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Vermont Department for Children and Families Reach Up Eligibility Rules Economic Services Division 2200 67

considered either unearned or earned in-kind income, regardless of whether or not they incur a cost for housing.

1. Nor in these instances shall these items be claimed as an expense in the budget.

2249 Unearned Income (08/01/2024, 23-28)

a. Unearned income includes the following:

1. Income from pension and benefit programs, such as social security, railroad retirement, veteran's pension or compensation, unemployment compensation, employer or individual private pension plans and annuities;

i. The Medicare Part B premium of a new Social Security or Railroad Retirement recipient that continues to be withheld from their benefits pending completion of their transfer to the Department of Vermont Health Access' (DVHA) Medicare Savings Program shall be disregarded until the benefit increase is available to the recipient.

ii. The amount of veteran’s benefits retained by a guardian as reimbursement for guardian services is disregarded as income.

2. Income from capital investments in which the Reach Up household is not engaged in active management (rule 2201);

3. Payments on mortgages or notes resulting from a sale of real or personal property when the Reach Up household is not engaged in the business of selling such property; 4. Voluntary contributions from others;

5. Child support in excess of $100 per month paid on behalf of a child included in the Reach Up household (rule 2250.1);

6. The applicable standard fuel and utility subsidy (rule 2246);

7. Reach First benefits attributed to the months that the Reach Up household applied for Reach Up benefits; and

8. The income of any person, and their spouse, who executed an affidavit of support (USCIS Form I-864 or I-864A) on behalf of the applicant or recipient pursuant to section 213A of the INA.

b. The full amount of available unearned income shall be applied to the payment standard, except for disregards specified under certain federal programs (rule 2253).

c. Any non-excluded income from student loans or grants (rule 2253) shall be converted to a monthly amount by averaging the total amount of the loan or grant over the period it is intended to cover.