(a) Earned income.  Earned income is income which a household receives in the form of wages, self-employment, or training allowances and for which a person puts forth daily, physical labor.  The types of earnings listed in (1) through (4) of this subsection, including money from the sale of whole blood or blood plasma, are considered earned income.

• (1) Wages.  All wages and salaries for services performed as an employee, including sick pay paid by the employer to an employee who plans to return to work when recovered, are considered as earned income.  • 1  Wages that are garnisheed or diverted and paid to a third party for a household's expenses are also included.  • 2
• (2) Self-employment.  The total gross income from a self-employment enterprise, including the total gain from the sale of any capital goods or equipment related to the business, but excluding the cost of producing the income and payments from roomers or boarders and rent from rental property are considered self-employment income.  Income from rental property is considered earned income only if a member of the household is actively engaged in management of the property an average of at least 20 hours per week.  • 3
• (3) Title I payments of the Domestic Volunteer Services Act.  Payments under Title I of the Domestic Volunteer Services Act of 1973 as amended [Public Law (P.L.) 93-113] are considered as income unless excluded in OAC 340:50-7-22.
• (4) On-the-job training.  Income earned in on-the-job training positions is considered earned income.  This includes on-the-job training provided under Section 204(b)(1)(c) or Section 264(c)(1)(A) of the Workforce Investment Act for persons 19 years of age or older.  • 4

(b) Unearned income.  In general, unearned income is that income which a household receives and is not in the form of wages, self-employment, or training allowances and for which a person does not put forth any daily, physical labor.  The types of income listed in (1) through (5) of this subsection, while not all inclusive, are considered unearned.  • 5

• (1) Assistance payments.  Assistance payments from a federally aided public assistance program, such as Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), or assistance programs based on need, such as State Supplemental Payments are considered as unearned income.  • 6
  • (A) A household's food benefit amount does not increase when the benefit received from another program is reduced, suspended, or terminated because of a penalty imposed for an intentional failure to comply with a requirement of that program.  The other program must be a means-tested, federal, state, or local welfare or public assistance program which is governed by welfare or public assistance laws or regulations and which distributes public funds, such as, SSI and TANF.  Policy at OAC 340:10-2-2 explains the TANF penalty considered for SNAP.  • 7
    • (i) When a worker is not able to obtain the necessary information and cooperation from another federal, state, or local means-tested welfare, or public assistance program to comply with the provision in (A) of this paragraph, Oklahoma Department of Human Services (OKDHS) is not held responsible.  The worker must make a good faith effort to get the needed information and record the details and results of this effort in the case file.
    • (ii) The household's current food benefit amount is not reduced, suspended, or terminated when the benefits under another assistance program are decreased.
    • (iii) When eligible members are added to the food benefit, the benefit must be adjusted regardless of whether the household is prohibited from receiving benefits for the additional member under another federal, state, or local welfare or public assistance means-tested program.
    • (iv) Changes in the household circumstances which are not related to the penalty imposed by another federal, state, or local welfare or public means-tested assistance program are not affected by the provision in (A) of this paragraph.
    • (v) The application of the provision in (A) of this paragraph applies for the duration of the imposed penalty.
  • (B) The provision in (A) of this paragraph does not apply to persons or households subject to disqualification from SNAP for noncompliance with a comparable work requirement under Title IV of the Social Security Act or an unemployment compensation work requirement.
• (2) Pension and Social Security.  Annuities, pensions, retirement, veterans' or disability benefits, workers' or unemployment compensation, survivors' or Social Security benefits, and strike benefits are unearned income.  • 8
• (3) Support and alimony.  Support and alimony payments that are made directly to the household from non-household members, money deducted or diverted from court-ordered support or alimony payments, or other binding written support or alimony agreement, to a third party for a household expense must be considered as income when the court order directs that the payment be made to the household.  • 9
• (4) Grants and interest payments.  Payments from government sponsored programs, such as Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service Programs, dividends, interest, royalties, and all other direct money payments from any source which can be construed to be a gain or profit are considered as income.  Income from royalties is treated as unearned income.
• (5) Monies which are withdrawn or dividends which are or could be received by a household from trust funds.  Dividends which the household has the option of either receiving as income or reinvesting in the trust are considered as income in the month they become available to the household.

(c) Income of disqualified or ineligible household members.  A complete list of reasons for disqualification of household members is found in OAC 340:50-5-10.1.  Income of disqualified persons and unqualified aliens is counted as indicated in paragraphs (1) and (2) of this subsection.

• (1) Income of a person disqualified for failure to comply with food benefit Employment and Training (E&T) Program requirements or willful misrepresentation, fraud.  All income of a person disqualified for failure to comply with food benefit E&T requirements or willful misrepresentation, fraud, is counted as available to the remaining household members.  Utility, medical, dependent care, and excess shelter deductions continue to apply to the remaining household members.
• (2) Income of persons disqualified for reasons other than willful misrepresentation or failure to comply with E&T requirements.  Income of persons disqualified for reasons other than those stated in paragraph (1) of this subsection is prorated among all household members.
  • (A) A pro rata share of the income of a disqualified person is considered as income available to the remaining members.  This pro rata share is calculated by first subtracting the allowable exclusions from the disqualified member's income and dividing the income evenly among the household members, including the disqualified member.
  • (B) All but the disqualified member's share is considered as income available to the remaining household members.  The earned income deduction from OKDHS Appendix C-3, Maximum Food Benefit Allotments and Standards for Income and Deductions  applies to the prorated income attributed to the household if it was earned by the disqualified member.
  • (C) That portion of the household's allowable shelter and dependent care expenses which are either paid by or billed to the disqualified member is divided evenly among the household members, including the disqualified member.  When the household is using the utility standard, it too is evenly prorated.  All but the disqualified member's share is considered as a deductible shelter expense for the remaining household members.
• (3) Determining eligibility and benefit level.  The needs of a disqualified or ineligible household member are not considered when determining the household's size for purposes of assigning a benefit level to the household or for purposes of comparing the household's monthly income with the income eligibility standard.