204 Pa. Code § 401.4 - Income Inclusions

The sources of income to be included in determining the total monthly gross income are:

(a) money wages or salary earned by individuals 14 years of age or older before deductions for taxes, social security, bonds, pensions, union dues, health insurance, and similar purposes for work performed as an employee including commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses;

(b) Armed Forces pay which includes base pay plus cash housing and/or subsistence allowances, but does not include the value of rent-free quarters;

(c) voluntary or court-ordered spousal and/or child support received by a present or former spouse;

(d) voluntary or court-ordered child support;

(e) net income from non-farm self employment, defined as gross receipts minus expenses from one's own business, professional enterprise, or partnership. Gross receipts include the value of all goods sold and service rendered. Business expenses include costs of goods purchased, rent, heat, light, power, depreciation charges, wages and salaries paid, business taxes (no personal income taxes), and similar expenses. Inventory changes may be considered in determining net income only when they are documented by income tax returns or other official records which reflect inventory changes. The value of marketable merchandise consumed by the proprietors of retail stores is not included as part of net income;

(f) net income from farm self-employment, defined as gross receipts minus operating expenses from the operation of a farm by a person on his/her own account, as an owner, renter, or share-cropper. Gross receipts include the value of all products sold, government subsidies-crop loans, money received from the rental of farm equipment to others, and incidental receipts from the sale of wood, sand gravel and similar items. Operating expenses include the cost of feed, fertilizer, seed, and other farming supplies, cash wages paid to farm hands, depreciation charges, cash rent, interest on farm mortgages, farm building repairs, farm taxes (not State and Federal income taxes), and similar expenses. The value of fuel, food, or other farm products used for family living is not included as part of net income. Inventory changes may be considered in determining net income only when they are documented by income tax returns or other official records which reflect inventory changes;

(g) net income from non-resident real property income, defined as gross receipts minus the expenses for continuing the income such as depreciation charges, business taxes (not personal income taxes), interest on mortgage, repairs, and similar expenses;

(h) Social Security pensions, survivors' benefits, permanent disability insurance payments, and special benefit payments made by the Social Security Administration before deductions of health insurance premiums;

(i) Railroad retirement, disability, and survivors' benefit payments made by the U.S. Government under the Railroad Retirement Act before deductions of health insurance premiums;

(j) State Blind Pension payments made by the Department of Public Welfare;

(k) Public assistance or welfare payments such as General Assistance, SSI and State Supplemental payments, only when the person is not the Applicant;

(l) private pension and annuities, including retirement benefits paid to a retired person or his/her survivors by a former employer or by a union, either directly or though an insurance company;

(m) government employee pensions received from retirement pensions paid by Federal, State, County, or other governmental agencies to former employees including members of the Armed Forces or their survivors;

(n) unemployment compensation received from government unemployment agencies or private companies during periods of unemployment and any strike benefits received from union funds;

(o) worker's compensation received from private or public insurance companies for injuries incurred at work. The cost of this insurance must have been paid by the employer and not by the worker;

(p) Veterans payments, defined as money paid periodically by the Veterans Administration to disabled members of the Armed Forces or to the survivors of deceased veterans, and subsistence allowances, paid to veterans for education and on-the-job training, as well as the so-called "refunds" paid to ex-service persons as GI insurance premiums. The two basic educational programs sponsored by the Veterans Administration are the G.I. Bill Educational Training Program and the VA Vocational Rehabilitation Program. There is a different method for providing funds to veterans in these programs. The veteran in G.I. Bill Education Training Program receives a monthly sum which may be used totally for education or subsistence, or partially for education and partially for subsistence. The VA calls this monthly sum a "rate." Therefore, all the money received by the G.I. Bill veteran is counted as income. The Veteran in a VA Vocational Rehabilitation Program receives what the VA calls a "subsistence allowance" and the VA itself handles the educational costs directly. Therefore, for the disabled veteran in the Vocational Rehabilitation Program, the subsistence allowance and the veteran's disability allowance are counted as income;

(q) dividends including dividends from stockholdings or memberships in associations;

(r) interest on savings, checking accounts and bonds;

(s) income from estates and trust funds;

(t) net income from royalties;

(u) net income from room and board payments, paid singly or in combination, and for rent from apartments, determined by deducting the sum of (1) and (2) from the total gross receipts.

(1) Deductions for minimal costs:

(i) $10 per month for each tenant (lone person) or tenant group (two or more persons living together as a family normally would) whose rent arrangements with the landlord/landlady are independent of other persons, or

(ii) $20 per month for each boarder, or

(iii) $30 per month for each separate tenant-boarder (person not included in (a) or (b) above) whose rent and board arrangements with the landlord/landlady are independent or other persons.

(iv) $30 per month for the first person and $20 per month for each additional person in a tenant-boarder group (persons not included in (a), (b), or (c) above) whose joint rent and board arrangements with the landlord/ landlady are independent of other persons, and;

(2) The following amount is deducted to recognize costs above the minimum: 50% of the remainder after the deduction in (1).

Notes

204 Pa. Code § 401.4