4.3.2 Earned Income

Earned Income is gained from the performance of service, labor, or work. Earned income includes, but is not limited to salaries, wages, commission, tips, or payments for services. Count earned income only for the month in which it is received, except when the average number of payments increase due to mailing cycle adjustments.

Example 1: Bill works in February but does not receive his pay for those hours until March. Count those wages for March.

Households receiving income on a recurring monthly or semimonthly basis shall not have their monthly income varied merely because of changes in mailing cycles or because weekends or holidays cause additional payments to be received in a month.

Example 2: Jim receives his military pay on the 1st and 15th of each month. If Jim’s payday for the following month is a holiday or falls on a weekend, he is paid on the last preceding work/week day. This may result in Jim receiving 3 paychecks in one month. In this situation, only 2 paychecks per month should be budgeted for Jim.

4.3.2.1 Counted Earned Income

Count the following sources of income as earnings in the month received:

Wages, tips, or salaries, including but not limited to hourly wages and piecework
Self-employment earnings (4.3.3)
Recurring profit sharing payments
Wages withheld at the requests of the employee as income in the month it would normally have been received
Advances on wages
Any money received for accrued sick days and severance pay from an employer
Any money received as payment for baby-sitting or child care as self-employment income if the care is provided in the FS FoodShare group's home. If a self-employed child care provider also provides meals, they may be entitled to income deductions. If the care is not provided in the member's home, count the payments as regular earned income.
1. Any child care payment paid by an outside source to a food unit member is treated as earned income. In situations when a food unit member pays another food unit member from his/her own pocket, such child care payments are not counted as earned income because the money is moving between food unit members.
Attendant care payments provided by an outside source are treated as earned income for the attendant if the care is for a disabled household member
Money received form the sale of a person's blood or plasma
Any training allowance from a vocational or rehabilitative program recognized by a governmental agency that is not an expense reimbursement, unless the source is listed as an exception in Section 4.3.2.2.
Earnings from WIA Workforce Investment Act (replaced JTPA - Job Training Partnership Act) On The Job Training when the earner is either:
1. At least 19 years old; or,
2. Less than 19 years but not under the parental control of a member of the same food unit.
Military Pay. Military pay cycles affect how income is counted. Count any income received on the last day of a month by an active member of the military as income in the following month. Some military personnel are eligible for a supplemental payment if they meet the FoodShare gross income limits. The FSSA allowance is considered gross earned income and is to be budgeted like other military income. However, it appears on a different line on the military paycheck.
Contractual Pay. Contractual income that is the food units annual income (intended to provide support for the entire year), and is not paid on an hourly or piece work basis, should be prorated over 12 months. Contractual income that is not the food units annual income (intended to provide support for the HH for only a portion of the year), and is not paid on an hourly or piece work basis, shall be prorated over the period the income is intended to cover.

Example 3: Joe works for public school as a Teacher’s Aide. Joe’s worked there for the last 3 years and receives a 9 ½ month contract every August, he earns $13,480.50 annually. He lives off his salary as a Teacher Aid for the full year and does not supplement his income during the summer, average his income over 12 months =$1,123.40.

Example 4: Nancy works for the public school as a nurse part-time. She receives a contract for 9 ½ months every August. In the summer she supplements her income with a job at the Girl Scout campgrounds in the first aid tent. Average Nancy’s school income over 9 ½ months because her contract income is not her annual income.

Income from piecework or hourly work is not contractual income. Do not treat it as such.

Migrant any person who temporarily leaves a principal place of residence outside of his state and comes to this state for not more than 10 months in a year to accept seasonal employment in the planting, cultivating, raising, harvesting, handling, drying, packing, packaging, processing, freezing, grading, or storing of any agricultural or horticultural commodity in its unmanufactured state Farmworker Income. To determine migrant farm income:
1. Request a copy of any existing work agreement,
2. Contact the employer when necessary to find the hours of work and wage rate,
3. Ask the migrant how many hours s/he and members of his/her family expect to work and the wage rate they expect to be paid.

Most migrants work in fairly stable work environments such as canning factories or under some type of contract. In these cases, determine the employer's usual pay levels and pay periods, and project the hours and the rate of pay expected. Do not assume without supporting documentation or collateral contacts that a migrant farm worker works 40 hours a week.

If the earnings received by the migrant worker is from employment other than agricultural income, it will be budgeted in the normal procedure on AFEI. Normal procedures are also used for all unearned income and assets.

2010 Census Enumerator income

4.3.2.2 Disregarded Earned Income

“Disregard” means “do not count.” When you are calculating the total amount of income a person has received, you should exempt or exclude any of the following kinds of income:

Disregard the following sources of income:

Wages withheld as a general practice by an employer (even if in violation of law) until actually received by the employee
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC Earned Income Tax Credit) payments
Earned income of any person 17 years or younger, who is a food unit member under parental control an adult providing parental control acts as a parent would toward the minor child. A minor child is considered under parental control if the child is financially or otherwise dependent on a member of the household. Foster care providers do not meet the parental control definition. of an adult food unit member and is enrolled in an elementary, high school, technical school, or university. This includes GED classes, and home schools recognized or supervised by the state or local board of education. Disregard the income until the month following the month in which the person turns 18 years of age. These provisions apply to semester and vacation breaks provided the student plans to return to school following the break.
Reimbursements or flat allowances for job or training related expenses. Expenses may be for travel, daily allowance, dependent care, uniforms, and transportation to and from a job or training site, including travel expenses of migrant workers.
Reimbursements for a volunteer's out-of-pocket expenses incurred in the course of his/her volunteer activities.
Income from Title I of the Domestic Volunteers Services Act only when the volunteer received FS at the time s/he joined the Title I program. Interruptions in FS participation do not alter this disregard. Some individuals were receiving the disregard for a Title I program at the time of conversion to the Food Stamp Act of 1977. Continue the disregard for the same time frame they said they would volunteer for at the time of conversion. If these exceptions do not apply, count Title I income as earned income.

Title I programs include:

1. AmeriCorps*VISTA Volunteers In Service To America
2. University Year for Action
3. Urban Crime Prevention Program

All Title II program income. These programs include:
1. Retired Seniors Volunteer Program (RSVP)
2. Foster Grandparents Program
3. Senior Companion Programs

Income from the Title V Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP) of the Older Americans Act. Organizations that receive Title V include, but are not limited to, the:
1. Experience Works Program.
2. National Council on Aging.
3. National Council of Senior Citizens.
4. American Association of Retired Persons.
5. U.S. Forest Service.
6. National Council on Black Aging.
7. National Urban League.
8. National Association for Spanish Speaking Elderly.

Any allowances, earnings (except On The Job Training) or payments to FS group members participating in WIA programs, including Jobs Corps. Count earnings from WIA On The Job Training when the earner is either:
1. At least 19 years old; or,
2. Less than 19 years but not under the parental control of a member of the same food unit.

On The Job Training payments from the JTPA Summer Youth Employment and Training Program.
Allowances, earnings, and payments to participants in the National & Community Service Trust Act of 1993 (NCTSA). Programs included in this act are:

AmeriCorps Network of Programs - The network of programs developed to engage Americans in a year or two of national service in exchange for an education award of $4,725 per year of completed service.

The AmeriCorps Network of Programs include:

AmeriCorps*USA - for participants 17 years and older;
AmeriCorps - for participants 18 years and older; and
AmeriCorps*NCCC - for participants 16 to 24 years of age.

See number 6a in 4.3.2.2 above, to contrast with AmeriCorps*Vista which is different.

There is no longer an On the Job Training (OJT) component of AmeriCorps. All AmeriCorps income is exempt for FoodShare benefits.

AmeriCorps programs include:

- Serve-America - The program involves school aged youth in community service, recruits adult volunteers in the schools, and provides service training in elementary and secondary schools.
- Higher Education Innovative Projects - Institutions of higher education integrate service into the curriculum, develop teacher and volunteer training programs, and involve students in community service.
- American Conservation and Youth Service Corps -Teenagers and young adults receive job and skill training, living allowances and scholarships as they provide community service. Special corps members, such as senior citizens, may be included if they provide special skills to the program.
- National and Community Service Programs - Employees are age 17 or older and work full-time or part-time. They received education or housing benefits upon completing their term.

Work study by a student enrolled in an institution of higher learning.

This page last updated in Release Number: 09-01

Release Date: 05/01/09

Effective Date: 05/01/09