Page 264

ESA SNAP Policy Manual 248 Example: No Overpayment Ms. Wright receives TANF. In June, she finds a job and gets her first paycheck. She calls her caseworker June 17, two days after being paid. She is paid twice a month and earns $150 per paycheck. Her caseworker issues a notice on June 19 informing Ms. Wright that her TANF benefits will decrease by $47 per month and that her SNAP benefits will be reduced by $58 based on her new earnings. These changes are effective August 1 because of the 15-day notice period. Ms. Wright reported her income change timely, and ESA acted on the information timely, so there is no TANF or SNAP overpayment.

Example: Department Error Overpayment Ms. Lewis is employed, receives TANF and SNAP and is subject to simplified reporting. Ms. Lewis receives a pay raise in June, and her total income for July exceeds her reporting threshold. Ms. Lewis calls her caseworker August 3 to report her increased income. The caseworker fails to issue a termination notice for TANF and SNAP until August 25. Benefits are reduced beginning October because of the 15-day notice period. No overpayment is charged for either program for June, July and August because these benefits would not have been reduced even if ESA had acted in a timely manner. TANF and SNAP ESA error overpayments are charged for the excess benefits received in September because of ESA’s failure to act promptly on the reported change.

23.1.5 Time Limitations on Calculating and Collecting Overpayments  ESA calculates overpayments for a period of 12 months from the date the overpayment is discovered unless ESA suspects the overpayment is a result of fraud or an IPV.  When ESA identifies or suspects an overpayment is a result of fraud or an IPV, the overpayment is calculated for the entire period over which excess benefits were received, up to a limit of six years from the date the overpayment was discovered.  Although ESA calculates an overpayment beyond 12 months from the date of discovery of suspected fraud, ESA does not collect for the period beyond 12 months unless fraud or IPV has been determined. Example 1 Ms. Freeman and her two children receive SNAP. In March 2020, ESA discovers that the household was overpaid SNAP because Ms. Freeman’s oldest son is 20 and had countable earnings since he was 18. Ms. Freeman says she did not know that her son’s wages were countable because she was told that his earnings were excluded when he was 17. Although the income dates back two years, calculate the household’s overpayment for only the 12-month period from April 2019 to March 2020 because the overpayment appears to be an inadvertent household error.

Return