12/29/16
Policy Memo
Summary
- Effective 01/01/2017, the TANF child support pass through and disregard amount has increased.
- At intake, when determining initial eligibility and budgeting for regular roll, the entire amount of child support that is received by the client and not forwarded to HFS is unearned income, less a disregard. The disregard is increasing from $50 per case per month to up to $100 a month for one child or up to $200 a month for two or more children per case. The number of children is based on the number of children receiving TANF on the case.
- When child support payments are collected by HFS, the family will receive a pass through payment of up to $100 of child support collected in a month for one child or up to $200 of child support collected in a month for two or more children.
- When determining ongoing eligibility for TANF, the pass through payment (up to $200 depending on the number of children) is disregarded.
- When determining eligibility for SNAP benefits that will be approved on a TANF case, budget the entire child support amount received by the customer and not forwarded to HFS Division of Child Support Services as unearned income. Once the payments are collected by the Division of Child Support Services, the system will centrally budget the child support pass through as an Item 90 code 662. The amount in Item 90 code 662 may only exceed $100 for one child or $200 for 2 or more children per TANF case, if the customer has more than one TANF case. FCRC staff are responsible for budgeting pass through payments for SNAP issued by mercury. Child support pass through payments display on PF6.
- Child Support Disregard (Intake & SWAP) - TANF Cases
- Pass Through Payment - TANF Cases
- Budgeting Child Support Pass Through Payments - TANF Cases with SNAP
Child Support Disregard (Intake & SWAP) - TANF Cases
At intake, when determining initial eligibility and budgeting for regular roll, the entire amount of child support that is received by the client and not forwarded to HFS is unearned income, less a disregard per case of up to $100 a month for one child or up to $200 a month for two or more children. The number of children is based on the number of children receiving TANF on the case.
When determining eligibility for the First 30 Days Test or the Initial Prorated Entitlement (IPE) benefit amount, enter the amount of child support received (after subtracting the disregard), as unearned income, on the Cash/IPE/First 30 day Details page in IES Data Collection. This details page is located in left navigation under Expenses. Note this manual calculation in case notes.
To budget child support to be received in the first regular roll month, enter the total amount of child support income received. Enter this income in the Gross Pay Amount field of the Unearned Income - Details screen, located in Left Navigation under Income. IES will automatically subtract the pass through from the child support income.
Pass Through Payment - TANF Cases
When child support payments are collected by HFS, the family will receive a pass through payment of up to $100 of child support collected in a month for one child or up to $200 of child support collected in a month for 2 or more children per case. The number of children is based on the number of children receiving TANF on the case. When determining ongoing eligibility, the pass through payment (up to $200 depending on the number of children) is disregarded.
When adding or making a change in the amount of child support received using ACM, enter the total amount received as code 544 in Item 90. ACM will deduct the $100 or $200 pass through deduction when calculating the monthly benefit. Do not add more than one 544 code to the case. If more than one child support payment is coming in for different children on the case, include all payments in one 544 code.
Budgeting Child Support Pass Through Payments - TANF Cases with SNAP
When determining eligibility for SNAP benefits that will be approved on a TANF case, budget the entire child support amount received by the customer and not forwarded to HFS Division of Child Support Services as unearned income. Once the payments are collected by the Division of Child Support Services, the system will centrally budget the child support pass through with an Item 90 code 662. The amount in Item 90 code 662 may only exceed $100 for one child or $200 for 2 or more children per TANF case, if the customer has more than one TANF case. FCRC staff are responsible for budgeting pass through payments for SNAP issued by mercury. Child support pass through payments display on PF6.
Example: Ms. K receives TANF and SNAP for herself, her two children and her nephew. Ms. K is the payee of her nephew's TANF case. Child support payments are being collected by HFS for Ms. K's children in the amount of $300 and for her nephew in the amount of $200. Pass through payments are issued for $200 for Ms. K's two children and $100 for her nephew who is on a separate TANF case. In this instance, the total to budget for SNAP in Item 90 code 662 is $300.
[signed copy on file]
James T. Dimas
Secretary, Illinois Department of Human Services
