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PY26 WHEAP Manual

49 Revised: August 2025 Payments made by a household member/applicant for child support that are not part of a court order shall be ignored and may not be deducted from income. Payments for alimony or maintenance may not be deducted from income.

Payments, even if court ordered, intended to pay for outstanding bills (medical or otherwise, legal costs, or other non-custodial expenses) may not be ignored or deducted from income.

If a lump sum payment is made for arrears, including by tax intercept, only deduct the amount of the payment that applies to the test period. The worker must verify whether any part of the lump sum payment applied to the test period. 3. Child Support for Non-Resident Child a. If a household receives child support payments, but the child actually resides more than fifty percent (50%) of the time in some other household, do not count the child as a household member, but count money received (regardless of what the household does with the child support funds).

3.3.4 Spousal Impoverishment A spouse who is in a nursing home (institutionalized spouse) for more than 30 days may allocate some or all of their income to their spouse (community spouse). The Spousal Impoverishment provision ensures that the community spouse has income to meet household expenses. Money not allocated to the community spouse must be used to pay nursing home costs and is not available to the community spouse. Count the income received as a result of Spousal Impoverishment income allocation provisions of Wis. Admin. Code HSSS §103.07(1)(9B)2 as direct income for the community spouse. Do not count the personal needs allocation that the institutionalized spouse is entitled to receive (typically a minimum of $45).

3.3.5 Self-Employment Income Self-employment income (including self-employment and farm income) is determined by using a 12-month test period and entering an averaged, annualized amount for the prior month test period. If the business ended during the same calendar year and prior to the test period, this self- employment income is not entered on the application. Document in HE+ System Notes the business operation end date to verify the status of the self-employment income. Other types of income for the individual or household are entered separately on the application and do not affect the self-employment income entries in the HE+ System.

When a household has more than one type of self-employment income, the losses of one shall be used to offset the profits of the other based only on the income reported on the income taxes. The offset does not have to be applied to only the same household member but can be applied to any other household member’s self-employment income. For purposes of calculating income on the HE+ Application, rental and royalty income (entered in the HE+ System using “Rental Income” (R) income type) shall be included in the offset of losses and profits of self-employment income. When there is a realized loss in self-employment income, enter self-employment income as a separate income source and $0 as the amount for that source on the HE+ Application.