Exempt Resources

Exempt for a woman alone or with children who temporarily resides in a shelter for battered women and children if:

• Resources are jointly owned with members of the former household from which the resident fled, and
• Resident's access to jointly owned resources requires the consent of both the resident and members of the former household.

Exempt as long as the household member is a CalWORKs recipient.

Exception: Non-qualifying withdrawals on restricted accounts are counted towards the FS resource limit.

• Remains exempt during temporary absence due to:
• Employment
• Training for future employment
• Illness
• Uninhabitability caused by casualty or natural disaster

Household must intend to return to the home.

This includes:

• Farmland
• Work-related equipment, tools, or machinery
• Business resources that are separate and identifiable (such as a checking account), unless that resource is commingled or no longer identifiable
• Property exempt for self-employed farming will continue to be exempt for up to one year after that self-employment ceases.

• Exempt even if property is only used seasonally
• Includes rental or vacation homes
• Refer to Income-Producing Property [63-501.3d].

For FS recipients only:

Exempt all funds in a restricted account at a financial institution. The funds must be retained for one or more specific purposes in order to be excluded as a resource:

• Purchase of a home
• Education or training
• Start-up of a small business.

Non-qualifying withdrawals from the restricted account are considered a resource and are no longer exempt. The household’s resources must be reevaluated for resource eligibility purposes for the next quarter, for Quarterly Reporting households or for the month following in which the withdrawal occurred, for Change Reporting households.

For Public Assistance households, making a new application of CalFresh benefits, a restricted account will be treated as it would be treated in the CalWORKs Program. It is excluded as a resource CalFresh.

Note: Funds held in a restricted account are not exempt as a resource at application. However, if there is no break-in-aid for a TFS case reapplying for regular FS benefits, the funds in the restricted account are exempt at application for the regular FS benefits. Continued receipt of TFS and conversion to regular FS without a break-in-receipt of benefits is considered an ongoing FS household and eligibility for the exemption of the restricted account is ongoing.

The cash value of retirement accounts/plans are excluded from resources. The following types of retirement savings and pension plans are excluded:

• 401(a) plans, commonly referred to as “tax qualified plans” include:
  • Traditional Defined Benefit Plan,
  • Cash Balance Plan,
  • Employee Stock Ownership Plan,
  • Keogh Plan,
  • Money Purchase Pension Plan,
  • Profit-Sharing Plan,
  • Simple 401(k) Plan, and
  • 401(k) Plan.
• 403(a) plans, which are similar to 401(a) plans but are funded through annuity insurance;
• 403(b) plans which are tax-sheltered annuities or custodial account plans provided for employees of tax-exempt organizations and state and local educational organizations,
• 408 plans, which are traditional IRAs
• 408(k) plans, which are commonly referred to as SEP - these are considered IRAs by banks and the IRS,
• 408A plans, which are Roth IRAs where qualified distributions are tax-free,
• Eligible 457 plans (plans for state and local governments and other tax-exempt organizations),
• Eligible 457(b) plans (plans for state and local governments and other tax-exempt organizations),
• 501(c)18 plans that were created before June 25, 1959 for union members who make contributions to their retirement plan,
• 529 plans which are commonly referred to as CSP
• 530 plans which are commonly referred to as ESA
• Federal Thrift Savings plans as provided by Title 5 U.S.C. Section 8439, and
• Any successor retirement accounts that are exempt from federal taxes.

Exempt funds (such as checking or savings accounts) whether maintained exclusively for business purposes or commingled with nonexempt resources if:

• Derived from prorated self-employment income, or
• Necessary to produce self-employment income.

Exempt only for the period of time over which self-employment income is prorated.

Exempt funds prorated as student income. (When commingled in an account with nonexempt funds, these resources remain exempt only for the period of time over which they were prorated as income.)

Exempt if issued under:

• Title IV of the Higher Education Act
• The Bureau of Indian Affairs Student Assistance Programs
• Title XIII, Indian Higher Education Programs, Tribal Development Student Assistance Revolving Loan Program (Tribal Development Student Assistance Act).
• Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Applied Technology Education Act Amendments of 1990 (P.L. 101-392) and earmarked by the lender for, used for, or intended to be used for educational expenses (per the Standard Student Budget) at a:
  • High school
  • High school equivalency program
  • Vocational school
  • Post-secondary school (college).

Do not exempt WIA earnings received for on-the-job training unless the trainee is:

• Under 19 years of age, and
• Under parental control.

Exempt all other WIA income, (training allowances, need-based payments).

Exempt payment made under the Agent Orange Settlement Fund or any other fund established to settle claims under the Agent Orange Compensation Act of 1989.

DO NOT exempt VA benefits for Agent Orange-caused disabilities. Refer to Income Definitions and Exemptions.

One-time payments of $250 paid to recipients of:

• Social Security
• SSI/SSP
• Railroad Retirement and
• Veterans Disability Compensation or Pension benefits.

Exempt only those payments from the following sources. (The exemption applies only to the individual who incurs the costs of child care, and does not apply to the child care provider.)

• At Risk Block Grants
• Child Care and Development Block Grant

EXEMPT:

• Federal major disaster and emergency assistance issued under the Disaster Relief Act of 1974, and
• Comparable assistance provided due to a disaster by states, local governments, and disaster assistance organizations.

Exempt any government payment designated to restore a home damaged in a disaster if the household is subject to sanction if funds are not used for this purpose.

Includes, but is not limited to payments from:

• Department of Housing and Urban Development through the individual and family grant program
• Disaster loans
• Small Business Administration grants.

Exempt land that:

• Is held jointly with the tribe
• Can only be sold with the approval of the Department of Interior's Bureau of Indian Affairs.

Exempt payments from these programs except earnings of an emancipated minor or a household member who is over 18:

• Serve America
• American Conservation and Youth Corps
• Higher Education Program
• Service-Learning Program
• Americorps
• National Civilian Community Corps
• Summer for Safety Program
• School-to-Work Opportunities Program.

Exempt only those payments issued under the following programs:

• Title I of the Domestic Volunteer Services Act, only if the individual was already receiving CalFresh or federal CalWORKs when they joined the volunteer program. Include payments from:
  • VISTA
  • University Year for Action
  • Urban Crime Prevention Program.
• Title II of the Domestic Volunteers Act, including:
  • RSVP
  • Foster Grandparents
  • Senior Companion Program.
• SCSEP under Title V of the Older Americans Act, including:
  • Green Thumb
  • National Council on Aging
  • National Council of Senior Citizens
  • AARP
  • U.S. Forest Service
  • National Association for Spanish-Speaking Elderly
  • National Urban League National Council on Black Aging.