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• All parent/child/sibling relationships referred to include biological, adopted, or step relationships. The “household” is the same as what we call the “assistance group.” Within a family or case, each individual’s household may be different. • Tax relationships are based on client attestation and no additional verifications are needed unless questionable. • For example: A tax dependent is expected to have significantly more income that the filing threshold or is claimed by non-custodial parent. If the tax filer/tax dependent relationship is not “reasonably established” the dependent should not be counted in the tax filer’s household, and the dependent’s own household should be determined according to Rule 3. • If income appears to be too high for the individual to be a dependent rather than being required to file their own taxes, and they do not verify a reason explaining the discrepancy, they should be figured by Rule 3.6 • Non-custodial parents who state they claim their children on their taxes will need to provide a court-ordered divorce/custody agreement showing tax arrangement, or IRS Form 8332 signed by the parent with custody. If not verified, the tax filer is still figured by Rule 1, but the dependent(s) will not be included in the tax filer’s household size. 7 • The income of individuals aged 19 or older in the household is always counted, except for adult children claimed as tax dependents by a tax filer parent (Rule 2). For these adults (ex: disabled children and college students), income only counts if dependent is required to file taxes. • The household size of a pregnant woman increases by the number of children she is expected to deliver, but household size remains the same for other household members until the birth. • Spouses who live separately (including when one spouse is incarcerated) but will file taxes jointly for the year in which eligibility is being determined should be included in each other’s MAGI household. If unable to verify the other spouse’s income, attestation can be accepted if not questionable. • In cases of domestic violence, if spouse’s income is not known, figure household without including him/her. • Best practice is to enter all income so that it would be correctly counted whether the category which forms is MAGI or Non-MAGI.

3206.00.00 PRIMARY RESIDENCE (MED 2, MED 3)

When determining the Assistance Group deciding who “lives” together is taken into account.

Sometimes this means that the worker must determine the residence of an individual. The residence of an individual is the address reported by that individual.