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Between August 1 and September 1, the signed EA-241 will be submitted to BIA for verification. In cases where BIA has not complied with the Department's request for this information via the EA- 241 submitted (by September 1), another contact with the customer should be made. It is then up to the customer to obtain the completed EA-241from BIA.

If BIA has not returned the form or the customer does not return the completed EA-241 with their Monthly Report (EA-214) due by September 20th, the Benefits Specialist will make a determination based on the best available information. The time frames are illustrated below:

8703 INTEREST INCOME FROM TRUST ACCOUNTS

Only interest income received from trust accounts is countable. If the interest is not from a trust account, the amount is totally excluded. The terms of the trust must make the interest income available, and the household must receive the income at which point it should be annualized. If the trust interest income is recurring, the annualized amount must be updated prior to each June issuance. Documents which may be used to obtain annual interest amounts include a written statement from the trustee, the 1040 form, 1099 statements, or the annual interest statement from the bank. The following clarification is offered for situations where last year's interest income does not reflect current circumstances. A. The trustee has reduced all or a portion of the interest income sources from the previous calendar year. B. The trust's only interest income was from a $1000 CD which has since been liquidated. Since there is no longer the source of interest income, no interest income should be budgeted. For an on-going case, interest income would also be removed if the household reports and verifies that they no longer have the source of interest income. C. The trust had two $1000 CDs last year. One CD was liquidated, and one remains valued at $1000. The interest income from the CD which was liquidated is not budgeted. The interest income from the $1000 CD the household still has is annualized. D. The household had no interest income in the previous calendar year but now has a source of interest income (e.g. Trustee purchased a CD or opened a savings account.)

The benefit specialist should verify interest accrued to date and average it over the period of time the interest income has been accrued and the resulting monthly amount projected for the coming year.

8704 DESTITUTE HOUSEHOLD

Migrant or seasonal households with little or no income at the time of application may be in need of immediate food assistance even though they receive income at some other time during the month of application. The following procedures must be used in determining when households in these June 15 August 1 – September 1 September 1 – September 20 September 20 Letter Explaining Process State attempts to get verification from BIA If no response from BIA, the customer responsible to obtain verification If not obtained, EABS would assess BIA’s willingness to cooperate, and if a determination of non-cooperation is made, the EABS would proceed using the best method available.