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SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 5000 5400 Income Exclusions 5410 Recoupments

15. Transitional Employment Assistance (TEA) Diversion Assistance Payments. Non-recurring lump-sum payments excluded as income must be counted as a resource in the month received, unless specifically excluded as a resource by Federal statute or regulation. See SNAP 4450 for a list of resources excluded by law. See SNAP 4951 for instructions on handling lump-sum payments.

5410 Recoupments SNAP Manual 08/01/04 A recoupment is the voluntary or involuntary return of money from and assistance payment, earned income or other income source to repay a previous overpayment received from that income source. Monies being withheld from social security, SSI benefit or other federal payments to repay a SNAP overpayment under the Treasury Offset Program (TOP) will NOT be excluded as income. The gross benefit amount must be counted in the SNAP budget. See SNAP 15930 for information about the TOP Program. Monies currently being recouped are excluded as income if both of the following conditions are met. CONDITION 1:The income in which the overpayment occurred must not have been excluded in the SNAP budget at the time of overpayment. EXAMPLE: The Office of Child Support Enforcement (OCSE) determined that a child support recipient was overpaid because she kept child support payments for a child who was receiving TEA cash assistance. These child support payments were excluded as income in the SNAP budget at the time this overpayment occurred. The household no longer receives TEA cash assistance but does continue to receive child support through OCSE. Part of this child support is being recouped to repay the overpayment. Since the child support payments were excluded as income in the SNAP budget at the time of the overpayment, the gross child support income (including the amount being recouped) will be counted in the current SNAP budget. CONDITION 2: For an overpayment in TEA (or AFDC) benefits, SSI benefits or HUD assistance, the overpayment must not be classified as an Intentional Program Violation (IPV). The agency administering the program makes the decision whether or not to classify an overpayment as an IPV. (DHS does conduct administrative hearings to determine fraud in TEA cases. See TEA 8100.) When the agency administering the program cannot or will not tell the county office worker if