Page 435

are allowed prospectively once the income is reported. If a recipient does not cooperate by providing actual information to determine the amount of the incorrect payment, the best estimate or the best information available may be used. One source of information is IEVS. If the SSR has information from some months in an earlier quarter, the information is used for subsequent months. If the SSR has quarterly wage information (from DOES or the recipient's previous employer) and the recipient is unwilling or unable to provide monthly earnings amounts, average the quarterly wages over the quarter and use the resulting monthly average to determine the correct payment amounts. The SSR must attempt to get monthly wage information directly from the recipient’s employer, before using an estimate or best available information to report or establish the claim. When there is one month or more of total ineligibility and then one month or more of eligibility, the unit is presumed to have reapplied on the first day they were eligible. The amount that the unit should have received based on the first day they were eligible (prorate if necessary) is calculated. TANF Recipients must report changes in their household composition. When a mandatory unit member enters a household and the unit fails to report the change in a timely manner, the underpayment is calculated starting with the month the mandatory unit member arrives. Example

Ms. Leidy gave birth to her son Abraham on May 18. She does not report the change in household composition until June 4. She has already been issued June benefits. When calculating her underpayment, it will start with May benefits. FS See TANF except no overpayments or underpayments are established because of changes (e.g., person becomes elderly or disabled and becomes eligible for a higher shelter deduction) that were not required to be reported by the unit during the certification period. Also, when a group member is added to the group, the change is made prospectively after the change is reported. When calculating overpayments or underpayments for FS households who also receive TANF, the amount of TANF cash assistance actually received in the payment month is used, even if the cash assistance was later determined to be an overpayment. DHS keep a record of underpayments, corrective payments, overpayments and recovery. The information must be sufficient to keep track of people who: • currently receive assistance (including people who move from one unit to another), or • no longer receive assistance.