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PY26 WHEAP Manual

Revised: August 2025 NOTE: The last day of work would be the day that the bankruptcy papers were filed. Do not use last year's tax form; use the S-GIRF to calculate income.

NOTE: A person who files bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the federal bankruptcy laws and remains self-employed is not considered to have a significant change. Base income on last year's tax return and any approved bankruptcy reorganization plan.

3.3.5.3 Self-Employment Income and Annual Fuel Use When self-employment income is in, or based in, the home (or other areas on the property which have their usage recorded on one meter), the actual fuel cost should be entered but is not used to calculate the benefit. The applicant will receive a benefit based on a proxy amount for heat/electric costs when “Yes” is selected for business use on the account in the Energy Fuels section of the Application. See Section 4.4.28.11 for tests to determine if business use should be marked “Yes” on the account.

3.3.5.4 Document Upload Document upload includes all income types. Before an application can be submitted, the HE+ System requires document uploads for all income entries and a completed ZIF for all zero-income applications. Any documentation that an applicant submits must be uploaded to the application in the HE+ System even if the application is incomplete or will deny for another reason. Once an application is extracted, any additional document uploads for the application must be made via the “Other WHEAP Documents” upload repository. Workers shall verify all document uploads were successful and can be viewed and/or are accessible based on the document type.

Redact the following information from all documents uploaded into the HE+ System: • SSNs on all forms and leaving the last four digits of the SSNs • Tax preparer ID • Bank routing information • Employer Identification Number (EIN, TIN, Shareholder’s identifying number)

Document uploads are completed and viewed in the HE+ System via the document upload slider, which is indicated by the paperclip icon on the left-hand side of the application view window.

If the form of income verification is obtained from a policy-allowed electronic third-party source, a legible screen print from the third-party source is an allowable upload. Please see Appendix B for more guidance regarding allowable forms of income verification.

Self-employment income: All self-employment income verification must be retained as part of the application by conducting a document upload for each of the following income types: • Self-employment (SE) income • Rental (R) income

A document upload is required on each SE income and/or R income record entered on the application.