Virginia Law

A. Income eligibility for all cases is based on a prospective determination that anticipates the countable income of the assistance unit. The assistance unit is income eligible if the net income of the assistance unit is less than the standard of assistance.

B. The following income of members of the assistance unit, a parent not included in the assistance unit, or anyone whose income is used in determining eligibility or the amount of TANF assistance, shall be disregarded:

1. Home produce of the assistance unit utilized for their own consumption;

2. The value of food benefits under the Food Stamps program;

3. The value of foods donated under the United States Department of Agriculture Commodity Distribution Program, including those furnished through school meal programs;

4. Payments received under Title II of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970 (42 USC §§ 4601 et seq.);

5. Benefits received under Title VII, Nutrition Program for the Elderly, of the Older Americans Act of 1965, as amended (42 USC §§ 3001 et seq.);

6. Grants or loans to any undergraduate students for educational purposes made or insured under any program administered by the United States Secretary of Education. Programs that are administered by the United States Secretary of Education include: Pell Grant, Supplemental Education Opportunity Grant, Perkins Loan, Guaranteed Student Loan (including the Virginia Education Loan), PLUS Loan, Congressional Teacher Scholarship Program, College Scholarship Assistance Program, and the Virginia Transfer Grant Program;

7. Funds derived from the College Work Study Program;

8. A scholarship or grant obtained and used under conditions which preclude its use for current living costs;

9. Training allowance (transportation, books, required training expenses, and motivational allowance) provided by the Department of Rehabilitative Services (DRS) for persons participating in Rehabilitative Services Programs. This disregard is not applicable to the allowance provided by DRS to the family of the participating individual;

10. Any portion of an SSI payment or Auxiliary Grant;

11. Payments to VISTA Volunteers under Title I, when the monetary value of such payments is less than minimum wage as determined by the Director of the Action Office, and payments for services of 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 (SCORE) and Active Corps of Executives (ACE) and other programs pursuant to Titles II and III, of Public Law 93-13, the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1993 (42 USC §§ 4950 et seq.);

12. The Veterans Administration educational amount for the caretaker 18 or older when used specifically for education purposes. Any additional money included in the benefit amount for dependents is to be counted as income to the assistance unit;

13. Foster care payments received by anyone in the assistance unit;

14. Unearned income received from Title IV, Part B (Job Corps) of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) (29 USC §§ 1501 et seq.) by an eligible child is to be disregarded as an incentive payment. However, any payment received by any other Job Corps participant or any payment made on behalf of the participant's eligible child or children is to be counted as income to the assistance unit;

15. Income tax refunds including earned income tax credit advance payments and refunds;

16. Payments made under the Energy Assistance Program;

17. The value of supplemental food assistance received under the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 (42 USC §§ 1771-1789). This includes all school meals programs; the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program; and the Child Care Food program;

18. All federal, state, or local government rent and housing subsidies and utility payments;

19. Unearned income received by an eligible child under Title II, Parts A and B, and Title IV, Part A, of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) (29 USC §§ 1501 et seq.);

20. Funds distributed to, or held in trust for, members of any Indian tribe under Public Laws 92-254, 93-134, 94-540, 97-458, 98-64, 98-123, or 98-124. Additionally, interest and investment income accrued on such funds while held in trust, and purchases made with such interest and investment income;

21. The following types of distributions received from a Native Corporation under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act (Public Law 100-241; 43 USC §§ 1601 et seq.):

a. Cash (including cash dividends on stock received from a Native Corporation) to the extent that it does not, in the aggregate, exceed $2,000 per individual per year;

b. Stock (including stock issued or distributed by a Native Corporation as a dividend or distribution on stock);

c. A partnership interest;

d. Land or an interest in land (including land or an interest in land received from a Native Corporation as a dividend or distribution on stock); and

e. An interest in a settlement trust.

22. Income derived from certain submarginal land of the United States which is held in trust for certain Indian tribes (Public Law 92-114);

23. The first $50 of total child or spousal support payments received each month by an assistance unit;

24. Federal major disaster and emergency assistance provided under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Amendments of 1988 (42 USC § 5121 nt.), and disaster assistance provided by state and local governments and disaster assistance organizations (Public Law 100-707);

25. Payments received by individuals of Japanese ancestry under the Civil Liberties Act of 1988, and by Aleuts under the Aleutian and Pribilof Islands Restitution Act (Public Law 100-383; 50 USC Appx. §§ 1989 et seq.);

26. Agent Orange payments;

27. Payments received by individuals under the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Public Law 101-426; 42 USC § 2210 nt.);

28. Funds received pursuant to the Maine Indians Claims Settlement Act of 1980 (Public Law 96-420) and the Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement Act (Public Law 102-171; 25 USC § 1721);

29. Student financial assistance received under Title IV of the Higher Education Amendments of 1992 (Public Law 102-325);

30. Student financial assistance received under the Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act made available for attendance costs (Public Law 101-392; 20 USC § 2301 nt.);

31. Student financial assistance received under the Bureau of Indian Affairs student assistance programs;

32. All bona fide loans. The loan may be for any purpose and may be from a private individual as well as from a commercial institution. The disregard is limited to the principal of the loan. A simple statement signed by both parties indicating that the payment is a loan and must be repaid is sufficient to verify that a loan is bona fide. Interest earned on the proceeds of a loan while held in a savings or checking account or other financial instrument shall be counted as income only in the month received;

33. Up to $2,000 per year of income received by individual Indians, which are derived from leases or other uses of individually-owned trust or restricted lands shall be disregarded as income, and shall not be used to reduce or deny assistance or benefits to which the individual, or household, would otherwise be entitled to receive;

34. Nonrecurring monetary gifts for special occasions, such as birthdays, Christmas, graduations;

35. All other unearned income that is specifically disregarded in the calculation of TANF benefits by federal or state law or regulation.

C. When determining initial eligibility, or ongoing eligibility for non-VIEW participants, the following is disregarded from the monthly earned income of the assistance unit:

1. An amount equal to the standard deduction used in the Food Stamp program; and

2. Twenty percent of the remainder.

D. The earned income of a student, who is not the head of household, under 18 years of age shall be disregarded.

E. When a person is excluded or removed from the assistance unit due to noncompliance with a TANF rule, all income of the person is considered available to the assistance unit to the same extent if the person were not excluded or removed from the assistance unit.

F. For self-employment, the profit obtained through self-employment is gross income in determining TANF eligibility. Profit is the income minus expenses.

G. The income of a child who is not required to be in the assistance unit due to the application of 22VAC40-295-30 B is not considered available to the assistance unit.

H. The TANF payment shall be suspended if the amount of child support collected by the Division of Child Support Enforcement for two consecutive months, when treated like income, makes the family ineligible for TANF. The TANF case shall be closed if in the month of suspension the amount of child support collected by the Division of Child Support Enforcement, when treated like income, makes the family ineligible.

I. The monthly payment amount is equal to the standard of assistance minus the net income.