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COMAR 10.09.24.01-.16 1661 State of Maryland Medical Assistance Manual Revised July 2012

.07 Consideration of Income.

A. This regulation contains the rules for considering earned and unearned income of members of the assistance unit and those persons whose income and resources are considered pursuant to Regulation .06 of this chapter in determining financial eligibility of an assistance unit for retroactive and current eligibility for the period under consideration.

B. Definitions.

(1) "Disregard" means the amount of money specified by regulation that can be subtracted from countable income.

(2) "Excludable income" means income which is exempt from consideration as countable income.

(3) "Income tax" means federal, state, or local taxes either paid or withheld from income of a self- employed person not to exceed the tax table amount for the number of known dependents.

C. The applicant shall report all income. When there is evidence of regular expenditures which are inconsistent with reported income, the applicant shall be required to offer an explanation and appropriate verification to reconcile the inconsistency. D. The Department or its designee shall consider all income in accordance with this regulation. E. Retroactive Eligibility. The income to be considered is that which was actually available during the retroactive period under consideration. F. Current Eligibility. In considering income for current eligibility, the following rules apply: (1) When a person has regular income, the amount to be considered is that which is available or can reasonably be expected to be available for a projected period of 6 months, including the month of application;

(2) When a person works for less than 12 months but receives an annual salary, is self-employed, or has irregular or seasonal earning, the amount to be considered is one-half the expected annual income based on the prior year's gross income;

(3) For a deceased person, the income to be considered is that which was available up to and including the month of death. When there are other persons in the assistance unit, the deceased person's income will be averaged over the unit's established period under consideration.

G. Treatment of Income.

(1) All earned and unearned income which is not designated as excludable income pursuant to §J or §K of this regulation shall be counted to establish countable gross income.

(2) Countable gross income shall be reduced by subtracting appropriate income disregards as specified in §L or §M of this regulation to determine countable net income.

H. Earned income includes the following: