To figure out yearly gross income, the CAO or other LIHEAP administering agency must use income received in the month prior to the month of application or, if requested by the applicant, the 12-month period ending the month before the application date. The CAO must use the previous month's income even if the household provides pay stubs for 12 months if the income for the previous month is less after it is converted to a yearly amount.
55 Pa. Code § 601.83(a); LIHEAP State Plan § 601.83(a)
Example: Mr. Bell applies for LIHEAP for himself, his wife and their two children. He gives the CAO 12 months of pay stubs from Harris Brothers Paving showing a yearly income of $35,000. The income limit for a family of four is $34,575. Rather than using this, the CAO uses income from the month before the application, which amounts to $2,505, and multiplies this by 12 to get a yearly income of $30,060. As the Bell household is ineligible for LIHEAP using 12 months of income, the CAO enters the $2,505 from the previous month's wages into e-CIS, which converts it to a yearly amount and deducts 20 percent of the wages to determine the benefit amount.
If the total gross annual income of the household after all allowable exclusions and deductions is more than the income limit, the household is ineligible.
55 Pa. Code § 601.83(b); LIHEAP State Plan § 601.83(b)
Example: Ms. Wynn applies for LIHEAP for herself and her three children. She receives $2,400 a month in Social Security Survivors benefits for the children. She also works at a part-time job and shows pay stubs for the previous month verifying that her weekly gross income is $400. The total monthly household income is $4,000. Ms. Wynn does not qualify for LIHEAP because her yearly income of $48,000 is more than the income limit for a family of four ($34,575). Her earned income is not subject to the 20 percent deduction because she does not pass the gross income test.
The CAO can use the difference in year-to-date (YTD) amounts to determine income in the look back month when the applicant does not provide all paystubs.
Representative income is the most accurate picture of the amount of income a household receives.
If the applicant provides partial income documentation from the month of application or the previous month and says this income is representative, the CAO or Crisis contractor may use this income to determine whether the household qualifies for LIHEAP. Proof of income may be one pay stub as long as the applicant says it is representative of weekly or bi-weekly pay.
Example: Ms. Erbel applies for LIHEAP for herself, her daughter and a niece. She works for the county commissioners and provides a pay stub from the 30-day period before the date of application. Her weekly gross pay is $450. She says this is representative of her income. The CAO enters $450 into e-CIS four times. E-CIS converts the monthly income to a yearly figure ($21,600) and compares it to the income limit for three people ($28,635). Because Ms. Erbel is eligible for LIHEAP, e-CIS deducts 20 percent from the wages.
Year-to-date (YTD) income can also be used to compute a representative pay when the pay stub contains the number of pays received in the calendar year. To determine a representative pay the CAO would divide the YTD income by the number of pays received. This representative pay would then be entered as a projected pay with the frequency the pay is received.
Example: John works at Target and is paid bi-weekly; he applied for LIHEAP in November. John only has his most recent pay stub, which is the last pay he received in October, and states he generally works the same amount of hours each month. John’s pay stub shows the YTD total along with the number of pays he has received this year. The CAO can take the YTD gross amount and divide it by the number of pays John has received. This amount will be a representative pay for John and should be entered as a bi-weekly pay within the look back month.
Reissued November 30, 2016, replacing July 16, 2015