Financial Eligibility Requirements

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Which households have an asset limit?

What are the asset limits?

What assets are counted?

What are the income limits?

What income is counted?

How is gross income calculated?

What deductions are allowed for net income?

What are the standard utility allowances (SUAs)?

What are the sponsor deeming rules?

Where can I find more information?

Which households have an asset limit?

Assets are the cash, savings, and valuable things you own that you can use to pay for food and other things you need. Most households no longer have an asset limit for the SNAP food stamp program. The asset test has been eliminated in most cases.

The only households that have an asset limit for SNAP food stamps are:

• Households where a member is disqualified due to:

  • an intentional program violation (IPV)
  • failure to comply with the SNAP Food Stamp Work Program requirements
  • failure to comply with TAFDC monthly reporting requirements

• Senior or disabled households with income greater than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines

  • See FS Income Eligibility Standards - 200% FPG for dollar amounts.
  • Senior household = household with one or more members age 60 or older
  • Disabled household = household with one or more members with disabilities

What are the asset limits?

Most households do not have an asset limit. See Which households have an asset limit? for details.

For households with an asset limit:

• Households with at least one member who is age 60 or older or disabled may have countable assets up to $3000.
• Households without a senior or disabled member may have countable assets up to $2000.

Note: To be considered disabled, a person must be eligible for disability-related cash assistance, medical assistance, or retirement benefits, such as SSI, RSDI, or Veterans' Administration disability benefits.

If your household has an asset limit, and you give away or sell your assets for less than they are worth just so you will be eligible for SNAP food stamps, you will be disqualified for a period of time, up to one year.

What assets are counted?

The asset limit has been eliminated for most households applying for SNAP food stamps. See Which households have an asset limit? above.

For households with an asset limit, certain assets are counted and other assets are not counted toward the asset limit. Your DTA worker can give you a complete list.

What are the income limits?

Different income limits apply to different types of households. Most households have to pass a gross income test, a net income test, or both. Gross income means total countable income, before deductions. Net income means countable income after allowed deductions:

• Households with a pregnant woman or at least one child under 19 must have a gross income no greater than 200% of the Federal Poverty Guidelines.

• Households where all members are getting TAFDC, EAEDC, or SSI do not have to pass a SNAP food stamps income test.

• Households with at least one elderly (60 or older) or disabled person must have a net income no greater than the Monthly Net Income Standard (100% of the FPG). Households with elderly or disabled members are allowed special deductions from income.

• For all other households, the household's gross income cannot be greater than the Monthly Gross Income Standard (130% of the FPG), and the household's net income cannot be greater than the Monthly Net Income Standard (100% of the FPG).

What income is counted?

Most types of income are counted for SNAP food stamps eligibility. This includes earned and unearned income. However, some types of income are not counted. Your DTA worker can give you a complete list.

How is gross income calculated?

In most cases, the DTA uses your income from the four weeks before your application date to calculate your gross monthly income. They add together your countable earned and unearned income. If someone in your household is legally required to make child support payments for a child not living with you, those payments are subtracted.

For earned income:

• if you are paid weekly, they usually average the amount from your last four weekly pay stubs. They multiply your weekly average by 4.333 (because there are more than 4 weeks in a month), to get your monthly earned income.

• if you are paid every two weeks, they usually average the amount from your two previous pay stubs. They multiply the bi-weekly average by 2.167 to get your monthly earned income.

If your income from the previous four weeks is not the income you expect to get during your certification period, you can ask the DTA to calculate your income another way. For example, if you worked overtime one week, but don't expect to do that again, the DTA should not average in your overtime pay.

If your income goes down during your certification period, you should tell the DTA right away so they can recalculate your benefits.

What deductions are allowed for net income?

To calculate your net income, DTA subtracts certain amounts from your total countable gross income. These deductions include a standard deduction for the household, an earned income deduction, and deductions for certain types of expenses your household might have. If you have these expenses, it is important that you list them on your application, because they will affect the amount of SNAP food stamps you get.

The allowed deductions are:

• standard deduction of:

  • $141 for households with 1 to 3 members
  • $153 for households with 4 members
  • $179 for households with 5 members
  • $205 for households with 6 or more members

• 20% earned income deduction, for households with earned income. Earned income includes wages and salary, tips, commissions, and any other money that you get from working. The DTA subtracts 20% from your gross earned income (before taxes, union dues, or any other payroll deductions). The DTA uses 20% even if your actual payroll deductions are greater than this amount.

• medical expense deduction, for elderly or disabled household members only. You may deduct medical expenses that you pay that are more than $35 for the month. You may include the amount you pay for:

  • medical and dental care
  • hospitalization and nursing homes
  • health insurance premiums, deductibles, and co-pays (including Medicare)
  • over-the-counter and prescription drugs, supplies, and equipment
  • dentures, hearing aids, and prosthetics
  • Seeing Eye Dog expenses
  • eyeglasses
  • transportation to medical appointments (if using private transportation, use the federal mileage rate)
  • home health aides
     
  • You cannot deduct expenses that are paid for by insurance or someone else.
     
  Your medical expenses deduction equals:
   
  • $0, if your monthly medical expenses are less than $35
  • $90 (the standard medical deduction), if your monthly medical expenses are greater than $35, but less than or equal to $125
  • your medical expenses minus $35, if your monthly medical expenses are greater than $125

• child care and other dependent care deduction. You can take this deduction if you need dependent care so you can go to work, job training, an education program, or any other activity required by the SNAP Food Stamp Employment and Training (FS/ET) program. You are allowed to deduct:

  • the full amount you pay for dependent care
  • the amount you pay for transportation to and from the care provider
    (if you use private transportation, you can take a mileage deduction of 58.5 ¢ per mile.)

• excess shelter costs deduction. You may deduct shelter costs that are more than half of your household's income after the other deductions listed above. The shelter deduction cannot be more than $459 unless at least one member of the household is elderly or disabled.

  Shelter costs include:

  • rent, mortgage, condo fees, or similar payments
  • property insurance and property taxes
  • standard utility allowances (SUAs). The SUAs are used, regardless of your actual costs.

• homeless shelter/utility deduction. Homeless households may deduct $143 instead of the shelter costs deduction. A homeless household that pays more than $143 per month in shelter/utility costs may use the shelter costs deduction instead of the homeless deduction.

Deductions are adjusted October 1 of each year.

What are the standard utility allowances (SUAs)?

The DTA uses standard utility allowances to calculate a household's shelter costs deduction (see above). The SUAs are used regardless of the actual costs a household pays for utilities.

The standard utility allowances (effective October 1, 2009 through September 30, 2010) are:

The Bay State CAP standard utility allowance is $375.

What are the sponsor deeming rules?

In the past, special financial eligibility rules called sponsor deeming rules applied to certain sponsored noncitizens admitted for permanent residence into the U.S. Under sponsor deeming, a portion the sponsor's income and assets were considered in determining a sponsored noncitizen's eligibility for SNAP food stamps.

The SNAP program no longer uses sponsor deeming, except in very limited circumstances. If your DTA workers says that sponsor deeming applies to you, you can call Legal Services for more information and assistance.

Where can I find more information?

For more information about financial eligibility for SNAP food stamps, see Part 3 Financial Eligibility of the SNAP/Food Stamps Advocacy Guide prepared by the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute.