Income deductions for the SSI-related categories apply to individuals who qualify for the aged (PA), blind (PM), or disabled (PJ) categories of NMP. See Chapter 319.7 Healthy Horizons, for deductions that apply to Healthy Horizons (PH). 55 Pa. Code § 181.131 55 Pa. Code § 181.132
Each individual with countable unearned income can deduct expenses that are needed to be eligible for or to receive the income. These expenses include, but are not limited to, the following: 55 Pa. Code § 181.131(a)
Bank fees for an account that is used for the unearned income. These include the cost of standard checks, minimum-balance and per-check fees, and ATM fees. These deductions do not apply to Long Term Care (LTC) or Home and Community Based Services (HCBS)
Attorney fees.
Court costs.
Transportation costs, including costs of obtaining the unearned income. This can be the actual cost of public transportation or the costs of using another individual’s car. If a individual uses their own car, the CAO must use the current deduction set in Commonwealth Travel Procedures Manual 230.1, Effective November 1, 2011, Section 2.3. These deductions do not apply to LTC or HCBS.
Expenses related to receiving rental income (see Section 360.4, Deductions from Unearned Rental Income). 55 Pa. Code § 181.135(a)
NOTE: Personal income taxes are not expenses the individual must pay to receive unearned income. They are not an allowable deduction. Alimony payments, even if court ordered, are not an allowable deduction.
After deducting unearned income expenses, the CAO must deduct the first $20 of income that the applicant/recipient group receives in a calendar month. The deduction is not applied to income based on need and funded in whole or in part by the federal government or a nongovernmental agency, such as the Veterans Administration, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, Catholic Charities or the Salvation Army. 55 Pa. Code § 181.131(b)
The CAO must allow the $20 deduction from the following veterans benefits given to veterans and their dependents:
Service-connected disability compensation.
Military retirement pensions.
Benefits received on the basis of:
A special act of Congress.
Service in the Indian Wars (January 8, 1817–December 31, 1881).
Service in the Civil War (1861–1865).
Service in the Spanish-American War (April 12, 1898–July 4, 1902).
If the applicant/recipient group has no unearned income or has less than $20 in unearned income, the CAO must apply the rest of the $20 deduction to the group’s earned income.
Deductions from earned income must be allowed in the following order: 55 Pa. Code § 181.132
1. The $20 monthly deduction if there is no unearned income, or any part of the $20 deduction not deducted from unearned income.
Reminder: There is only one $20 monthly deduction for each applicant/recipient group.
2. $65 a month from the earned income of each employed individual.
3. Impairment-related work expenses. This deduction must be given to each employed individual with a disability who:
Is under age 65.
Is age 65 or older and received MA benefits as a individual with a disability in one of the 12 months in a row before the individual’s 65th birthday.
Is age 65 or older and it can be shown that the individual should have received MA as a recipient with a disability in one of the 24 months in a row before the individual’s 65th birthday but was denied.
NOTE: Individuals who are blind are not eligible for this deduction. See item #5 for the work expenses of individuals who are blind.
Impairment-related work expenses include, but are not limited to, the following:
Payments for services by an attendant that are needed when traveling to and from work or while at work
Example: An attendant helps a individual when he gets ready for work and when he comes home from work which takes about two hours a day. The rest of the attendant’s eight-hour day is spent cleaning the individual’s house. Only one-fourth of the attendant's daily wages are deducted as an impairment-related work expense.
Payment for a medical device that is needed for the individual to work.
Examples: Wheelchairs, hemodialysis equipment, canes, crutches, inhalators and pacemakers.
Payment for a prosthetic device that is needed for the individual to work.
Examples: Artificial arms, legs and other parts of the body.
Payments for impairment-related nonmedical appliances and equipment or home modifications needed for employment.
Examples: Computers, telecommunication devices for the deaf, tools designed to make it possible for the individual to work even with the impairment and an outdoor ramp for a wheelchair or outside railings or pathways for a individual who needs crutches.
Payments for drugs and medical services needed to control the impairment.
NOTE: A drug or medical service used as an impairment-related work expense may not be used again as a medical expense when deciding an individual’s eligibility for MA.
Costs of installing, maintaining or repairing any of the items listed above.
Payments for similar items and services not listed above that are directly related to the impairment and needed by the individual to work.
4. One-half of the earned income that is left over. Each employed individual who is aged, blind or disabled can get this deduction.
5. Work expenses of an individual who is blind. This deduction must be given to each employed individual who is blind and who is:
Is under age 65.
Is age 65 or older and received MA benefits as an individual who is blind in at least one of the 12 months in a row before the individual’s 65th birthday.
Is age 65 or older if the individual should have been found eligible for MA as a recipient who is blind in one of the 24 months in a row before the individual’s 65th birthday but was denied.
The deduction must be allowed for the following expenses:
Transportation expenses including, but not limited to, the following:
A guide dog and the expenses of keeping the dog.
Cane travel instruction.
Public transportation expenses (including taxi fare).
Actual cost, up to 15 cents a mile, for transportation in someone’s own car.
Job-performance expenses including, but not limited to, the following:
Braille instruction.
Translation of material into Braille.
Child care costs, if not provided in some other way.
Equipment needed on the job for housebound work.
Lunches.
Grammar instruction, if it is related to work.
Licenses.
Professional association dues that are related to work.
Prostheses needed for work, no matter whether they are related to blindness.
Optical aids.
Readers.
Safety shoes.
Federal, state, local, FICA and self-employment taxes.
Uniforms and care of the uniforms.
Union dues.
Wheelchair, if it is needed because of disability.
Job-improvement expenses including, but not limited to, the following:
Stenotype instruction for a typist who is blind.
Keypunch training.
Computer-program training courses.
Updated February 14, 2012, Replacing July 24, 2008