Income Averaging

In some cases income averaging is required. In other cases, the household may elect to average fluctuating income over the certification period. For destitute households as defined by 106 CMR 365.810(B), income shall not be averaged. Whenever a full month's income is anticipated but is received on a weekly or biweekly basis, the Department shall convert the income to a monthly amount by multiplying weekly amounts by 4.333 and biweekly amounts by 2.167. 364.340: continued (A) Mandatory Income Averaging. (1) Annual Income in Shorter Period. Households that earn their annual income in a period of time shorter than one year shall have their income averaged over a 12 month period, unless the income is received on an hourly or piecework basis. These households may include school employees, share croppers, farmers and other self-employed households, but not migrant or seasonal farm workers. For a detailed discussion of self-employed households, see 106 CMR 365.900: Households with Income from Self-employment. (2) Educational Grants, etc. Households receiving scholarships, deferred education loans, or other educational grants shall have such income, after exclusions, averaged over the period for which they were provided. See 106 CMR 365.700 Students for a detailed discussion of student households. (B) Optional Income Averaging. Households, except destitute households as defined by 106 CMR 365.810(B): Destitute (Migrant) Household, may choose to have their income averaged over the certification period. The number of months used to arrive at the average monthly income need not be the same as the number of months in the certification period. For example, if fluctuating income over the previous three months is known and it is reasonably certain that this income is representative of the fluctuations anticipated in the coming months, the income from the three known months may be averaged over a certification period of longer than three months. (C) Assistance Payments. Households receiving state or federal assistance payments, such as TAFDC, EAEDC, SSI, or Social Security payments, on a recurring, monthly basis shall not have their monthly average income from these sources fluctuate merely because mailing cycles may cause two payments to be received in one month and none in the next month. (D) Withheld Wages. Wages held at the request of the employee shall be considered income to the household in the month the wages would otherwise have been paid to the employee. However, wages held by the employer as a general practice, even if in violation of law, shall not be counted as income to the household, unless the household anticipates that it will ask for and receive an advance, or the household anticipates that it will receive income from previously held wages not previously counted as income by the Department. When reasonably anticipated, advances on wages shall count as income in the month received.