Exclusion of Retained Cash Payments

Exclusion of Retained Cash Payments A. The treatment of the following types of retained cash payments is discussed below: 1. Retroactive Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Retirement, Survivors and Disability Insurance (RSDI). a) The unspent portion of retroactive SSI benefits and RSDI benefits is excluded from resources for nine (9) calendar months following the month in which the individual receives the benefits. b) Retroactive SSI benefits are SSI benefits issued in any month after the calendar month for which they are paid. 1) Benefits for January that are issued in February are retroactive. c) Retroactive RSDI benefits are those issued in any month that is at least two calendar months after the calendar month for which they are paid. 2. Disaster Assistance. a) Disaster Assistance includes assistance received from the following sources: 1) The Disaster Relief and Emergency Act (PL 100-707); 2) Another federal statute because of a presidentially-declared major disaster; 3) A state or local government’s comparable assistance; or 4) A disaster assistance organization. b) If the disaster assistance funds are excluded from income, the unspent amount is also excluded from resources. c) Interest earned on funds excluded in this provision is excluded from income and resources. 3. Presidentially-Declared Major Disasters. a) Some catastrophes (such as hurricanes) cause such wide-spread destruction that the President of the United States declares them major disasters. b) The exclusion period may be extended for individuals who incurred damage or loss of excluded resources under certain circumstances. 1) The eighteen (18) month period (nine (9) month initial period plus the nine (9) month good cause extension) may be extended up to an additional twelve (12) months. 2) Such an extension may be granted if the excluded resource is located within the geographical area of the disaster area (this area is defined in the presidential order); the individual intends to repair or replace the excluded resource or the individual presents evidence of good cause. 4. Netherland WUV Payments to Victims of Persecution. a) The Netherlands Act on Benefits for Victims of Persecution 1940 – 1945, WUV (Wet Uitkering Vervlgingsslachtoffers) provides payments to individuals who were victims of persecution during World War I during German and Japanese occupation of the Netherlands and the Netherlands East Indies (now the Republic of Indonesia). b) The unspent WUV payments made by the Dutch government are excluded from resources and the interest earned on unspent WUV payments is excluded from income. 5. German Reparation Payments. a) German reparations payments are made to certain survivors of the Holocaust under the: 1) Federal Republic of Germany’s laws for compensation of National Socialist Persecution (German Restitution Act); or 2) German Reunification Act of 1990. b) These payments may be made periodically or in a lump sum. c) Unspent German reparations payments are excluded from income and resources. Interest earned on unspent payments is excluded from income. 6. Austrian Social Insurance Payments. a) The nationwide class action law suit, Bondy v. Sullivan, involved Austrian social insurance payments that were based on wage credits granted under Paragraphs 500- 506 of the Austrian General Social Insurance Act. b) These paragraphs grant credits to individuals who suffered a loss; that is, were imprisoned, unemployed or forced to flee Austria, during the period of March 1933 to May 1945 for political, religious or ethnic reasons. c) Unspent Austrian social insurance payments based, in whole or in part, on wage credits granted under Paragraphs 500-506 of the Austrian General Social Insurance Act are excluded from resources and the interest earned on unspent Austrian social insurance payments is excluded from income. d) Austrian social insurance payments not based on wage credits granted under these paragraphs are not excluded from resources under this provision. 7. Benefits Excluded from Both Income and Resources by a Federal Statute other than Title XVI. a) Federal statutes other than Title XVI specify many income and resources exclusions. Examples of these are discussed below: 1) Agent Orange Settlement Payments. (a) There is no limit to the length of time unspent Agent Orange settlement funds are excluded from resources. Interest earned on conserved payments is excluded as income. 2) Victims Compensation. (a) Some states establish funds to assist victims of crimes. (b) Unspent payments received from such a fund are excluded for nine (9) months if received for expenses incurred or losses suffered because of crime, e.g., lost wages, medical expenses incurred due to injuries, etc. (c) Interest earned on unspent victims’ compensation payments is not excluded from income or resources. 3) Relocation assistance. (a) This type of assistance is sometimes provided to persons displaced by projects which acquire real property. (b) Relocation assistance may be provided under local, state or federal programs. Such payments may be excluded for certain lengths of time. The length of the exclusion depends on the source: (i) State and Local Program Assistance – unspent funds are excluded from resources for 9 months; (ii) Federal Assistance – There is no time limit on the exclusion for assistance provided under the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisitions Policies Act of 1970 (c) Interest earned on unspent payments is not excluded from income or resources. 8. Tax Advances, Tax Credits and Refunds. a) Unspent federal tax refunds and advance tax credits are excluded from resources for twelve (12) calendar months following the month the refund or payment is received. b) Interest earned on any unspent tax funds related to Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) or Child Tax Credits (CTC) is not excluded as income or a resource. 9. Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund Payments. a) The Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund (RECTF) authorized the Department of Justice to make compensation payments to individuals (or their survivors) that were found to have contracted certain diseases after exposure. b) The payments will be made as a one-time lump sum. c) Unspent payments are excluded from resources. Interest earned on unspent payments is excluded income. 10. Gifts of Domestic Airline Tickets. a) The value of a ticket for domestic travel received by an individual (or spouse) is not a resource if the ticket is: 1) Received as a gift, 2) Not converted to cash, i.e., cashed in, sold, etc., and 3) Excluded from income. 11. Cash and in-kind items received for the repair or replacement of lost, damaged, or stolen excluded resources are not considered resources for nine (9) months from the date or receipt, This may be extended up to nine (9) more months if the individual verifies good cause for the repair or replacement not being completed within the first nine (9) month period.