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West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Chapter 4

West Virginia Income Maintenance Manual Page 163 Chapter 4 Income

➢ Persons Receiving Regular Income Persons receiving regular income are persons who receive income on a more or less regular schedule (weekly, monthly, etc.), or receive a specific amount from the business each week or month and/or receive the balance of profit from the enterprise at the end of the business year. This income is converted to a monthly amount according to the Budgeting Method in Section 4.6.1. Business expenses may be computed on a monthly basis or prorated over a 12-month period, at the client's option. ➢ Persons Receiving Irregular Income Many persons derive income from short-term seasonal self-employment. This seasonal enterprise may be the major source of income for the year, or only for the period of time the person is actually engaged in this enterprise, with other sources of income being available during the remainder of the year. Persons who are seasonally self-employed include vendors of seasonal commodities (e.g., produce, Christmas trees, etc.), or other seasonal farmers. Cash crop and some seasonal farmers and other persons with similar irregular self-employment income receive their annual income from self-employment in a short period of time and budget their money to meet their living expenses for the next 12 months. Because the income is seasonal, it must be averaged over the period of time it is intended to cover, even if it is the major source of income for the year. However, if the averaged amount of past income does not accurately reflect the anticipated monthly circumstances because of a substantial increase or decrease in business, the income is calculated based on anticipated earnings. Business expenses may be computed on a monthly basis or prorated over a 12-month period, at the client's option. ➢ New Business AGs with a new business that has been in existence less than a year have their income and incurred business expenses averaged over the amount of time the business has been in operation. From this, the monthly amount is projected for the coming year. However, if the averaged amount of past income and/or expenses does not accurately reflect the anticipated monthly circumstances because of a substantial increase or decrease in business, the income and/or expenses is calculated based on anticipated earnings.