Calculating the Amount of a Claim

A. Compromising Claims If the full amount or remaining amount of an AE or IHE claim cannot be liquidated in three (3) years, the local office may compromise the claim by reducing it to an amount that will allow the household to pay the claim in three (3) years. IPV claims shall not be compromised, unless specified in a court decision. The local office may use the full amount of the claim, including any amount compromised, to offset lost benefits. Decisions regarding compromises shall be documented in the case record. A payment plan on a claim that has been compromised may be renegotiated if necessary. Claims that are already reduced by either an administrative or district court order are considered compromised claims, and thus are not eligible for additional compromise. Local offices shall review the household’s circumstances and determine if a compromise would be appropriate. Local offices do not have the option of refusing to consider compromising claims. Local offices cannot institute a policy of never compromising claims Claims should be compromised if the household demonstrates need, such as the inability to repay the claim within three (3) years, or if the household proves that financial, physical, or mental hardship would exist if forced to pay the full amount of the original claim. Some circumstances include, but are not limited to, medical hardships, high shelter costs, loan payments, and other extraordinary expenses. A compromise based on hardship may be applied to a SNAP case regardless of whether the household is still receiving SNAP benefits. Consideration should be given to the future earning potential of the household over the next three

(3) years to pay back the claim based on age, disability, and other household factors. B. Claims Resulting from Trafficking The value of claims resulting from trafficking related offenses is the value of the trafficked benefits as determined by the individual's admission, through adjudication, or the documentation that forms the basis for the trafficking determination. Documentation could include such items as notarized statements or printouts from the EBT systems. C. Agency Error and Inadvertent Household Error Claims 1. If the household received a larger allotment than it was entitled to receive, the local office shall establish a claim against the household that is equal to the difference between the allotment that the household received and the actual allotment it should have received. Benefits authorized under Colorado Electronic Benefits Transfer System (CO/EBTS) shall be used to calculate the claim. After calculating the amount of a claim and establishing claims, the local office must offset the amount of the claim against any amounts which have not yet been restored to the household. Expungements and any return of benefits that occur must be used to offset the amount of the claim. 2. The claim must also be offset against restored benefits owed to: a. Any household that contains a member who was an adult member of the original household; b. Any household that contains an authorized representative that caused the over- issuance or trafficking. c. In no circumstance may the local office collect more than the amount of the claim. 3. For households eligible under BCE, a claim shall only be determined when it can be calculated because of changed household net income and/or household size. A claim shall not be established if there was not a change in net income and/or household size. If a household receives both TANF and SNAP and mis-reports information to TANF in accordance with the TANF reporting requirements, and the mis-report of information to TANF resulted in the household being over-issued TANF or ineligible for TANF, any resulting SNAP claim should be based on the actual TANF issued. 4. The correct allotment shall be calculated using the same methods applied to certification. The twenty percent (20%) earned income deduction shall not be applied to that part of any earned income that the household failed to report in a timely manner when this act is the basis for the claim; therefore, any portion of the claim that is due to earned income being reported in an untimely manner will be calculated without allowing the twenty percent (20%) earned income deduction. The circumstances of the household shall be used to calculate the claim. In instances when a claim is caused by the household’s failure to report information as required, the amount of the claim is based on the allotment difference from what the household received compared to what the household would have received if the household would have reported the information as required. For example, if a simplified reporting household did not report income at initial application as required, the income used to calculate the over-issuance would be the income that the household received in the month of application, as this would have been used to determine the household’s ongoing monthly amount. Actual income received each subsequent month is not required to calculate each month of the claim, as any fluctuation in monthly income that was received by the household after the initial month of application was not required to be reported by the household. If the household failed to report a change in household circumstances that would have resulted in an increase in benefits during the period of the claim, the local office shall act on the change in information as of the date the change was reported to the local office. 5. When a household certified below 130% FPL, as defined in section 4.401.1, above fails to report an increase in household income over 130% FPL. The local office shall establish the claim for each month in which an over-issuance of SNAP has occurred. a. In cases involving household failure to report an increase in income within the required timeframes, the first (1st) month affected by the household's failure to report shall be the first (1st) month in which the change would have been effective had it been timely reported. However, in no event shall the determination of the first (1st) month in which the change would have been effective be any later than two (2) months from the month in which the change occurred. For purposes of calculating the claim, the local office shall assume that the change would have been reported properly and timely acted upon by the local office. b. If the household timely reported an increase in income but the local office failed to act on the change within the required timeframes, the first (1st) month affected by the local office's failure to act shall be the first (1st) month the office would have made the change effective had it acted timely. If a Notice of Adverse Action was required, the local office shall assume, for the purpose of calculating the claim, that the Notice of Adverse Action period would have expired without the household requesting a fair hearing. D. IPV Claims 1. Prior to a waiver of ADH or consent agreement being signed or the determination of IPV/fraud, the claim being pursued as an IPV claim shall be pursued as an IHE claim. 2. For each month that a household received an over-issuance due to an act of IPV/fraud, the local office shall determine the correct amount of SNAP benefits, if any, the household was entitled to receive. If the household member is determined to have intentionally failed to report a change in its household's circumstances, the claim shall be established for each month in which the failure to report would have affected the household's SNAP allotment. 3. Once the amount of the IPV claim is established, the local office shall offset the claim against any amount of lost benefits that have not yet been restored to the household. E. Court Actions In cases where a household member was found guilty of fraud by a court of appropriate jurisdiction, the local office should request that the matter of restitution be brought before the court or addressed in the agreement reached between the prosecutor and individual.