DTA has one set of rules for counting income for applicants to determine if they qualify for TAFDC and a different set of rules to calculate the amount of the benefit. Question 73 deals with applicant eligibility, sometimes called getting in the front door. Question 74 and Question 75 deal with how DTA calculates benefits once you get in the front door.
Start with your monthly gross earned income and deduct in the following order:
- $200 for work expenses. This is a flat amount regardless of how much your work expenses really are. 106 C.M.R. § 704.270
- One-half of what is left after the $200 work expense deduction if you were a recipient within the four months before you apply. 106 C.M.R. § 704.280. DTA calls this the 50% disregard.
- Dependent care costs. Deduct actual dependent care costs (including costs of transportation to and from childcare) up to DTA’s maximum dependent based on the age of the dependent and the number of hours you work. 106 C.M.R. § 704.275. Determine the maximum deduction you can take for each dependent using DTA’s table.
Hours of Work | Dependent Age 2 or Over | Dependent Under Age 2 |
|---|---|---|
Weekly Monthly | $44 | $50 |
Weekly Monthly | $88 | $100 |
Weekly Monthly | $132 | $150 |
Weekly Monthly | $175 | $200 |
You can deduct the first $50 a month in child support for children who are included in the grant. See income not counted.
Add earned and unearned income after the deductions allowed above. Include deemed income. See the following questions below:
- What income is counted?
- Does TAFDC count assets?
- What if you are expecting money from an accident or illness?
- What happens if your child’s father (or mother) pays child support?
- Does DTA ever count money as income even if you do not get it?
- How does DTA count income of a stepparent or ineligible noncitizen parent?
- How is grandparent income counted towards the baby of a teen parent?
- What if a stepparent, parent or grandparent refuses to give income information?
- Does DTA count in-kind income?
- Do gifts count as income?
- Use the Standard with the rent allowance if you live in private, unsubsidized housing.
- Use the lower standard without the rent allowance if you do not pay rent, you live in a teen parent living program, or you live in public or subsidized housing and the rent of at least one of the occupants is based on a percentage of income. 106 C.M.R. § 705.910.
- Be sure to use the higher Standard in September when the clothing allowance is paid.
If your total monthly countable income is less than the Need Standard for your family size, you got in the front door. Go to the next 2 questions to figure your monthly TAFDC grant.
Assistance unit size | No rent allowance | With rent allowance |
|---|---|---|
1 | $513 | $553 |
2 | $648 | $688 |
3 | $783 | $823 |
4 | $912 | $952 |
5 | $1,045 | $1,085 |
6 | $1,183 | $1,223 |
7 | $1,316 | $1,356 |
8 | $1,448 | $1,488 |
9 | $1,580 | $1,620 |
10 | $1,714 | $1,754 |
Increment | $139 | $139 |
Note
The Need Standards go up in September by the amount of the clothing allowance for each eligible child ($450 in September 2023).
*The state legislature approved a 10% increase to grant amounts to be effective April 2024, but the increases were eliminated in January 2024 by 9C budget cuts issued by the Governor.
Start with your monthly gross earned income and deduct in the following order:
- $200 for work expenses. This is a flat amount regardless of how much your work expenses really are. 106 C.M.R. § 704.270
- One-half of what is left after the $200 work expense deduction if you were a recipient within the four months before you apply. 106 C.M.R. § 704.280. DTA calls this the 50% disregard.
- Dependent care costs. Deduct actual dependent care costs (including costs of transportation to and from childcare) up to DTA’s maximum dependent based on the age of the dependent and the number of hours you work. 106 C.M.R. § 704.275. Determine the maximum deduction you can take for each dependent using DTA’s table.
Hours of Work | Dependent Age 2 or Over | Dependent Under Age 2 |
|---|---|---|
Weekly Monthly | $44 | $50 |
Weekly Monthly | $88 | $100 |
Weekly Monthly | $132 | $150 |
Weekly Monthly | $175 | $200 |
You can deduct the first $50 a month in child support for children who are included in the grant. See income not counted.
Add earned and unearned income after the deductions allowed above. Include deemed income. See the following questions below:
- What income is counted?
- Does TAFDC count assets?
- What if you are expecting money from an accident or illness?
- What happens if your child’s father (or mother) pays child support?
- Does DTA ever count money as income even if you do not get it?
- How does DTA count income of a stepparent or ineligible noncitizen parent?
- How is grandparent income counted towards the baby of a teen parent?
- What if a stepparent, parent or grandparent refuses to give income information?
- Does DTA count in-kind income?
- Do gifts count as income?
- Use the Standard with the rent allowance if you live in private, unsubsidized housing.
- Use the lower standard without the rent allowance if you do not pay rent, you live in a teen parent living program, or you live in public or subsidized housing and the rent of at least one of the occupants is based on a percentage of income. 106 C.M.R. § 705.910.
- Be sure to use the higher Standard in September when the clothing allowance is paid.
If your total monthly countable income is less than the Need Standard for your family size, you got in the front door. Go to the next 2 questions to figure your monthly TAFDC grant.
Assistance unit size | No rent allowance | With rent allowance |
|---|---|---|
1 | $513 | $553 |
2 | $648 | $688 |
3 | $783 | $823 |
4 | $912 | $952 |
5 | $1,045 | $1,085 |
6 | $1,183 | $1,223 |
7 | $1,316 | $1,356 |
8 | $1,448 | $1,488 |
9 | $1,580 | $1,620 |
10 | $1,714 | $1,754 |
Increment | $139 | $139 |
Note
The Need Standards go up in September by the amount of the clothing allowance for each eligible child ($450 in September 2023).
*The state legislature approved a 10% increase to grant amounts to be effective April 2024, but the increases were eliminated in January 2024 by 9C budget cuts issued by the Governor.
- Because the Need Standards are higher in September, a family may qualify in September with income that would have made the family ineligible in previous months.
- DTA may deny you the $200 work expense deduction, the 50% or 100% earned income disregards, and the dependent care deduction if you left a job without good cause, did not report your earned income on time, or you are under sanction or otherwise excluded from the assistance unit. 106 C.M.R. §§ 704.270(B), 704.275, 704.280. This may not be legal. For help, contact [email protected], or one of the legal aid programs in Appendix D.
- The assistance unit does not include SSI recipients or foster children. Do not count their income and do not include them in the assistance unit size. See who cannot be in the assistance unit.
- DTA should not ask you for verification that you pay for private, unsubsidized housing unless the amount you report raises questions. See DTA Operations Memo 2011-21 (June 29, 2011).
- Some programs, such as tax credit programs, subsidize owners, not tenants. Unless you are in a teen living program, DTA rules do not consider you to be living in subsidized housing unless the rent is a based in whole or part on a percentage of a tenant’s income. See DTA Transitions, Apr. 2001, p. 5 and Appendix E (DTA Online Guide Links).
- You can get the rent allowance if your mortgage is paid off as long as you verify other housing expenses such as property taxes, condo fees or home insurance. See Appendix E (DTA Online Guide Links).
- You can get the rent allowance if you have HomeBASE assistance as long as you pay for private housing. See Appendix E (DTA Online Guide Links).
- Because the Need Standards are higher in September, a family may qualify in September with income that would have made the family ineligible in previous months.
- DTA may deny you the $200 work expense deduction, the 50% or 100% earned income disregards, and the dependent care deduction if you left a job without good cause, did not report your earned income on time, or you are under sanction or otherwise excluded from the assistance unit. 106 C.M.R. §§ 704.270(B), 704.275, 704.280. This may not be legal. For help, contact [email protected], or one of the legal aid programs in Appendix D.
- The assistance unit does not include SSI recipients or foster children. Do not count their income and do not include them in the assistance unit size. See who cannot be in the assistance unit.
- DTA should not ask you for verification that you pay for private, unsubsidized housing unless the amount you report raises questions. See DTA Operations Memo 2011-21 (June 29, 2011).
- Some programs, such as tax credit programs, subsidize owners, not tenants. Unless you are in a teen living program, DTA rules do not consider you to be living in subsidized housing unless the rent is a based in whole or part on a percentage of a tenant’s income. See DTA Transitions, Apr. 2001, p. 5 and Appendix E (DTA Online Guide Links).
- You can get the rent allowance if your mortgage is paid off as long as you verify other housing expenses such as property taxes, condo fees or home insurance. See Appendix E (DTA Online Guide Links).
- You can get the rent allowance if you have HomeBASE assistance as long as you pay for private housing. See Appendix E (DTA Online Guide Links).