It counts after the work-related expenses exemption, one half the remainder and dependent care costs are deducted.

Instruction:

The first step in processing the TANF 3 Months Earned Income Disregard is to determine the TANF payee or spouse’s eligibility:

• Case is an ongoing TANF case.
• Payee or spouse is added to TANF benefit.
• Payee or spouse reports and provides proof of new earned / self-employment income or an increase in pay rate, hours, and/or profit from self-employment (such as paycheck stubs, hiring document, etc.).
  See Quest Article TANF: Earned Income Disregard (EID) Eligibility

Worker will complete an income update as usual by using FACS to:

1. Update earned income with the MICAL calculation or self-employment in the “Monthly Self-Employment Income” and “Monthly Business Expenses “fields.
2. Enter the date the job started or the first date TANF payee / spouse received the increased income in “TANF 3E INCOME Chg Date” field.
3. Enter the first date of the first month we disregard the income in “TANF 3E Eff. Date” field.

Example: if the job started on 01/07/2016. TANF 3E INCOME Chg Date should be entered as 01/07/2016 and TANF 3E Eff. Date should be entered as 02/01/16.

Note: If the job started after first deadline (like on 01/25/2016) the first effective date would be two calendar months later (03/01/2016).

After making the income update on FACS as usual, you will receive the smiley face showing no edit errors.

Log onto IMS and double check your update.

On the EB screen (before the update), you should see no change prior to your income change. In the income example below, the household has “0” income and receives “292” in TANF benefits prior to the income change.

After the update, you should see the income change on the GB screen.

In the previous example, the household now has “1,950” earned income and still receives “$292” in TANF benefits.

B106 TANF 3E INC is the 3 Months Earned Income Disregard amount.

B107 3E ICDT is the date you entered in “TANF 3E INCOME Chg Date” field on FACS.

B108 3E EFDT is the date you entered in “TANF 3E Eff. Date” field on FACS.

Best Practices: These are some best practice when processing TANF 3 Months Earned Income Disregard:

• The TANF 3 Months Earned Income Disregard is only for ongoing TANF cases.
• If the income is added at the time of certification, it is not disregarded. It counts after the work-related exemption, one half the remainder, and dependent care costs are deducted.
• If we need to add/or update both unearned and earned income on a TANF case, add the unearned income first and update the case to recalculate the benefit amount. If the case is still eligible for TANF with the unearned income, then add the earned income.