Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) eligibility rules require recipients to assign their support rights to the Department of Human Services (DHS). Under the assignment of support rights, all support payments made by the noncustodial parent and/or the absent spouse are forwarded to DHS to reimburse the Cash Assistance paid to the family. Federal law mandated changes to the way DHS distributes child support collections. These changes were implemented by the Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement System (PACSES) and initiated the calculation of unreimbursed assistance (URA). URA is defined as the total amount of reimbursable assistance received by the family that has not been repaid by assigned current support, arrears payments, or through reimbursement from other sources. Total reimbursable assistance is defined as the basic Cash Assistance grant plus other reimbursable assistance a family receives in the month, such as child care and transportation. The Basic Cash Assistance Grant is the amount of assistance based on the size of a family, minus earned and unearned income adjustments. DHS may recover, through the Title IV-D Child Support Enforcement Program, URA in accordance with Title 23 of the Pennsylvania Consolidated Statutes §4378(b).
DHS established a plan to calculate the URA and distribute support collected by DHS in excess of the URA. The excess is referred to as EOURA. DHS implementation included an automated computation and distribution process in two phases:
Phase One: covers the period January 1978 through November 2002.
Phase Two: monthly processing, implemented following the completion of Phase One.
The automated process to determine URA balances and EOURA refunds retrieves Cash Assistance issuance data from history files and the Client Information System (CIS)/e-CIS, and support payment information from PACSES and the Bureau of Claims Settlement accounts receivable system, which was the support collection record used before PACSES. The EOURA refund payment name will be the CIS/e-CIS budget name for the most currently active county record number, category and grant group
Examples:
Ms. Green received Cash Assistance for six months in 1986 and again for six months in 1992 for a total of $1,050. The county Domestic Relations Section (DRS) established a support obligation for Ms. Green's daughter in 1986. Ms. Green assigned support rights to DHS at that time. The child's father paid support of $500 in 1986 and did not pay again until 1995. Ms. Green received a total of $200 in support pass through (SPT) payments. When the Cash Assistance case closed in 1992, the total child support arrears due were $3,000. DHS's claim was limited to the URA balance of $750. DHS collected arrears of $1,700 from 1995 through 2000. The EOURA refund is $950, the support amount collected in excess of the URA.
Ms. George received Cash Assistance for herself and one child in York County from 1996 through 1997. The Cash Assistance granted was $2,000; the support collected was $800; and the SPT was $200. The URA was $1,400 when the York County Cash Assistance case closed. Ms. George's second child was born in May 2001. Ms. George received Cash Assistance in the amount of $1,000 in Cumberland County for herself and the two children from December 2001 through April 2002. The county DRS established a support obligation for the father of the infant in the amount of $600 monthly. The noncustodial parent paid the support obligation through a wage attachment. The total support collected by DHS on assignment was $3,000. The SPT issued to Ms. George was $250. The noncustodial parent of the older child did not pay support after 1997. The EOURA refund is $350, the support amount collected in excess of the URA.
Cumulative support collected by DHS |
$3,800 |
Cumulative Cash Assistance and SPT |
-$3,450 |
The EOURA refund |
$350 |
DHS will mail a Child Support Refund Notice (Attachment 1) to each EOURA payment name at least five days before issuing the refunds. The mailing address for the Child Support Refund Notices will be the last address in CIS or, for Phase One only, a more current address identified or reported by the refund payment name. The Child Support Refund Notices will be mailed in envelopes with a Bureau of Child Support Enforcement (BCSE) return address; notices may be forwarded to different addresses
The Spanish text at the top of the notice says: "If you want a Spanish notice, call the toll-free Welfare HELPLINE at 1-800-572-7091." A generic stuffer will be enclosed with each Child Support Refund Notice. The stuffer provides the message in English, and the five languages most commonly spoken by recipients who are not English speaking, which are: Spanish, Vietnamese, Cambodian, Russian, and Mandarin Chinese. The message will read, "THIS IS IMPORTANT INFORMATION. If you cannot read this notice in English, call the toll-free Welfare HELPLINE at 1-800-572-7091." On the back of the Child Support Refund Notice there is a Fair Hearing Appeal Form and the EOURA Computation Table. The table shows specific data about the EOURA calculation under the titles: Total Child Support Collected, Total Reimbursable Assistance, and EOURA Refund Amount. The BCSE Area Office staff will receive and process appeal requests and will be available to assist with individual claim resolutions.
DHS will issue EOURA refunds in two stages. In the Stage One, DHS will only process EOURA refunds in January 2003 for cases identified on CIS in December 2002 and for which the Cash Assistance was granted after July 1981. Notices were sent to payees on December 31, 2002 informing them of the refunds. The refunds will be issued on January 7, 2003. In the second stage, DHS will process EOURA refunds for cases: that were on CIS in December 2002 that included Cash Assistance granted before July 1981, and cases not on CIS in December 2002 that may include Cash Assistance granted before July 1981. This is expected to occur in early 2003. The CAOs will be notified in a separate Operations Memorandum of the second stage issuance schedule, policies, and procedures. Additionally, a separate notice will be issued to clients advising them that they will be receiving a refund check and the time period over which the refund was calculated
DHS will issue the EOURA refunds by Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) if there is an open Cash Assistance or SNAP account; otherwise, the refunds will be issued by check. Please note many of the EOURA payments issued via EBT may have limits on withdrawals depending on the ATM, in view of the large amount of the payment. Withdrawals beyond the four free ones per month, will incur a $.50 fee and possible surcharge. EOURA refund checks will be pink and blue, and "EOURA" will be printed in the box on the check with the title "DDBank." The EOURA refund checks will be mailed in envelopes with a Department of Treasury return address; these envelopes may not be forwarded. Returned EOURA refund checks will be processed through the Department of Treasury in the same manner as other returned DHS payments. If an EOURA refund check is returned to the CAO, the CAO shall submit the check to the Department of Treasury for redeposit.
NOTE: BCSE will not accept EOURA checks or Receipt of Payment forms (PA/CS 175M), related to returned EOURA refunds.
Monthly refunds will be issued in the same manner as described in Stage One, i.e., by EBT for open Cash/SNAP cases and by check for all others.
Cash Assistance. EOURA refunds have no impact on eligibility. Treat a Phase One EOURA refund as an excluded source of income for determining a household's eligibility and monthly payment amount..
SNAP. EOURA refunds have no impact on SNAP eligibility. Disregard any Phase One EOURA refunds.
Cash Assistance. For a cash only case, treat Phase Two EOURA refunds as unearned income for the month of receipt. Count EOURA funds remaining after the month of receipt as a resource. The Income Maintenance Caseworker (IMCW) must review the case to determine whether the support received for the household will exceed the Family Size Allowance in subsequent months.
NOTE: IMCWs should discuss with the client ways in which the EOURA refund could enhance self-sufficiency. Discussion could center on using the refund to purchase reliable transportation or to start a Family Savings Account (FSA) which allows families to save for an education, a home, or to start a business. Deposits and interest on FSAs are exempt from consideration for the Cash & SNAP programs. See Operations Memorandum 01-08-06.
SNAP. For a SNAP-only case, treat an EOURA refund as a lump sum resource in the month of receipt. See SNAP Handbook, Section 540.42, for treatment of lump sum resources. If a household is receiving Transitional Benefits Alternative, this EOURA refund will not affect the SNAP benefit. For a SNAP/cash case, count the EOURA refund as unearned income in the month of receipt
Examples:
Mrs. Jones receives Cash Assistance for herself and three children. There is no other household income. In June she receives an EOURA refund of $250. The family remains eligible in June; the EOURA refund will be adjusted to the corresponding payment month (August). If Mrs. Jones also receives SNAP benefits, the EOURA of $250 will be treated as income that starts and stops (See SNAP Handbook, Chapter 567.56). Since Mrs. Jones is a Cash Assistance and SNAP member, the unearned income (EOURA) is disregarded for SNAP purposes. If a household member receives an EOURA payment and is not part of the cash household, but is part of the SNAP household, the EOURA payment is treated as lump sum resource.
If the EOURA refund causes the family to be ineligible for June only, due to excess income, the Cash Assistance is suspended in the corresponding payment month (August).
If the EOURA refund causes the family to be ineligible in June due to excess income and ineligible in July due to excess resources, the Cash Assistance is terminated for the first payment date that can be reached either in the month of receipt or the following month after proper notice. An overpayment occurs for Cash Assistance received during a month of ineligibility unless support paid in that month exceeds the Cash Assistance received.
SNAP - In the above example, Ms. Jones receives SNAP and Cash Assistance. Ms. Jones' sister, Ms. Bell and daughter, also live with her and they are one SNAP household. If Ms. Bell would receive an EOURA check, this would be treated as a lump sum resource as she only receives SNAP benefits.
Ms. Long is authorized to receive SNAP benefits for May 2003. The household resources for May 2003 total $1900. On May 10, 2003, the client receives an EOURA check in the amount of $250. This EOURA check in the amount of $250 is counted as a lump sum resource.
The IMCW is notified of the receipt of the $250 EOURA check by an alert on CIS/e-CIS and by Ms. Long. The IMCW adds the $250 to the current resources of $1900. The client's resources now total $2150 for the month of May, which exceeds the resource limit of $2000.
Ms. Long is given the opportunity to update the entire resource declaration. If the household declines or resources still exceed the limit, the IMCW will send the appropriate notice to the household. Within 10 days of the date the household is determined ineligible, the IMCW takes action to terminate the benefit effective with the first issuance for which the deadline can be met. If the household reduces its resources and is within the limit before the IMCW terminates SNAP, the IMCW will NOT terminate the benefit. No overissuance has occurred if the household reported receipt of the lump sum on a timely basis. (See SNAP Policy in Chapter 540.42 - Lump Sum Resources)
Treat EOURA refunds as a lump sum. A lump sum may be counted as income or a resource, whichever is more beneficial to the client. If the lump sum is treated as income in the month of receipt, any remaining balance is counted as a resource in the following months. See Medical Assistance Eligibility Handbook, Chapter 357, Lump Sum. Remember, there are no resource eligibility criteria for households with children under the age of 21 in their care and control.
For audit purposes, CIS will show a reason code in benefit history for each EOURA refund and each refund replacement as follows:
Phase One - (stage one - cases on CIS) 520 for refunds and 521 for replacements.
Phase Two - 522 for refunds and 523 for replacements.
Manual calculations - 524 for refunds and 525 for replacements. BCSE will authorize refunds based on manual calculations, including calculations required by decisions of the Bureau of Hearings and Appeals.
CIS/e-CIS will also generate worker alert 038 for each month that the support collected exceeds the Cash Assistance, certain special allowances, and the SPT. Upon receipt of alert 038 or information from another source about excess income, the IMCW should review eligibility according to the procedures in the Cash Assistance Handbook at Chapter 168, Determining Eligibility & Payment Amount, and Chapter 150, Income. If support income alone or in combination with other income is recurring and results in ineligibility, the IMCW will discontinue the assistance payment for the first payment date that can be met following proper notice. If support income alone or in combination with other income creates a minimal Cash Assistance payment, the IMCW should discuss with the client the option of case closure to preserve TANF days.
CIS/e-CIS will generate worker alert 208 for the EOURA refunds. The alert text is:
Case alert created as a result of a PACSES calculation, which reflects that an EOURA refund check was issued to the welfare recipient because the total life-to-date (LTD) support collections exceeded the total LTD assistance granted to the family.
The alert must be worker cleared after a new determination of eligibility is completed and the appropriate action taken. The alert is retained for three months.
The EOURA process will create two files for all EOURA checks and notices issued under Phase One. One file is for the refunds issued in January 2003; the second file is for the rest of the Phase One refunds. These files will be in the form of Access databases. Included in the databases will be the county, district, caseload, and record number that the case was last active in, or currently active in, as well as the payee, address and refund amount. A separate Access file has been created for each CAO/district office. Only the designated CAO staff person for this project may download the Access databases from the OIM Intranet at ftp://oimweb/CAODatabases.URL. The databases are located in the EOURA Folder. Click on the file for your CAO/district office and select the option "Save this file to disk." The following are examples of the naming convention: the file name CAO010.mdb is the database for County 01; and, CAO023.mdb represents the database for County 02, District 3.
Replacement requests for EOURA checks may occur for payees who have not received a refund check and the EOURA refund was not issued as an EBT. In order to coordinate this effort, CAOs and/or individual districts will need to select a CAO staff person to act as coordinator for the replacement of refunds for individuals not receiving assistance.
Refer individual payees who contact the CAO for a replacement check, are not active, and do not live in Pennsylvania, to the local BCSE Area Office for a determination of whether a replacement will be issued. Attachment 2 provides information for the BCSE Area offices. If a check is to be issued, BCSE will notify the appropriate CAO coordinator to issue a replacement. This notification will be relayed via the "EOURA Check Replacement Form" Attachment 3).. The notification form will be sent from BCSE to the CAO that had the case number under which the check was issued.
Procedures for the replacement of EOURA checks for active Medical Assistance cases or for individuals who live in Pennsylvania are included as Attachment 4, "EOURA Check Replacement Procedures."
DHS planned to begin issuing Stage Two EOURA Refunds in early Fall of 2003 and planned to continue to issue Stage Two Refunds until all refunds are disbursed or efforts to locate the payees for whom addresses are unknown are exhausted. When a payee's case is active, the refund will be credited to the EBT account. Note that ATM withdrawal limitations may apply to some EOURA refunds issued via EBT, depending on the amount of the refund. Withdrawals beyond the four free transactions per month will incur a $.50 fee and possible surcharge.
When the case is not active, a paper check will be issued. EOURA refund checks will be pink and blue, and "EOURA" will be printed on the check in a box titled "DDBank." The EOURA refund checks will be mailed in envelopes with a Department of Treasury return address; and may not be forwarded. Returned EOURA refund checks will be processed through the Department of Treasury in the same manner as other returned DHS payments. If an EOURA refund check is returned to the CAO, the CAO shall submit the check to the Department of Treasury for redeposit. The Bureau of Child Support Enforcement (BCSE) will not accept EOURA checks or Receipt of Payment forms (PA/CS 175M) related to returned EOURA refunds.
For each case not active on CIS/e-CIS, an automated CIS/e-CIS case will be opened and limited to the issuance of the EOURA refund. Benefit history will show a reason code for each EOURA refund and each replacement. Following are the reason codes associated with Stage Two EOURA refunds.
526 Excess Over URA - Deferred Original Issuance
527 Excess Over URA - Deferred Original Issuance Replacement
Database files have been created for Stage Two EOURA Refunds and notices. A separate Access file is provided for each CAO/District Office. The file includes county, district, caseload, and record number that the case was last active in, or currently active in, as well as the payee, address and refund amount. Only the designated CAO staff person for this project may download the Access databases from the OIM Intranet ftp://oimweb CAODatabases. The databases are located in the EOURA Folder. Click on the file for your CAO/District Office and select the option "Save this file to disk." The following are examples of the naming convention: the file name CAO010.mdb is the database for County 01; and, CAO023.mdb represents the database for County 02, District 3.
DHS will issue monthly EOURA refunds when the total amount of child support collected by DHS exceeds the total amount of reimbursable assistance received by the family that has not been repaid by assigned current support, arrears payments, or through reimbursement from other sources. DHS plans to issue Ongoing Monthly EOURA Refunds in the beginning of the month following the month of the excess collection. However, implementation of the monthly process has taken longer than expected and issuance of the Ongoing Monthly refunds has been deferred. DHS will also defer issuance of a refund when a calculation must be reviewed or a case must be opened in CIS/e-CIS. DHS plans to begin issuing Ongoing Monthly EOURA Refunds in the next few weeks for cases that are on CIS/e-CIS and had no Cash Assistance before July 1981. The refunds issued initially will be deferred refunds and will be coded 528 in CIS/e-CIS. The CIS/e-CIS code will be 522 when the Ongoing refunds are issued in the month following the month of the excess support collection. Following are the reason codes associated with monthly EOURA Refunds:
522 Excess Over URA - Monthly Issuance (Phase II)
523 Excess Over URA - Replacement Monthly Issuance (Phase II)
528 Excess Over URA - Deferred Monthly Issuance
529 Excess Over URA - Deferred Monthly Issuance Replacement
Cash Assistance. Deferred Original (Stage Two) and Deferred Monthly EOURA Refunds have no impact on eligibility. Treat an EOURA refund as an excluded source of income for determining a household's eligibility and monthly payment amount.
SNAP. Deferred Original (Stage Two) and Deferred Monthly EOURA Refunds have no impact on SNAP eligibility. Disregard Stage Two EOURA Refunds.
Medical Assistance Eligibility. Treat EOURA Refunds as a lump sum. A lump sum may be counted as income or a resource, whichever is more beneficial to the client. If the Medical Assistance applicants/recipients choose to treat the refund as income in the month of receipt, refer to Operations Memorandum 03-05-05, Implementation Instructions for Prospective Budgeting (PB) and Semiannual Reporting (SAR) for the treatment of income. If the lump sum is treated as income in the month of receipt, any remaining balance is counted as a resource in the following months. See Medical Assistance Eligibility Handbook, Chapter 357, Lump Sum. Remember, there are no resource eligibility criteria for households with children under the age of 21.
Cash Assistance. For a cash only case or a combination cash/SNAP case, treat monthly EOURA refunds that are issued in the month following the month of the excess collection as unearned income for the month of receipt. Count EOURA Refunds remaining after the month of receipt as a resource. This policy is consistent with the revised Lump Sum Policy issued on May 27, 2003. Refer to Operations Memorandum-03-06-05, Instructions for the Treatment of Lump Sum Payments-Cash Assistance Programs Only. Refer to Operations Memorandum 03-05-05, Implementation Instructions for Prospective Budgeting (PB) and Semiannual Reporting (SAR), for procedures to budget income.
NOTE: The household is not obligated to report the receipt of the EOURA refund to the IMCW. The IMCW will receive notification via alert 208 generated by CIS/e-CIS.
The Income Maintenance Caseworker (IMCW) must review the case to determine whether the support received for the household will exceed the Family Size Allowance in subsequent months.
Example: Ms. Johnson receives an EOURA refund of $2,000 in November. Ms. Johnson receives TANF for herself and her three children. The IMCW explains to Ms. Johnson that the $2,000 is considered as start/stop income that will not be counted in November. However, beginning December 1, funds remaining from the refund are considered a resource and will make the family ineligible for continued Cash Assistance, if these funds cause the household to exceed the $1,000 resource limit. The IMCW informs Ms. Johnson of ways the refund may be used that will not affect her eligibility and that she must provide verification by December 1 on how the money was spent if she wishes to continue to receive Cash Assistance. On December 1, Ms. Johnson verifies that she spent over $1,000 on the purchase of a new refrigerator and other household items. Ms. Johnson and children remain eligible for Cash Assistance. Alternatively, if Ms. Johnson does not provide verification by December 1, 2003 that her resources are within allowable limits, the IMCW will send an advance notice to discontinue.
SNAP: For a SNAP case, treat a monthly EOURA refund that is issued in the month following the month of the excess collection as a lump sum resource in the month of receipt. See SNAP Handbook, Section 540.42, for treatment of lump sum resources. If a household is receiving Extended SNAP, this EOURA refund will not affect the SNAP eligibility or benefit. Refer to Operations Memorandum 03-05-05, Implementation Instructions for Prospective Budgeting (PB) and Semiannual Reporting (SAR) for procedures on reportable changes and the treatment of income.
Medical Assistance. The policy is the same as stated above for Stage Two EOURA Refunds
DHS will mail a Child Support Refund Notice (Attachment IA) for each deferred monthly EOURA refund and a similar notice for each Stage Two EOURA refund. The notice for the Stage Two refunds differs in that the "from date" is January 1978 in the section: "HOW WE COMPUTED YOUR REFUND." The notice that will be mailed for Ongoing Monthly EOURA refunds that are not deferred will be provided at a later date. Notices will be mailed at least five days before the refunds are issued. The last address in CIS/e-CIS will be the mailing address for each case on active CIS/e-CIS. An Information Letter will be mailed for each case not on active CIS/e-CIS and the address reported by the refund payee will be used as the mailing address for the notice and the refund.
Occasionally, BCSE will manually calculate and authorize an EOURA refund. The CIS/e-CIS reason codes in benefit history for a manually issued EOURA refund or replacement are:
524 Excess Over URA - Manual Issuance (Central Office)
525 Excess Over URA - Replacement Manual Issuance (Central Office)
CAOs should contact the local BCSE agent about each manually issued EOURA refund. BCSE will identify whether the refund covers an Ongoing Monthly refund and the amount and/or a Phase One refund and the amount. CAOs will then determine the affect on eligibility for Cash/Medical assistance or SNAP.
Replacement requests for Stage Two and monthly EOURA checks are handled in accordance with the procedures set forth at Attachment IV, "EOURA Check Replacement Procedures.
When an EOURA is determined and a client check issued, all tracked and counted days are removed (zeroed out). The resetting of the TANF clock due to the restoration of EOURA days has various implications for clients with regard to RESET. The Department has decided to set the following policy with respect to those issues.
Clients, who have their TANF day count reset to 0 due to the restoration of EOURA days, will also have their RESET history disregarded. Clients who have completed an initial job search will begin participating in RESET as if they had just completed the initial job search and are subject to the participation requirements of a pre-24 month client. Clients who did not originally complete an initial job search will be required to do so after the restoration of EOURA days.
Clients who were previously sanctioned before the restoration of EOURA days will have those sanctions negated on CIS/e-CIS. Clients, who willfully fail without good cause with a RESET requirement after having their TANF clock restart, will be subject to their first durational sanction.
Clients, who at the time of the restoration of the EOURA days, were participating or referred to a post-24 month RESET work activity must be given the option to continue to participate in that activity or to participate in a pre-24 month RESET work-related activity. This option is required as clients in these situations are no longer post-24 month clients according to their day count and therefore, cannot be held to the post-24 month work requirements.
NOTE: Edits in CIS/e-CIS prevent clients with less than 720 TANF days to have a post-24 month activity code entered. Therefore, when clients who have less than 720 days choose to volunteer into a post-24 month activity, the CAO will need to contact the Systems Unit at the Bureau of Employment and Training Programs at c-dbetp@state.pa.us. BETP will arrange for a work around to be completed on the case so that the CAO can data enter the proper activity code.
Clients who volunteer to continue their participation in post-24 month work activities, despite their TANF day count of less than 720 days, and subsequently fail to comply are not subject to sanction. Instead, they must have their AMR updated to reflect the new pre-24 month RESET work-related activity or activities in which they plan to participate.
Clients who are meeting the eligibility requirements of Time-Out (TO) may be granted up to 12 months of TO. This applies regardless of whether or not the client had received TO prior to having received the restoration of EOURA days.
1A Child Support Refund Notice
3 EOURA Check Replacement Form
4 EOURA Check Replacement Procedures
Reissued September 19, 2012; replacing January 31, 2012; reviewed June 17, 2016