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Food Stamp claimants will be sent notification when a food stamp claim is established telling them that they may ask to have the over-issuance reduced through compromise.

Restrictions on Consolidating Multiple Claims When Determining If a Compromise May Be Made

Separate Food Stamp claims cannot be consolidated to determine if all or a portion of the claimant’s combined debt may be compromised. A separate claim is defined as an over-issuance for one month or two or more consecutive months that is the result of the same action or inaction of the claimant or the agency.

UNDERPAYMENTS 6.5 ALL Persons are underpaid if they do not receive the benefits for which they are eligible (i.e., a recipient of public assistance receives a payment or series of payments in an amount less than that for which the recipient is eligible). TANF TANF Underpayments cannot be corrected for more than 12 months prior to the date whichever of the following has occurred: • the recipient requested correction of benefits, or • the date the agency is notified or otherwise discovers that a loss to a group has occurred. If both occurred, the underpayment shall be corrected for the 12 months prior to whichever occurred earlier. Underpayments are not corrected when a recipient fails to timely report a change in circumstances except in cases of the addition of a mandatory group member such as a newborn. If a recipient reports the addition of a mandatory group member (such as a newborn), the underpayment is corrected regardless of the timeliness of the report (see Section 1.7: Adding a Newborn in Part IV). Example 1 Mr. Johnson and his two children receive TANF. Mr. Johnson works and earns $350 per month. Mr. Johnson loses his job in October but does not report the loss of income until December. No underpayment correction is issued for the underpayment that occurred in October, November or December. January benefits must reflect the lost income. If there is insufficient time from the date of the reported change to affect January's benefit amount, a supplemental payment must be issued. Example 2 Ms. Pike and her three-year-old receive TANF. In March, Ms. Pike has a baby, but she does not

Example 1

Mr. Pondexter failed to report his wages from UPS timely. He was charged a Food Stamp over-issuance for May 2008 through October 2008. Mr. Pondexter’s job terminated and he failed to report when he began getting unemployment benefits. He was charged an over-issuance for December 2008 through April 2009. Mr. Pondexter’s over-issuance cannot be combined because the months of the over-issuance are not consecutive and the over-issuances are based on two separate incidences of Mr. Pondexter’s failing to report changes of his income.