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TANF POLICY MANUAL

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If an underpayment occurred in a previous eligibility period, it can be corrected by Economic Services (ES) Workers when the case is reopened.

An underpayment and an overpayment may be offset in arriving at the final claim in the calculation.

A current underpayment may be used to offset a previously established overpayment.

CAUTION: The TANF supervisor must authorize correction of an underpayment.

20.5 Overpayments An overpayment may occur due to:

A. Agency error B. Client error C. Fraud

The overpayment situation must be evaluated to determine if fraud is suspected.

20.6 Budgeting of Earned Income Disregards Underpayments or overpayments due to incorrect months being given the 50% or $100 disregard will not be processed. The 50% disregard will be given the first four months earned income is budgeted in CHIP, regardless of when earnings were received or reported.

20.7 Establishment of Claim Federal and state law determines the amount of assistance a BG is eligible to receive. A claim shall be established whenever a BG receives benefits in excess of the amount it was entitled to receive, including overpayments resulting from benefits pending hearing decisions.

1. Amount of Claim Investigating the case and determining the correct amount of issuance determine the amount of the claim. The difference between the amount actually received and the amount that should have been received is the amount of the claim.

2. Time Frame Claims must be calculated according to the policies and procedures of the TANF Program at the time the over issuance occurred.

20.8 Substantiated as Possible Claims 1. ES Worker/CM Responsibilities for Possible Claims The ES Worker/CM has the following responsibilities regarding procedures for possible claims referral: A. Complete a DSS Form 1680. All referrals must contain complete information in Section 1. The ES Worker/CM will indicate if the case is active or inactive and Proposed Type (claim classification). The ES Worker/CM also assigns a potential classification to each claim based on the reasons for the over issuance. A