74. How does DTA count the income of someone not eligible in my SNAP household?

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Massachusetts Law Reform Institute
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If you share living quarters with friends or relatives – and you purchase and prepare the majority of your meals separately – the income of these individuals does not count1.

However, if you live with someone who is required to be part of your SNAP household but is ineligible, there are rules about how their income is handled.

The treatment of their income depends on the reason the person is not eligible:

See 106 C.M.R.§361.230(D) and 7 CFR 273.11(c).

If someone is sanctioned due to an IPV, the rules require DTA to count the disqualified person’s income and apply an asset test and the lower (130% FPL) gross income eligibility test. See counting assets.

In addition, the rules require DTA to exclude the disqualified person in the household size2.

Example

Mark, Sarah and their two children reapplied for SNAP recently. Mark was disqualified in September for 12 months after a hearing officer ruled that he had committed an Intentional Program Violation (IPV). Mark is now working 20 hours a week and the family reapplied for SNAP. Mark is not eligible for SNAP until his 12-month disqualification period ends at the end of August.

As a household with a disqualified member, the household’s income (including Mark’s) must fall under the lower 130% FPL gross income limit for three people (his wife and 2 children). Further, the family’s SNAP benefit amount is calculated for a household of 3 (not 4). Mark is excluded from the SNAP household size until the 12-month sanction period expires, but his income counts in the SNAP math.

Note

As soon as the IPV sanction period ends, DTA should use the 200% FPL gross income test (versus 130% FPL) and increase the SNAP benefit to include the formerly disqualified household member in the household size. Be sure to check the accuracy and duration of any IPV disqualification.

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