Income Tests and Grant Determination

An applicant must pass both the Applicant Gross Income and Recipient Net Income Tests.

A recipient must pass only the Recipient Net Income Test to continue to be CalWORKs eligible. When adding a new person's income to the AU, only the Recipient Net Income Test is required. Refer to Financial Eligibility.

Applicant Gross Income Test

[WIC 11267 and 11450.12]

When determining the Applicant Gross Income Test, the Income Disregard and the 50% earned Income Disregard are not allowed.

The only deduction allowed is $450 gross nonexempt income deduction for each employed person. Refer to Overpayments General [MPP 44-350].

Determine the reasonably anticipated monthly income for the applicant family (non-AU & AU members).
Disregard up to $450 of earned income for each employed family member.
Remainder equals net nonexempt income.
Determine MBSAC plus Special Need for family (non-AU & AU members).

Recipient Net Income Test

[WIC 11267 and 11450.12]

When determining the Recipient Net Income Test, the Income Disregard and the 50% earned Income Disregard are applied.

When two (2) people in a family have earned income, the earned income is combined and only one Income Disregard is allowed along with 50% of any remaining earned income.

Note: When adding a person to an existing AU, the AU is subject to the “recipient” net income test when determining the financial eligibility of the reconfigured AU. The income of a new person who is added to an existing AU must be budgeted prospectively for each month of the SAR payment period.

Recipient Net Income Test and Grant Computation

Determine the reasonably anticipated monthly disability-based income of both the non-AU and AU members.
Subtract Income Disregard.
Determine the reasonable anticipated monthly earned income of both the non-AU and AU members.
Subtract the remainder of any of the Income Disregard from above (Step 2) which has not been used.
Deduct 50% of the remaining earned income.
Add any remaining disability-based income after the Income Disregard was deducted.
Add any nonexempt unearned income of both the non-AU and AU members.
Subtract this amount (Step 7) from MAP plus Special Need for the family (non-AU and AU members).
Remainder equals potential grant #1.
Determine MAP plus Special Need for AU members only.
The grant to be paid is the lesser of 9 or 10.

Determination of Special Need Amount

The amount of special needs an AU is eligible to receive is calculated using the following rules:

Round to the lower dollar the amount of special needs the AU is eligible to receive.
The amount available for each AU per month for recurring special needs cannot exceed $10.00 times the number of persons in the AU, unless this is the pregnancy special need.

Grant Less than $10

If the actual grant amount is less than $10.00, no payment is made for that month. However, if there is an overpayment adjustment to be made in the month, the adjustment can be made in an amount to reduce the grant to zero.

If the beginning date of aid is after the first of the month and the prorated amount of the grant is less than $10.00, no payment is paid for that month. Such AUs are considered to have received a CalWORKs payment for all other purposes.

Grant of $10

If the actual grant amount is $10.00 or more, and if there are no overpayment adjustments, that amount is authorized as the aid payment.

Proration of Grant

When the beginning date of aid is on the first day of the month, the recipient is entitled to receive payment for the full month.

When the beginning date of aid is after the first day of the month, the total grant is prorated. The computation procedure is as follows:

Determine the total monthly grant to which the AU is eligible.
Determine the actual number of days in the month.
Divide the number of days into the monthly grant to determine the daily grant.
Determine the total number of days for which the AU is eligible, including the first and last day of aid for the month.
Multiply the number of days by the daily grant amount to determine the prorated grant.
Drop the cents if it is not a whole dollar amount (i.e. $119.96 becomes $119).
Make no payment if the amount is less than $10.00.

Proration of Grant Using Partial Month Eligibility Chart

The grant amount may also be computed using the “Partial Month Eligibility Chart”. Refer to the Proration of First Month Benefits topic in the Chart Book.

The computation procedure is as follows:

Determine the total monthly grant to which the AU is eligible.
Read the chart to determine the fraction of the month for which the AU is eligible.
Multiply the monthly grant amount by the decimal figure from the chart to determine the prorated grant.
Drop the cents if it is not a whole dollar amount (i.e. $119.96 becomes $119).
Make no payment if the amount is less than $10.

Zero Basic Grant

Refer to the Zero Basic Grants (ZBG) section of the Income Reporting Threshold (IRT) topic.