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APPLICATION AND DETERMINATION OF ELIGIBILITY TANF MANUAL CHAPTER 400

CASE MANAGEMENT REPORTS 7/20 402.1

402.1 INCOME ELIGIBILITY VERIFICATION SYSTEM (IEVS)

Section 1137 of the Social Security Act requires states to coordinate data exchanges with other federally assisted benefit programs and to use that information when making eligibility determinations for TANF recipients. The federal statute requires that information obtained through these data exchanges be verified by a third party, not the IEVS source, prior to impacting the eligibility of the TANF case or the amount of benefits. The exception to the prior statement is Social Security benefits. Chapter D, page 7, of the IEVS Manual provides instruction to local departments of social services in the use of the information obtained through IEVS. Local workers must complete a Benefit Impact Statement (BIS) for each TANF case for which it receives an IEVS match. The IEVS match must NEVER be printed.

The Income Eligibility Verification System (IEVS) provides information by running matches of the client population against the files of other state and federal agencies. These include:

- the Social Security Administration for earnings information from the Benefit Exchange Earnings Records (BEERS);

- the Internal Revenue Service for unearned income, such as interest (RES).

The purpose of the matches is to determine whether available information is known to the local social services department.

Information about SSI benefits from the SPIDeR system is considered verified upon receipt because the provider of the benefits (SSA) is also the source of the information. The local agency must take action to terminate, deny or reduce benefits, including proper notices to the assistance unit, without needing additional verification. If the information, however, is questionable, the agency must resolve the discrepancies before taking action.

Information from other IEVS matches is considered unverified. Prior to taking action to terminate, deny or reduce benefits, agencies must independently verify the amount of the asset or income involved, and whether the asset or income is or was accessible to the assistance unit.

The agency must obtain independent verification of information obtained from IEVS by contacting the assistance unit and/or the appropriate source of the income. If the agency opts to contact the assistance unit, the contact must be in writing, informing the assistance unit of the information received, and requesting that the assistance unit respond within 10 days. If the assistance unit fails to respond in a timely manner, the agency must send an advance notice to suspend or terminate the case. The agency may contact the appropriate source of the information. Once independent verification is provided, either by the assistance unit or the source, the agency must properly notify the assistance unit of the action it intends to take and provide the assistance unit with an opportunity to request a fair hearing prior to any adverse action.

TANF Transmittal 68