Averaging Expenses

A household may elect to average fluctuating or one-time deductible expenses instead of taking a deduction in the month the expense is billed or otherwise becomes due. (A) One-time-only expenses, other than medical expenses, are averaged over the entire certification period in which they are billed regardless of when the expense is reported by the household. (B) Expenses billed less often than monthly are averaged forward over the interval between scheduled billings. If there is no scheduled interval between billings, the expense is averaged forward over the period the expense is intended to cover. For example, if a household receives a single bill in June for dependent care expenses for a three-month period, the household may elect to average the deductible amount over the months of June, July and August instead of taking a one-time deduction. (C) For households certified less than 24 months, one-time-only medical expenses which are reported during a certification period may be taken as a one-time deduction or averaged forward over the remaining months of the certification period. If the household elects to average the expense, the averaging begins the month the change becomes effective. (D) Households certified for 24 or more months that have one-time-only medical expenses may: (1) if the expense is incurred during the first 12 months, opt to: (a) deduct the expense for one month; (b) average the expense over the remainder of the first 12 months; or (c) average the expense over the remaining months in the certification period. (2) if the expense is incurred after the 12 month of the certification period, opt to: th (a) deduct the expense for one month; or (b) average the expense over the remaining months in the certification period. (E) Expenses billed more often than monthly must be converted to a monthly amount. To convert these expenses to a monthly amount the worker must multiply weekly amounts by 4.333 and biweekly amounts by 2.167.