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SNAP CERTIFICATION MANUAL – SECTION 7000 7500 Step 2 - Gross Income Eligibility 7520 Income Averaged Forward Over the Period of Intended Use

7520 Income Averaged Forward Over the Period of Intended Use SNAP Manual 11/01/02 At the household’s option, income intended to cover a period longer than one month may be averaged over the period of intended use. (The gross income is divided by the number of months in the period of intended use.) Types of income which may be averaged forward over the period of intended use include dividends and interest. EXAMPLE: A household receives $15 interest on a quarterly basis. $15 X 3 = $5.00. $5.00 is the household’s monthly interest income. If the household does not choose to average income intended to cover a period longer than one month, the entire payment will be counted as income in the month of receipt. At application, this will require the calculation of two budgets – one that includes the income and another that does not. See SNAP 7523.3 for instructions on authorizing variable benefit amounts. 7521 Averaging Several Months Income SNAP Manual 07/01/98 In cases where the receipt of income is reasonably certain but the monthly income may fluctuate, the household may elect to income average. (Income may not be averaged for destitute households as defined in SNAP 9446.) Before income may be averaged, the worker must obtain verification of at least two consecutive full month’s income, and the household must agree that this income is representative of the income fluctuations anticipated for the coming months. The number of months used to arrive at the average income need not be the same as the number of months in the assigned certification period. EXAMPLE 1: Fluctuating income for two months is known and the household is reasonably certain that this income is representative of the income anticipated to be received in the coming months. The income for the two known months may be averaged and projected over a certification period longer than two months. To calculate averaged income, the worker will obtain a monthly total for each month, add the monthly totals together and divide by the total number of months. Since averaged income represents more than one full month’s income, no conversion factor will be used to obtain total monthly income.