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– $110 (child care expenses) $130 = Net Earned Income The group's net earned income is combined with her countable unearned income ($75) to determine net countable income. The group's net countable income equals $205. Since the group's net countable income is less than $379 (the payment standard), the group meets the income- eligibility criteria for TANF. If a person is added to an existing TANF group, that applicant is considered a recipient and receives recipient disregards. RECIPIENT DISREGARDS Recipient disregards are applied to determine the eligibility of groups already receiving TANF and level of benefits. Applicant disregards, described above, are used to determine the eligibility of applicant groups. Once a group has been determined eligible, recipient disregards are always used when determining the level of benefits for which a group is eligible. Apply the following disregards to the earned income of TANF recipients to calculate net earned income (see Section 4.8: Children's Earnings in this Part for a discussion of the treatment of the earnings of children who are students): Work Expense Deduction Disregard the first $160 of total gross earned income of each individual in the household who has earnings. If more than one non-student (see Student Disregard below) group member has earnings, then the $160 work expense deduction is applied to each group member with earnings (see above for an example of how to apply the Work Expense Deduction when two individuals are working.) Earned Income Disregard Disregard two-thirds (2/3) of the earnings not already disregarded due to the Work Expense Deduction. Dependent Care Deduction Disregard the actual amount paid for the care of each dependent child or incapacitated adult living in the home and receiving TANF up to the following maximums: • $175 per child (or incapacitated adult) if the child is age two or older. • $200 per child if the child is under age two. The child care expense may not be paid to a member of the group. If a group's child care costs are paid in full by a subsidy program, the group receives no child care disregard. Child care costs can only be subtracted from earned income. If the combination of the work expense deduction, the earned income disregard, and child care expenses are greater than the group's earned income, the group's net earned income is $0. No deductions to unearned income can be made based on child care or work expenses.