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Title 7: SNAP Page 38 Iowa Department of Health and Human Services Employees’ Manual Chapter E: Income Deductions Revised February 13, 2026 Handling Deductions Averaging Expenses Legal reference: 7 CFR 273.10(d)(3), (4), and (5) Households may choose to have fluctuating expenses averaged. If a household chooses to do this, average expenses as follows:  One-time expenses. Households can choose to have one-time-only expenses used once or averaged over the entire certification period in which they are billed.

A local assessment is a one-time only expense. A household certified for January, February, and March that receives a local assessment in January may elect to have that bill averaged over the three-month certification period.  Ongoing expenses. When expenses are billed less often than monthly but have regularly scheduled billings or a regularly scheduled due date, average them forward over the interval between the billings.

Mr. T is billed $600 every six months for property taxes. Allow a deduction of $100 per month ($600 ÷ 6 months). When there is no scheduled interval between the billings, average the expense forward over the period of time the expense is intended to cover. This may be a longer period of time than the certification period. Homeless households who incur shelter or utility expenses related to their living arrangement, but who opt to receive the homeless standard deduction are not required to provide verification of those costs. Child and Dependent Care Legal reference: 7 CFR 273.9(d)(4), 273.10(d)(1)(ii) Deduct child or dependent care costs that allow a household member to:  Look for work.  Attend training or education to prepare the person for work.  Accept a job or continue working. (It does not matter if the income from that job is counted or excluded.) Do not allow a child care expense if:  Another household member provides the care.  The care is paid for by some in-kind benefit, such as food.  The expense is covered by an excluded reimbursement or excluded vendor payment. This includes reimbursement by an employment and training program.