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Example Ms. Dawes and her two children apply for TANF. Ms. Dawes earns $350 per month and receives $200 per month in child support. No group member receives any other income. Ms. Dawes spends $120 per month on child care for her two-year-old son. Gross Earned Income = $350 Gross Unearned Income = $200 Unearned Income = $200 –$150 Child Support Disregard Countable Unearned Income = $50 Earned Income = $350 Gross Earned Income –$160 Work Expense Deduction – $120 Child Care Disregard Countable Earned Income = $ 70 Net Countable Income = $70 Net Earned Income + $50 = $120 Ms. Dawes has received TANF in the past for a total of 40 months. The payment level for a group of three is $428 (as of January, 2009.) Since the group's net countable income is less than the payment level, the group is income-eligible for TANF.

Determining On-Going Recipient Eligibility

To determine whether a group that received TANF in the prior month remains income-eligible for TANF assistance, determine the following:

 Determine gross countable earned and unearned income. Generally, a TANF recipient must assign the child support rights of his/her children to the District of Columbia government. Child support collected by CSED does not count as unearned income (see Section 4.9: Child Support in this Part).  Apply applicable recipient disregards to calculate net countable income (consisting of net countable earned income and countable unearned income). Recipient disregards consist of the $160 Work Expense Deduction (per employed group member), the two-thirds (2/3) Earned Income Disregard (two-thirds of earnings not already disregarded), and the Child Care Disregard based on out-of-pocket child care expenses (see Section 6.3: Income Disregards and Deductions in this Part).  Compare net countable income to the appropriate Payment Level (see Exhibit VI-4: TANF Standard of Assistance and Payment Levels) for the appropriate group size. If net countable income exceeds the payment level, the group is ineligible for TANF.