How much income can you have and still get TAFDC?

DTA has one set of rules for counting income for applicants to determine if they qualify for TAFDC and a different set of rules to calculate the amount of the benefit. How much income can you have and still qualify for TAFDC? deals with applicant eligibility, sometimes called getting in the front door. What is the 6-month 100% earned income disregard? and How much will you get each month? deal with how DTA calculates benefits once you get in the front door.

Step One. Subtract allowable deductions from gross earned income –

Start with your monthly gross earned income and deduct in the following order

• $200 for work expenses. This is a flat amount regardless of how much your work expenses really are. 106 C.M.R. § 704.270
• One-half of what is left after the $200 work expense deduction if you were a recipient within the four months before you apply. 106 C.M.R. § 704.280. DTA calls this the 50% disregard.
• Dependent care costs. Deduct actual dependent care costs (including costs of transportation to and from child care) up to DTA’s maximum dependent based on the age of the dependent and the number of hours you work. 106 C.M.R. § 704.275. Determine the maximum deduction you can take for each dependent using DTA’s table. DTA Online Guide (Dependent Care Deduction).

Step Two. Subtract allowable deductions from unearned income

You can deduct the first $50 a month in child support for children who are included in the grant. See What income is not counted?

Step Three. Figure your countable income

Add earned and unearned income after the deductions allowed above. Include deemed income. See Links below:

• What income is counted?
• Does TAFDC count assets?
• What if you are expecting money from an accident or illness?
• What happens if your child’s father (or mother) pays child support?
• Does DTA ever count money as income even if you do not get it?
• How does DTA count income of a stepparent or ineligible noncitizen parent?
• How is grandparent income counted towards the baby of a teen parent?
• What if a stepparent, parent or grandparent refuses to give income information?
• Does DTA count in-kind income?
• Do gifts count as income?

Step Four. Compare your total monthly countable income with the Need Standard for your family size

• Use the Standard with the rent allowance if you live in private, unsubsidized housing.
• Use the lower standard without the rent allowance if you do not pay rent, you live in a teen parent living program, or you live in public or subsidized housing and the rent of at least one of the occupants is based on a percentage of income. 106 C.M.R. § 705.910.
• Be sure to use the higher Standard in September when the clothing allowance is paid.

If your total monthly countable income is less than the Need Standard for your family size, you got in the front door. Go to the next two questions to figure your monthly TAFDC grant.

Advocacy Reminders

• Because the Need Standards are higher in September, a family may qualify in September with income that would have made the family ineligible in previous months.
• DTA may deny you the $200 work expense deduction, the 50% or 100% earned income disregards, and the dependent care deduction if you left a job without good cause, did not report your earned income on time, or you are under sanction or otherwise excluded from the assistance unit. 106 C.M.R. §§ 704.270(B), 704.275, 704.280. This may not be legal. For help, contact a legal services advocate, Appendix D: Massachusetts Legal Services Offices.
• The assistance unit does not include SSI recipients or foster children. Do not count their income and do not include them in the assistance unit size. See Who cannot be in the assistance unit?
• DTA should not ask you for verification that you pay for private, unsubsidized housing unless the amount you report raises questions. DTA Operations Memo 2011-21 (June 29, 2011).
• Some programs, such as tax credit programs, subsidize owners, not tenants. Unless you are in a teen living program, DTA rules do not consider you to be living in subsidized housing unless the rent is a based in whole or part on a percentage of a tenant’s income. See DTA Transitions, Apr. 2001, p. 5; DTA Online Guide (Rent Allowance Chart).
• You can get the rent allowance if your mortgage is paid off as long as you verify other housing expenses such as property taxes, condo fees or home insurance. DTA Online Guide (Rent Allowance Chart).
• You can get the rent allowance if you have HomeBASE assistance as long as you pay for private housing. DTA Online Guide (DTA-DHCD HomeBASE Housing Assistance Requirements).