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VIRGINIA DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL SERVICES SPECIAL INCOME DETERMINATIONS

10/24 VOLUME V, PART XII, PAGE 15

3. Disqualified Households Households that contain members who receive lottery or gambling winnings equal to or greater than the resource limit for elderly or disabled households are ineligible upon receipt of the money. See Part IX.B. The households will remain ineligible until they reapply for benefits and meet allowable income and resource eligibility levels. This disqualification will include categorically eligible households and households with elderly or disabled members.

F. AVERAGING CONTRACT AND SELF-EMPLOYMENT INCOME (7 CFR 273.10(c)(3)(ii))

1. Annualization

Households that derive their annual income by contract or self-employment in a period of time shorter than one year must have that income averaged over a 12-month period. Prorating the income over 12 months is appropriate as long as the income from the contract is not received on an hourly or piecework basis. Provisions of this chapter do not apply to migrant or seasonal farm workers but may include school employees, sharecroppers, farmers, and other self-employed households.

Contract income that is not the household’s annual income in that it is intended to meet the household’s needs for only part of the year must be prorated over the period the income is intended to cover. The procedures for averaging self-employment income for shorter periods than 12 months are described in Part XII.A.2.

The statement of an hourly rate of pay in a contract does not necessarily mean the contract is on an hourly basis and therefore is not to be annualized. If the total amount of annual income for the contract period can be derived from the information contained in the contract, or information that is readily available, exclusive of days which may be missed due to circumstances such as illness or bad weather, the income must be annualized.

Examples

1. A school bus driver's contract states he will receive $7 per hour for 5 hours per day over the 180-day school year. The school board states the school year has 180 days. Since a total amount of income can either be derived from the contract or is readily available (7 x 5 x 180 = $6300 per year), the total income is annualized.

2. A school cafeteria worker's contract calls for $7 per hour over the school year of 180 days, but the number of hours available is not indicated. The number of hours per day varies, and the school board cannot anticipate the number. The total amount of income for the contract period cannot be derived from either the contract or other information and, therefore, income is not annualized.

There may be instances in which a contract is initiated for a partial year after the start of the normal contract period. In these instances, the income must be prorated over the partial contract period in the same manner as if the person was hired for the entire contract period.

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