Income - Verification 415-15-10-05

(Revised 02/01/2022 ML #3653)

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While eligibility for LIHEAP is determined in large measure on information supplied by the applicant under penalty of perjury, income eligibility must be supported by conclusive, documenting evidence.

 

All sources and types of income that exceed $500 per year must be verified at the time of application by written documentation. This may be accomplished by the use of wage stubs, signed statement from an employer, Internal Revenue Service (IRS) forms, automatic bank deposit slips for social security, award letters for SSI or other types of benefits, interfaces, etc.

 

Acceptable interfaces for each program are addressed in the Administrative Procedures Manual. Refer to section 448-01-50 of the Administrative Procedures Manual.

 

Interface searches are to be conducted according to current agreements with the interface sources.

 

If the application is taken during the early days of the month before the current wage stub is available, the previous month's wage stubs, etc. may be used to establish the amount of monthly income. If the applicant has income from a new source in the month of application, consider the amount of this monthly income. Establish the annual amount of income by using the current wage stubs received and the pay frequency. If no pay checks have been received at the time of application, a written verification from the employer should be provided by the applicant.

 

Income received during any month used to compute eligibility and/or benefits prior to the month of application must be similarly verified.

 

Wherever possible, the case file should contain copies of the written verification provided by the applicant. However, where this is not feasible, such as when an application is taken by home call or in alternate sites where a copy machine is not accessible, it is sufficient for the eligibility technician to make a case note of the type of written verification that was seen.

 

Where the applicant is a current recipient of another public assistance program, it is sufficient to make a cross reference in the case file to the appropriate public assistance record containing the documentation of income, so long as the other record is current and has been reviewed for completeness of information used to establish LIHEAP eligibility. If the TEC3 screens are used to verify TANF income, the worker needs to be sure the amounts used reflect the net TANF grant actually received without the extra allowances for special needs, child care reimbursements, incentive allowances, etc.

 

Since LIHEAP eligibility will normally be determined only once during the duration of the heating season, it is not necessary to report or verify income changes.