20 CAR § 505-604 – Income determination period

(a) Neither the United States Department of Health and Human Services poverty guidelines, the federal Community Services Block Grant Act, 42 U.S.C. § 9901 et seq., nor applicable United States Department of Health and Human Services regulations specify the period to be used when determining a client’s income.
(b) The following are examples of periods that could be used in determining a client’s income: Example 1: The period for determining the annual income must not be more than twelve (12) months nor less than ninety (90) days preceding the request for assistance. Example 2: Total monthly or annualized gross household income should be used to determine eligibility. The monthly income should be calculated for the thirty-day period preceding and including the date of application. Example 3: There is no prescribed look-back period for income assessment. Depending on an individual client’s circumstances and the documentation available, it may be reasonable to calculate client income based upon the household’s gross income in the past thirty (30) days (multiplied by twelve (12)) or based upon a review of the past year. For example, if a client has become unemployed or was the victim of domestic violence and has left the abusive household within the past year, it may be inaccurate to use the data of the past year to assess income. The use of a shorter period of time, perhaps several months, may be a more appropriate and accurate assessment of the client’s income. In addition, case-by-case circumstances such as seasonal employment or an isolated and temporary spike or decline in earnings may require an eligible entity to exercise reasonable discretion to determine on a case-by-case basis the most appropriate time period to review in order to most appropriately and accurately assess income. It is recommended that no period shorter than the past thirty (30) days or longer than the past year should be used. However, in exercising this reasonable discretion, the eligible entity’s goal in each case should be to most accurately determine a client’s actual financial position at the time of assessment.