Determination of the Voucher Payment

(1) The administering agency shall establish each participant's net income as defined in 760 CMR 49.05. The amount of a participant's voucher payment shall be established in administrative guidance published by the Department. Appropriate unit size shall be determined on the basis of the size and composition of the participant's household in accordance with the definition in 760 CMR 49.02. (2) Each MRVP participant holding a mobile or project based voucher shall pay a minimum of 30% of net household income toward rent or such greater or lesser percentage as may be required pursuant to the MRVP budget line item governing program administration in any fiscal year. The Department may, and to the extent required by the then-current MRVP budget line item shall, issue administrative guidance setting a maximum percentage of net household income that may be applied toward rent. (3) When the amount of the voucher payment for a participant has been determined in accordance with 760 CMR 49.05(1), a voucher payment will be sent each month to the owner of the contract unit in which the participant lives, and the remainder of the contract rent shall be paid to the owner by the participant. (4) The amount of the voucher payment shall equal the monthly contract rent minus the participant's share of rent calculated in accordance with 760 CMR 49.05(2). (5) For the purpose of determining the amount of a voucher payment, a participant's net income shall be determined as follows, unless otherwise required by the MRVP budget line item Language governing program administration in any fiscal year: (a) Gross Income. A participant's gross income means the income from all sources of the head of household and each additional member of the household, which is anticipated to be received during the 12 months following admission or redetermination of household income. (b) Inclusions in Gross Household Income. Gross household income shall be the total of the following items: 1. One half of the earned income of household member who is the dependent of another household member and who is 18, 19 or 20 years of age shall be included in a participant's gross income. 2. The full amount, before any payroll deductions, of wages and salaries, overtime pay, commissions, fees, tips and bonuses, and other compensation for personal services. 3. Income from the operation of a business or profession by each self-employed household member after deduction for the ordinary and necessary expenses of the business or profession. The deductible expenses of the business or profession shall not exceed 85% of the gross receipts of the business or profession. Deductible expenses of the business or profession shall not include rent or utilities paid for the participant's contract unit if the business or profession is located in the participant's contract unit. 4. Income of any kind from real or personal property including rent, dividends, and interest. Amortization of capital indebtedness and depreciation shall not be deducted in computing net income. Any realization of taxable capital gain on sale or transfer of an investment or other real or personal property shall be included in income. If the household has marketable real or personal property with a fair market value exceeding $5,000.00 (excluding any automobile used as the primary means of transportation by one or more household members), gross household income shall include actual income derived from any such property. 5. Periodic payments received from Social Security, annuities, retirement funds, and pensions, individual retirement accounts, and other similar types of periodic payments of retirement benefits, excluding non-taxable amounts which constitute return of capital and are specifically identified as such by payer. 6. Payments in lieu of earnings, such as unemployment compensation; Supplemental Security Income (SSI); Social Security Disability Income (SSDI); and benefits in lieu of earnings under disability insurance, health and accident insurance or workers' compensation. An unallocated lump sum settlement or similar payment all or partly on account of lost wages resulting from an injury shall be equitably allocated to reflect a monthly payment on account of lost wages for the period during which the recipient is likely to be disabled from the injury and the recipient will be deemed to receive such a monthly payment each month during the continuance of his or her disability until the allocated funds are deemed exhausted. Payments from the government, subsequently reimbursed to the government, are not to be included as income. 7. Regularly recurring contributions or gifts received from non-household members; to be regularly recurring a contribution or gift must occur at least twice a year for two or more years, provided that a contribution or gift in excess of $2,000.00 which occurs once a year from year to year for two or more years shall also be deemed to be regularly recurring. 8. Regular payments of public assistance, excluding Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 9. Payments received for the support of a minor, such as payments for child support, foster care, social security, or public assistance, including payments nominally made to a minor for his or her support but controlled for his or her benefit by a household member who is responsible for his or her support. 10. Lottery winnings, gambling winnings and similar receipts. 11. Receipts of principal and income from the trustee of a trust, and receipts of income from the executor or administrator of an estate or from some other fiduciary. 12. Alimony or payment for separate support. 13. Any other source of income not explicitly excluded under 760 CMR 49.05(5)(c). (c) Exclusions from Gross Household Income. Gross household income shall not include any of the following items: 1. Earned income of a working child younger than 18 years old. 2. Gifts which are not regularly recurring. 3. Amounts (including lump-sums), which are specifically received for the cost of medical care, or which are made to compensate for personal injury or damage to or loss of property under health, accident or liability insurance, workers' compensation, judgments or settlements of claims, insofar as these payments do not compensate for loss of income for a period when the recipient was or would be a participant. 4. Amounts of educational scholarships or stipends for a student at an educational institution, including amounts paid for these purposes to part-time students, whether paid directly to the student or the educational institution, and amounts paid by the United States Government to a veteran for use in paying tuition, fees, or the cost of books, to the extent that such payments are so used. 5. The special pay to a member of the armed forces on account of service in a war zone. 6. Relocation payments made pursuant to state or federal law. 7. Payments received from the Social Security Administration program known as the Plan to Attain Self Sufficiency (PASS), provided that recipient fulfills all PASS program requirements. 8. Benefits received under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). 9. Funds and payments received by participants or volunteers in programs pursuant to AmeriCorps, City Year, the Segal AmeriCorps Education Award, and the Domestic Volunteer Service Act of 1973 or similar programs approved by the Department. 10. The increased amount of income earned from employment by one or more household members if the increase in earned income otherwise would result in a rent increase provided that: a. The household's income has been derived, at least in part, from Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), Emergency Assistance to the Elderly, Disabled and Children (EAEDC), SSI, SSDI or successor program for each of the previous 12 months; b. The household's increased earned income has been accompanied by a decrease in the amount of TANF, EAEDC, SSI, SSDI, or public assistance from a successor program; and c. At the commencement of this exclusion the recipient of such public assistance would have remained eligible for such assistance if the income had not been earned. This earned income exclusion shall be in effect for one continuous 12 month period, regardless of any changes or gaps in employment during that period. This exclusion may be exercised by the participant when a household member has procured either full or part-time employment. It shall be within the participant's sole discretion whether or not to exercise this one-time income exclusion. 11. Payments for a household member in association with participation in a bona fide program providing training for employment, approved by the Department or sponsored or administered by a government agency. 12. Wages and/or salary earned by a full-time student, as defined in 760 CMR