Yes. The SNAP/food stamp rules sometimes count money you do not get as income when it is:
- Money taken out of your TAFDC or EAEDC because of an intentional failure on your part to comply with the rules of the cash assistance program, such as:
- money taken out for failure to comply with the TAFDC work rule, teen parent school attendance rule, Learnfare rule, child support requirements, etc.,or
- money taken out to repay DTA for an overpayment caused by fraud or willful withholding of information (such as failure to report a job you got when the earnings would have counted) if you were found guilty of an intentional program violation by a court or by a DTA hearing officer or you waived your right to a hearing. 106 C.M.R. § 363.220(C)(4) and (5). If the money is being taken out to repay a non-fraud overpayment, it is not countable income. 106 C.M.R. § 363.220(C)(6).
The money taken out of your cash grant for a program sanction is counted as if it were still paid in calculating your SNAP benefits.
- Money taken out of your SSI benefits or other means-tested benefit program to recover an overpayment that DTA confirms was caused by fraud or willful withholding of information. 106 C.M.R. § 363.220(C)(4).
- Money owed to you (wages, support or alimony, public assistance) that you do not get because you asked your employer, spouse or government agency to use the money to pay your bills instead. For example, if you ask your boss to pay your rent instead of giving you a paycheck, the money would still count. But if your boss pays you a regular paycheck and also pays your rent, the rent payment does not count as income. 106 C.M.R. § 363.220(C)(3).
- Part of your TAFDC or EAEDC grant that is sent to your landlord or utility company (sometimes called vendor or protective payments). 106 C.M.R. § 363.220 (C)(2), (C)(3).
Advocacy Reminders
- Money that is taken out of your EAEDC or TAFDC grant for an overpayment should not be counted as income in calculating your SNAP/food stamp benefits unless you were found guilty of an intentional program violation (IPV) by a court of law or by a DTA hearing officer or you waived your right to a hearing. See How does DTA figure the amount of the overissuance? If the hearing decides that you owe the money but the overpayment was not intentional, the money that is taken out should not be counted.
- Money being recouped from a non-means tested program benefits, such as Unemployment Compensation or Social Security Disability, is never countable for SNAP/food stamp purposes. This is true even if the money is recouped because of an intentional program violation. These rules only apply to recouped income from a means-tested programs, as defined in 106 C.M.R. § 360.030.
- Money paid to a third party that is not legally owed to you does not count. For example, if an uncle or an organization pays your landlord part of your rent, the payment is not countable. 106 C.M.R. § 363.230(B). But you can only claim a shelter deduction for the amount you pay the landlord.
- Money that is paid to others on your behalf does not count where the payments are a result of a court order or other legally binding agreement directing that this money be paid to the third party instead of you. 106 C.M.R. § 363.230(B)(4)(b). For example, if the court orders an absent parent to pay $400 per month to the household, and an additional $200 per month to a bank towards repayment of a household's loan, only the $400 is counted as income.
Additional Policy Guidance on Counting Income
Additional Policy Guidance on Counting Income
- See BEACON User's Guide, Ch. XIV-D, pp. 4-7, defining scope of sanction cases where income of a sanctioned member is attributed to the household and process for removing the sanctioned income.
- Recouped SSI benefits should not count in calculating SNAP/food stamp benefits. DTA Transitions (June 1999)
- Monies paid to a third party that are not legally owed to you do not count. DTA Transitions (May 2004)
Produced by Patricia Baker, Laura Gallant, Deborah Harris, Rochelle Hahn Massachusetts Law Reform Institute Last updated January 2011
