Income that is disregarded in determining eligibility for
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) includes:
(1) the food benefit allotment under the Food
and Nutrition Act of 2008;
(2) any
payment received under Title II of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real
Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970;
(3) educational assistance, such as grants,
work study, scholarships, fellowships, educational loans with deferred payment,
and veterans education benefits. When the educational assistance is serving the
same purpose as TANF cash assistance, such as when the client receives a
stipend for living expenses, the stipend is countable income. The student's
classification as a graduate or undergraduate is not a factor;
(4) loans, regardless of use, when a bona
fide debt or obligation to pay can be established.
(A) Criteria to establish a loan as bona fide
includes an acknowledgment of obligation to repay or evidence that the loan was
from a person or financial institution in the loan business.
(B) When the loan was from a person(s) not in
the loan business, the client's acknowledgment of obligation to repay, with or
without interest, is required to indicate that the loan is bona fide.
(C) When the loan agreement is not
written, the client and lender must complete and sign Form 08AD103E, Loan
Verification, or a written statement, attesting that the loan is bona fide and
verifying the date and amount of loan.
(D) When the client receives loans on a
recurrent or regular basis from the same source to meet expenses, the client
and lender must sign an affidavit that states the payments are loans that must
be repaid or that payments will be made in accordance with an established
repayment schedule;
(5)
Indian payments, including judgment funds or funds held in trust, distributed
per capita by the Secretary of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs (BIA) or
distributed by the tribe subject to the Secretary of the Interior's approval.
For this paragraph's purposes, per capita is defined as each tribal member
receiving an equal amount.
(A) Any interest
or investment income accrued on such funds while held in trust or any purchases
made with judgment funds, trust funds, interest, or investment income accrued
on such funds is disregarded.
(B)
Any income from mineral leases or from tribal business investments is
disregarded as long as the payments are paid per capita.
(C) Any interest or income derived from the
principal or produced by purchases made with the funds after distribution is
considered as any other income;
(6) special allowance(s) from the student's
trust funds for school expenses made available upon petition in writing;
(7) income from trusts of a
child(ren) included in a TANF benefit when the worker determines that funds are
to be used for educational purposes for a child(ren). Any court established
trust must be examined to determine if the court restricted the trust for other
purposes. The worker must verify at application and renewal if funds were
withdrawn. Any funds withdrawn are treated as lump sum unearned income unless
it is documented the funds were used for a child(ren)'s educational purposes;
(8) income from accounts, stocks,
and bonds held under the control of a third party when the funds are:
(A) designated for educational purposes for a
child(ren) in a TANF benefit even when a child(ren)'s name is on the account
and the third-party holder is required to access the funds; or
(B) established to pay for non-elective
medical expenses or funeral expenses for an assistance unit member, per OAC
340:10-3-5(a)(4)(D);
(9) benefits from state and community
programs on aging, per Title III and Title V of the Older Americans Act of 1965
as amended by Public Law (P.L.) 100-175, Older Americans Act Amendments of
1987, and
P.L.
114-144, Older Americans Reauthorization Act of
2016. Each state and various organizations receive Title V funds. These
organizations include:
(A) Experience
Works;
(B) National Council on
Aging;
(C) National Council of
Senior Citizens;
(D) American
Association of Retired Persons Foundation;
(E) United States (U.S.) Forest
Service;
(F) National Association
for Spanish Speaking Elderly;
(G)
National Urban League;
(H) National
Council on Black Aging;
(I)
National Council on Indian Aging;
(J) Asociacio'n National Pro Personas
Mayores;
(K) Associates for
Training and Development, Inc.;
(L)
American Samoa;
(M) Easter Seals
Inc.;
(N) Goodwill Industries
International, Inc.;
(O) Institute
for Indian Development;
(P)
National Able Network;
(Q) National
Asian Pacific Center on Aging;
(R)
National Caucus and Center on Black Aged, Inc.;
(S) National Older Worker Career Center;
(T) Operation A.B.L.E. of Greater
Boston, Inc.;
(U) Senior Service
America, Inc.;
(V) SER-Jobs for
Progress National, Inc.;
(W)
Workplace, Inc.; and
(X) VANTAGE
Aging;
(10) unearned
income received by a child(ren) in a TANF benefit, such as a needs based
payment, cash assistance, compensation in lieu of wages, or allowance from a
program funded by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014,
including Job Corps income and earned income received as wages;
(11) payments for supportive services or
reimbursement for out-of-pocket expenses made to individual volunteers serving
as foster grandparents, senior health aides, or senior companions, and to
persons serving in the Service Corps of Retired Executives and Active Corps of
Executives;
(12) payments,
allowances, or earnings to persons participating in the AmeriCorps State and
National program or the AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps authorized
by the National and Community Service Act of 1990,
42 U.S.C. §
12637(d); and other payments
to volunteers authorized by the National and Community Service Trust Act of
1993,
P.
L. 103-82,
42
U.S.C. §§
12571, et seq. and
administered by the Corporation for National and Community Service;
(13) the value of supplemental food
assistance received under the Child Nutrition Act or the special food service
program for children under the National School Lunch Act;
(14) any portion of payments made under the
Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act to an Alaska Native that are exempt from
taxation under the Settlement Act;
(15) any income of an adult or a child(ren)
in the family group living in the home and receiving Supplemental Security
Income (SSI) is not considered in determining the TANF benefit. The Social
Security Administration considers the individual's income in determining
eligibility for SSI and includes any payment made by Developmental Disabilities
Services through the Family Support Assistance Payment Program on behalf of a
child(ren) receiving SSI and any other earned or unearned income of the person;
(16) Experimental Housing
Allowance Program payments made under Annual Contributions Contracts entered
into prior to January 1, 1975, under Section 23 of the US Housing Act of 1937,
as amended;
(17) earnings of a
child(ren) in a TANF benefit who is a full-time student;
(18) government rental or housing subsidies
by governmental agencies, such as Housing and Urban Development received
in-kind or in cash for rent, mortgage payments, or utilities;
(19) reimbursements from an employer, the
Department of Labor, or the BIA, for out-of-pocket expenditures and allowances
for travel, training, meals, or supplies including uniforms, to the extent the
funds are used for expenses directly related to such travel, training, meals,
or supplies;
(20) Low Income Home
Energy Assistance Program payments for energy assistance and payments for
emergency situations under Emergency Assistance to Needy Families with
Children;
(21) federal or state
Earned Income Tax Credit refunds received after December 31, 2009, as a result
of filing a federal or state tax return are exempt as income for 12 months
following receipt, per the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Authorization,
and Job Creation Act of 2010,
P.L.
111-312;
(22) payments made from the Agent Orange
Settlement Fund or any other fund established pursuant to the settlement in the
In Re Agent Orange product liability litigation, M.D.L. No. 381 (E.D.N.Y.);
(23) payments made from the
Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund as compensation for injuries or
deaths resulting from the exposure to radiation from nuclear testing and
uranium mining;
(24) federal major
disaster and emergency assistance provided, per the Robert T. Stafford Disaster
Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, P.L. 93-288 as amended,
42 U.S.C. §
5155(d) and comparable
disaster assistance provided by states, local governments, and disaster
assistance organizations;
(25)
interests of individual Indians in trust or restricted lands;
(26) individual Indians' income up to $2,000
per calendar year derived from leases or other uses of individually-owned trust
or restricted lands. Any remaining disbursements from the trust or the
restricted lands are considered unearned income;
(27) payments received under the Civil
Liberties Act of 1988. These payments are made to persons of Japanese ancestry
who were detained in internment camps during World War II;
(28) payments made to persons because of
their status as victims of Nazi persecution;
(29) interest accrued from deposits made by a
person into an Individual Development Account up to $2,000;
(30) stipends paid to students participating
in the Indian Vocational Education Program through the Carl D. Perkins
Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act;
(31) payments made from the crime victims
compensation program as amended in Section 1403 of the Victims of Crime Act of
1984,
42
U.S.C. §
10602;
(32) reimbursements made to a foster care
parent(s) or a potential foster care parent(s);
(33) payments as described in 38 U.S.C.
§
1823(c) provided to certain persons who are children of Vietnam War
veterans;
(34) allowances,
stipends, earnings, compensation in lieu of wages, or other payments made for
participation in WIOA or other federally-funded grants and workforce training
programs paid to persons of all ages and student status;
(35) child support judgments or arrearage
payments received for a child(ren) no longer age-eligible for the TANF cash
benefit;
(36) money deposited into
or withdrawn from a qualified Oklahoma Achieving a Better Life Experience
(ABLE) Program account, or an ABLE account in any other state, owned by the
designated account beneficiary to pay for qualified disability expenses (QDE),
is excluded from income or resource consideration, per Sections
4001.1
through
4001.5
of Title 56 of the Oklahoma Statutes and the ABLE Act of 2014,
26 U.S.C. §
529A. A person may have only one ABLE
account.
(A) The client must provide
documents to verify the account meets exemption criteria before the funds are
excluded. Once the client verifies that the savings or trust account is a valid
ABLE account, no further account information is required.
(B) A contribution to an ABLE account by
another individual is excluded unless the contribution exceeds the annual
federal gift tax exclusion amount, per
26
U.S.C. §
2503(b). Any
money deposited in the account in the calendar year that exceeds the annual
federal gift tax exclusion amount is considered as a countable resource in the
amount deposited.
(C) A
distribution from an ABLE account that is retained after the month of receipt
is excluded in any month when spent on a QDE. Money withdrawn for reasons other
than to pay a QDE is considered as a countable resource for the month of
withdrawal.
(D) A QDE is any
expense related to the blindness or disability of the individual and made for
the benefit of the individual. QDE's include, but are not limited to:
(i) education;
(ii) housing;
(iii) transportation;
(iv) employment, training, and support;
(v) assistive technology;
(vi) health;
(vii) prevention and wellness;
(viii) financial management and
administrative services;
(ix) legal
fees;
(x) ABLE account oversight
and monitoring;
(xi) funeral and
burial; and
(xii) basic
living;
(37)
income received by a member of the U.S. Armed Forces, per 37 U.S.C. Chapter
5
and Section
273.9(c)(20) of Title 7 of the Code of Federal Regulations that is:
(A) received in addition to the service
member's basic pay during combat deployment;
(B) received as a result of the service
member's deployment or service in an area designated as a combat zone as
determined, per Executive Order or P.L.; and
(C) not received by the service member prior
to the service member's deployment to or service in a federally designated
combat zone;
(38)
economic impact payments received as a result of a national or state emergency
are considered as a rebate or advance payment of a credit and are excluded as
income and from resource consideration for a period of 12 months from receipt
date when determining eligibility for benefits or assistance under any federal
program or under any state or local program financed in whole or in part with
federal funds, per Section 103(d) of the American Taxpayer Relief Act, as
amended,
26
U.S.C. §
6409;
(39) casual and inconsequential gifts, such
as Christmas, birthday, or graduation gifts that do not exceed $30 per calendar
quarter for each person in the cash assistance unit. When the recipient claims
that the gift is intended for more than one person in the assistance unit, it
can be divided among these persons;
(40) financial aid provided to persons by
agencies or organizations when the purpose of the assistance does not duplicate
the purpose of the TANF assistance, per OAC
340:10-3-39(9);
(41) income received from the Oklahoma
Department of Rehabilitation Services that is allocated for items not covered
in the TANF standards, per OAC
340:10-1-3(e).
Examples of disregarded assistance or services are car fare to a rehabilitation
center, extra clothing, lunches, grooming needed for a training program, and
any other such complementary payments.