INCOME DISREGARDS

Disregards shall be applied before determining a client’s total countable income. If a client's total countable income equals or exceeds the OAP grant standard after the disregards are applied, he or she shall be denied or discontinued following the policies outlined in Section 3.554. A. If the client has income, apply the following income disregards: 1. To determine countable earned income: a. Deduct $65 from the gross earned income; and, b. Divide the remainder by two (2). c. The result is the countable earned income. 2. To determine countable unearned income: a. Determine the client's gross unearned income from all sources. b. Subtract any amount received from SSI. c. Deduct $20.00 from the remainder. 1) If the client is married, the $20.00 disregard shall be split equally between the client and the client’s spouse so that no more than a $20.00 disregard is applied for the married couple. 2) A client who receives SSI only, and does not receive any other unearned income, does not receive an unearned income disregard. d. Add the full SSI income back to the remainder. e. The remainder is countable unearned income. f. If the client's gross unearned income is less than $20.00, the difference between the gross unearned income and the $20.00 deduction shall be applied to the earned income calculation, if applicable. B. Subtract the countable earned and countable unearned income from the OAP grant standard to determine the grant payment amount. If the grant payment amount is less than the OAP payment floor standard as outlined in section 3.530, a state supplementary payment will be issued to raise the grant payment to meet the payment floor standard.