2015 Annual Report of the SSI Program

B. Income and Resource Exclusions

1. Earned Income Exclusions

•	Any refund of Federal income taxes received under section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code (relating to earned income tax credit (EITC)) and any payment received under section 3507 of the Internal Revenue Code (relating to advance payment of EITC);

•	Amounts received pursuant to the Making Work Pay tax credit set forth in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009;

•	Any refundable child tax credit;

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The first $30 of earned income in a quarter if it is infrequent or irregular, that is: (1) if it is received only once in a calendar quarter from a single source and is not also received in the month immediately preceding or the month immediately following the month of receipt regardless of whether or not these payments occur in different calendar quarters; or (2) if its receipt cannot reasonably be expected;

•	Up to $1,7801 per month but not more than $7,180 in a calendar year received by a blind or disabled recipient who is a working student under age 22 and regularly attending school;

•	Any portion of the monthly $20 exclusion that we did not exclude from unearned income;

•	$65 of earned income in a month;

•	Amounts used to pay impairment-related work expenses if a recipient is disabled (but not blind) and under age 65 or is disabled (but not blind) and receiving Supplemental Security Income (SSI) (or disability payments under a former State plan) before age 65;2

•	One-half of remaining earned income in a month;

•	Earned income used to meet any expenses reasonably attributable to the earning of the income if the recipient is blind and under age 65 or if he or she received SSI as a blind person prior to age 65;2

•	Any earned income received and used to fulfill an approved plan to achieve self-support if the recipient is blind or disabled and under age 65 or is blind or disabled and received SSI as a blind or disabled individual in the month before he or she attained age 65;

•	Cash or in-kind income provided under an AmeriCorps program;

•	Any earned income deposited into either a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) or “Assets for Independence Act” Individual Development Account (IDA); and

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Many Federal laws in addition to the Social Security Act provide for the exclusion of earned income for SSI purposes. For the most part, the income received under these laws relates to assistance received in the form of food, housing and utilities, educational and employment benefits, or benefits derived from being a member of a Native American tribe. A complete list of laws that exclude earned income under SSI can be found in the Federal Regulations Appendix to Subpart K 20 CFR 416.

2. Unearned Income Exclusions

•	Any public agency’s refund of taxes on real property or food;

•	Assistance based on need wholly funded by a State or one of its political subdivisions. This exclusion includes State supplementation of Federal SSI benefits but does not include payments under a Federal/State grant program such as TANF;

•	Any portion of a grant, scholarship, fellowship, or gift to an individual used for paying tuition, fees, or other necessary educational expenses;3

•	Food raised by a household if it is consumed by that household;

•	Assistance received under the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act and assistance provided under any Federal statute because of a catastrophe that the President of the United States declares to be a major disaster;

•	Assistance received under a program for flood mitigation activities;

•

The first $60 of unearned income in a quarter if it is infrequent or irregular, that is: (1) if it is received only once in a calendar quarter from a single source and is not also received in the month immediately preceding or the month immediately following the month of receipt regardless of whether or not these payments occur in different calendar quarters; or (2) if its receipt cannot reasonably be expected;

•	Any unearned income received and used to fulfill an approved plan to achieve self-support if the recipient is blind or disabled and under age 65, or if the recipient is blind or disabled and received SSI as a blind or disabled individual in the month before he or she attained age 65;

•	Periodic payments made by a State under a program established before July 1, 1973 and based solely on the recipient’s length of residence and attainment of age 65;

•	Payments for providing foster care to an ineligible child placed in the recipient’s home by a public or private nonprofit child placement or child care agency;

•	Any interest earned on excluded burial funds and any appreciation in the value of an excluded burial arrangement left to accumulate and become part of the separately identifiable burial fund;

•	Certain support and maintenance assistance provided in the form of home energy assistance;

•	One-third of support payments made by an absent parent if the recipient is a child;

•	The first $20 of unearned income in a month other than income in the form of in-kind support and maintenance received in the household of another and income based on need;

•	The value of any assistance paid with respect to a dwelling unit under the United States Housing Act of 1937, the National Housing Act, section 101 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, Title V of the Housing Act of 1949, or section 202(h) of the Housing Act of 1959;

•	Any interest accrued on and left to accumulate as part of the value of an excluded burial space purchase agreement (effective April 1, 1990) and any interest earned on the value of nonexcludable burial funds and burial space purchase agreements is excluded from income (effective July 1, 2004);

•	The value of any commercial transportation ticket for travel by a recipient or his or her spouse among the 50 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands that is received as a gift and is not converted to cash;

•	Payments received from a fund established by a State to aid victims of crime;

•	State-provided pensions to aged, blind, or disabled veterans (or their spouses);

•	Relocation assistance provided by a State or local government that is comparable to assistance provided under Title II of the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policies Act of 1970;

•	Hostile fire pay received from one of the uniformed services pursuant to 37 U.S.C. 310 and other kinds of additional pay received by military personnel in a combat zone;

•	Interest or other earnings on a dedicated account excluded from resources;

•	In-kind gifts not converted to cash and the first $2,000 annually of cash gifts made by tax-exempt organizations, such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, to, or for the benefit of, individuals under age 18 with life-threatening conditions;

•	Payments made under the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act of 1998;

•	Up to $2,000 per calendar year in compensation for participating in clinical trials researching treatment of rare diseases and conditions;4

•	TANF funds made available to an SSI recipient as part of an IDA;

•	Amounts received from the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund set forth in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009;

•	Amounts received by Medicaid recipients from the “Incentives for Prevention of Chronic Diseases in Medicaid” program established by the Affordable Care Act of 2010;

•	Payments to Indian landowners made in accordance with the Cobell v. Salazar, et al. lawsuit settlement as ratified by the Claims Resettlement Act of 2010;

•	Refundable tax credits (or advance payment of such credits);

•	Deposits made by a participating individual or a sponsoring nonprofit organization or State or local government into an IDA under the Assets for Independence Act IDA demonstration project and interest earned on these deposits;

•	Unearned income excluded by other Federal laws. See Federal Regulations Appendix to Subpart K 20 CFR 416; and

•	Generally, all interest and dividend income earned on countable resources.

•	Lump sum payments made under the Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation Program Act of 2000 (the EEOCIP Act), including reimbursement for medical expenses, are excluded from income for SSI purposes.

3. Resource Exclusions

•	The home in which an individual has ownership interest and that serves as the individual’s principal place of residence (including the land appertaining thereto);

•	Household goods and personal effects;

•	One automobile if used for transportation for the recipient or a member of the recipient’s household;

•	Property used in a trade or business that is essential to self-support;

•	Up to $6,000 of nonbusiness property that is essential to self-support;

•	Resources of a blind or disabled individual that are necessary to fulfill an approved plan to achieve self-support;

•	Stock in regional or village corporations held by natives of Alaska during the 20-year period in which the stock is inalienable pursuant to the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act;

•	Life insurance owned by an individual (and spouse, if any) provided that all life insurance on any person does not exceed a face value of $1,500;

•	Restricted allotted Indian lands;

•	Disaster relief assistance;

•	Assistance received under a program for flood mitigation activities;

•	Burial spaces and certain funds up to $1,500 for burial expenses;

•	SSI or Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance retroactive payments for 9 months following the month of receipt;

•	The value of any assistance paid with respect to a dwelling unit under the United States Housing Act of 1937, the National Housing Act, section 101 of the Housing and Urban Development Act of 1965, Title V of the Housing Act of 1949, or section 202(h) of the Housing Act of 1959;

•	Refunds of Federal income taxes and advances made by an employer relating to an EITC for 12 months following the month of receipt;5

•	One-time economic recovery payment received under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, for the month of receipt and the following 9 months;

•	Amounts received pursuant to the Making Work Pay tax credit set forth in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 for the month of receipt and the following 12 months;6

•	Amounts received from the Filipino Veterans Equity Compensation Fund set forth in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009;

•	Refundable child tax credit for 12 months following the month of receipt;

•	Refundable tax credits or advance payment of such credits for 12 months following the month of receipt;7

•	Grants, scholarships, fellowships or gifts to be used for tuition or educational fees for 9 months following the month of receipt;

•	Payments received as compensation for replacement or repair of losses, damages, or theft for 9 months following the month of receipt;

•	Relocation assistance from a State or local government for 9 months following the month of receipt;

•	Payments made from State-provided pensions to aged, blind, or disabled veterans or their spouses;

•	Dedicated financial institution accounts for disabled children;

•	In-kind gifts not converted to cash and the first $2,000 annually of cash gifts made by tax-exempt organizations, such as the Make-A-Wish Foundation, to, or for the benefit of, individuals under age 18 with life-threatening conditions;

•	Up to $2,000 per calendar year in compensation for participating in clinical trials researching treatment of rare diseases and conditions;

•	Amounts received by Medicaid recipients from the “Incentives for Prevention of Chronic Diseases in Medicaid” program established by the Affordable Care Act of 2010;

•	Payments to Indian landowners made in accordance with the Cobell et al. v. Salazar et al. lawsuit settlement, as ratified by the Claims Resettlement Act of 2010 (for 12 months following the month of receipt);

•	Payments made under the Ricky Ray Hemophilia Relief Fund Act of 1998;

•	Amounts deposited into either a TANF or Assets for Independence Act IDA, including matching funds and interest earned on such amounts;

•	Certain trusts (e.g., those established by will or certain Medicaid trusts that will repay the State, upon the death of the recipient, for the costs of medical assistance provided to that individual); and

•	Payments or benefits provided under a Federal statute other than Title XVI of the Social Security Act where exclusion is provided by such statute.

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1

Effective January 1, 2015 (79 FR 64455). Based on changes in the cost of living, the student earned income exclusion increases yearly. See table V.E1 for the history of maximum monthly and calendar year exclusion amounts.

2

Amounts used to pay impairment-related work expenses are deducted before the one-half of earned income deduction, whereas amounts used to pay the work expenses of the blind are deducted after the one-half of earned income deduction. As a result, amounts of blind work expenses reduce SSI earned income to a greater degree than impairment-related work expenses.

3

Funds used for food or shelter are not exclusions.

4

This unearned income exclusion was authorized by the Improving Access to Clinical Trials Act of 2010. The exclusion sunsets 5 years after the date of enactment (in October 2015).

5

Lawmakers extended the exclusion period from 9 to 12 months by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, for refunds or credits received between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012. The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-240) made the 12-month exclusion permanent.

6

Lawmakers extended the exclusion period from 2 to 12 months by the Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, for refunds or credits received between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012.

7

Prior to the enactment of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (P.L. 112-240) on January 2, 2013, this resource exclusion applied to such tax credits received between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2012. P.L. 112-240 made the 12-month resource exclusion permanent.