Revised 6-1-09
1. Examples of vendor payments that are excluded as income are:
(1) a friend, employer, agency, church, relative, or former spouse making payments for household expenses such as rent or utilities directly to the landlord or utility company. If the payment is made from funds not owed to the household, it is a vendor payment and excluded as income;
(2) an employer paying a household's rent or house payment directly to the landlord or financial institution as compensation, in addition to paying regular wages. This is a vendor payment and excluded as income. If the employer provides a house to an employee, the value of the housing is not considered income;
(3) a household receiving court-ordered monthly child support payments in the amount of $400. Later, $200 is diverted by the non-custodial parent and paid directly to a creditor of the food benefit household. The entire $400 is counted as unearned income to the household because the payment is taken from money that is owed to the household. Payments specified by a court order or other legally binding agreement to go directly to a third party rather than the household are excluded from income because they are not otherwise payable to the household. For example, a court awards support payments in the amount of $400 per month and, in addition, orders $200 paid directly to a bank for repayment of a loan. The $400 is counted and the $200 payment is not counted;
(4) payments by a government agency to a child care facility for the purpose of providing child care for a household member are considered vendor payments and excluded as income; and
(5) payments or allowances made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) or by the Farmers Home Administration (FmHA) directly to mortgage holders, landlords, or utility providers are vendor payments and excluded as income.
2. Exempt student income includes:
(1) any money from Title IV funds including work study;
(2) Veterans Administration GI Bill;
(3) grants;
(4) scholarships;
(5) subsidized and unsubsidized Stafford loans;
(6) federal PLUS loans;
(7) TRIO grants; and
(8) Robert C. Byrd Honors Scholarship Program.
3. Per capita payments or income from tribal business ventures, such as some of the tribal gaming payments, do not always meet the distribution requirements to be exempt. When it is not known if the payments meet the distribution requirements of P.L. 98-64, the worker must contact the tribe to verify whether the payment meets the requirements.
4. This includes income paid to children of Vietnam War veterans for any disability relating from spina bifida suffered by the child.
5. Kinship Startup Stipends are considered a reimbursement for food benefit purposes and are exempt.
6. (a) For purposes of this provision, an elementary or high school student includes someone who attends classes to obtain a General Educational Development (GED), when these classes are recognized, operated, or supervised by the student's state or local school district.
(b) The earned income of the student must be counted beginning the month following the month the student turns 18. This applies regardless of marital status as long as the student continues to live with a parent.
(c) Workforce Investment Act (WIA) [Section 204(b)(1)(c)] on-the-job training of a child who has not had his or her 19th birthday is exempt as long as the child is under the parental control of another household member regardless of student status.
7. See OAC 340:50-7-4(b).
8. See OAC 340:50-7-30(2).
9. See OAC 340:50-5-5 and 340:50-5-6.
10. Income is exempt from the HUD Family Self Sufficiency (FSS) programs:
(1) Housing Choice Voucher Family Self Sufficiency Program; and
(2) Resident Opportunities and Self Sufficiency Program (ROSS).