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received in an accident, the medical, legal, or other expenses connected with the accident are subtracted from countable income. If the person receives a retroactive check from a benefit program other than SSI, legal fees connected with the claim are subtracted. Any part of taxable income used to pay personal income taxes is not subtracted, because the payment of taxes is not an expense the person has in getting the income. Note Applicants and members are not required to apply for cash benefits such as Social Security disability or retirement benefits, Supplemental Security Income (SSI), unemployment benefits, pensions, etc., as a condition of eligibility for Medicaid. Cash benefits that a person might potentially be eligible for that they do not actually receive must not be counted as income. 15.1.6 Countable Income Countable income is the prospective gross monthly amount used in the eligibility determination and post-eligibility calculations. 15.1.6.1 Migrant Workers Annualize migrant workers income (see CHAPTER 31 MIGRANT WORKERS). This page last updated in Release Number: 24-03 Release Date: 12/18/2024 Effective Date: 12/18/2024 15.2 Prospective Income 15.2.1 Prospective Budgeting Budget the gross monthly earned and unearned income amount. See Process Help Section 11.3 Unearned Income for instructions on budgeting unearned income when other programs are requested along with Medicaid. Verification is required for all sources of non-exempt income for EBD Medicaid applicants and members at the time of application, review or change in income source or amount. Use all available data exchanges to verify income. Note: The Employment Wage Match Query should not be used to verify current income. The income displayed on this match is the total income for a past quarter. It does not verify current monthly wages. 15.2.2 Prorating Income Income received on a yearly basis or less often than monthly, that is predictable in both amount and frequency, must be converted to a monthly amount and prorated over the months between payments. Example 1: Sally receives a $1,500 Tribal Distribution Payment quarterly. This payment should be prorated for the months between payments. $1,500 is distributed over three months by dividing the amount of money by the number of months between payments. The prorated amount is $1,500/3= $500 a month. Farm and self-employment income (see SECTION 15.6 SELF EMPLOYMENT INCOME) is either averaged or prorated.