Current through Register Vol. 48, No. 39, March 25, 2024
Subpart
1.
Evaluation of income.
The county agency must determine income available to members
of an assistance unit to determine program eligibility and the assistance
amount. Income available to members of an assistance unit includes all
nonexcluded income whether received by assistance unit members or filing unit
members who are not members of the assistance unit when that income is deemed
available to members of the assistance unit.
Subp. 2.
Excluded income of all filing
unit members.
The county agency shall exclude items A to AA from the income
of all filing unit members:
A. food
stamps or food support;
B. United
States Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) refunds or rebates for
excess rents charged and HUD relocation and rehabilitation funds;
C. rental security deposit refunds to the
client whether paid by the client or by emergency assistance or emergency
general assistance;
D. benefits
under title IV and title VII of the Older Americans Act of 1965;
E. all Volunteers in Service to America
(VISTA) payments;
F. title I loans
or grants through the Minnesota Housing Finance Agency;
G. payments for basic care, difficulty of
care, and clothing allowance received for providing family foster care under
parts
9545.0010 to
9545.0260 or adult foster care
under parts
9555.5105 to
9555.6265;
H. work and training allowances received from
county agency social services programs that are not classified as wages subject
to FICA withholding;
I.
reimbursement for employment training received through the Job Training
Partnership Act;
J. reimbursement
for out-of-pocket expenses incurred while performing volunteer services, jury
duty, or employment;
K. loans,
whether from private, public, or governmental lending institutions,
governmental agencies, and private individuals provided the filing unit member
documents that the lender expects repayment. This exclusion does not include
education loans on which payment is deferred;
L. state and federal income tax refunds
including Minnesota property tax refunds and the earned income tax
credit;
M. funds received for
reimbursement, replacement, or rebate of personal or real property when these
payments are made from public agencies, awarded by a court, solicited through
public appeal, or made as a grant by a federal agency subsequent to a
presidential declaration of disaster;
N. payments issued by insurance companies
which are specifically designated as compensation to a member of an assistance
unit for partial or total permanent loss of function or body part or insurance
payments specified under Minnesota Statutes, section
256.74,
subdivision 1, clause (7);
O.
reimbursements for medical expenses which cannot be paid by medical
assistance;
P. payments by the
vocational rehabilitation program administered by the state under Minnesota
Statutes, chapter 129A, except those payments that are for current living
expenses;
Q. in kind income, as
defined in part
9500.1206, subpart 16a, except for
payments made for room, board, tuition, or fees by a parent on behalf of a
single adult applicant who is enrolled as a full-time student in a
postsecondary institution;
R.
assistance payments to correct underpayments in a previous month;
S. payments to an applicant or recipient
issued under part
9500.1261,
9500.2800, or
9500.2820 for emergency or special
needs; however, an initial month's grant may be reduced by the amount of
emergency assistance issued to cover that month's needs;
T. nonrecurring cash gifts, such as those
received for holidays, birthdays, and graduations, not to exceed $30 per filing
unit member in a calendar quarter;
U. tribal settlements excluded under Code of
Federal Regulations, title 45, section 233.20(a)(4)(ii)(e), (k), and
(m);
V. any form of energy
assistance payment made by the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program,
payments made directly to energy providers by other public and private
agencies, benefits issued by energy providers when the Minnesota Department of
Employment and Economic Development determines that those payments qualify
under Code of Federal Regulations, title 45, section 233.53, and any form of
credit or rebate payment issued by energy providers;
W. the first $50 of child support
received;
X. proceeds from the sale
of real or personal property;
Y.
payments made from state funds for subsidized adoptions under Minnesota
Statutes, section 259.67;
Z.
interest payments and dividends from property that is not excluded from and
does not exceed the $1,000 limit under part
9500.1221, subpart
2; and
AA. income that is otherwise specifically
excluded from MFIP consideration in federal law, state law, or federal
regulation.
Subp. 3.
Additional income exclusions, filing unit member who is not a member of
assistance unit.
In addition to the income exclusions in subpart
2, the county agency shall
exclude the following income of a filing unit member who is not a member of the
assistance unit:
A. income that was
excluded, disregarded, or allocated in the calculation of a public assistance
grant unless the allocation was to meet the needs of persons in the general
assistance unit;
B. benefits from
the Retirement, Survivors, and Disability Insurance program and any income
based on a disability that is received by the parent or parents of a single
adult applicant or recipient;
C.
income of a stepparent or of a sibling of a single adult applicant or
recipient;
D. an amount equal to
the standards assigned to filing unit members who are not in the general
assistance unit in part
9500.1231, subpart 6, item A;
and
E. child support, spousal
support, or other payments to meet the needs of a person who lives outside of
the household who is or could be claimed as a dependent for federal personal
income tax liability or for whom payment is required by court order.
Subp. 5.
Additional
income exclusions, assistance unit consisting of individuals who are not
members of a family.
In addition to the income exclusions in subpart
2, the county agency shall
exclude the following costs from the income of filing unit members when the
assistance unit consists of individuals who are not members of a family:
A. the first $50 of earned income for each
individual who receives earned income;
B. the cost of transportation to and from
employment which is not reimbursed, based on the lesser of the actual cost, or
the amount allowed for the use of a personal car in the United States Internal
Revenue Code for a maximum of 100 miles per day;
C. a meal allowance of $2 for each day that
the individual has a break for a meal during work hours and eats a meal at
work, unless the individual can establish that higher costs are both necessary
and reasonable;
D. the cost
incurred by an applicant or paid by a recipient for uniforms, tools, and
equipment which are necessary to accept or retain a job;
E. mandatory payments or deductions from pay
for insurance premiums, union dues, association dues, retirement contributions,
FICA, state and federal personal income tax withholding, not to exceed the
amount specified in the state or federal tax withholding tables for an
individual with the same income and number of dependents as the applicant or
recipient;
F. other work expenses
required for employment and approved by the county agency;
G. stipends received from the displaced
homemaker services program; and
H.
in addition to the $50 specified in item A, up to $150 per month from the
earnings of a resident of a facility licensed under parts
9520.0500 to
9520.0690 or a resident of a
supervised apartment with services funded under parts
9535.0100 to
9535.1600 for whom discharge and
work are part of a treatment plan, provided that the disregarded sum is placed
in a separate savings account by the resident.