• 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);
• Any refundable child tax credit;
• The first $30 of earned income in a quarter if it is infrequent or irregular. A payment is infrequent 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. A payment is irregular if its receipt cannot reasonably be expected;
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• 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
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• 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 they attained age 65;
• Cash or in-kind income provided under an AmeriCorps program;3
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• 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;4
• Food raised by a household if it is consumed by that household;
• 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;
• 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;
• Interest or other earnings on a dedicated account excluded from resources;
• 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;
• Cash or in-kind income provided under an AmeriCorps program;5
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• Contributions to an Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) account6 are excluded for the account’s beneficiary. In addition, interest and dividends accrued by and retained within an ABLE account are also excluded; and
• SSI or Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance retroactive payments for 9 months following the month of receipt;
• Refunds of Federal income taxes and advances made by an employer relating to an EITC for 12 months following the month of receipt;7
• 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;8
• Refundable tax credits or advance payment of such credits for 12 months following the month of receipt;9
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• 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);
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• Payments or benefits provided under a Federal statute other than Title XVI of the Social Security Act where exclusion is provided by such statute;
Effective January 1, 2024 (88 FR 72803). The student earned income exclusion generally increases yearly based on changes in the cost of living. See table V.E1 for the history of maximum monthly and calendar year exclusion amounts.
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