Computing the Correct Grant Amount Under Semi-Annual Reporting (SAR)

Overpayments are determined by using the actual income that the client received when recreating case circumstances based on all reports that were required to be made. When recreating case circumstances and calculating overpayments, EWs must take into consideration mandatory changes and any decreases in income that would have increased the benefit amount.

Additionally, the IRT must be recalculated based on the income and, if appropriate, the multiplier to determine a monthly average for weekly and biweekly income in the overpayment calculation.

Note: This applies to both client-caused and administrative-caused overpayments.

Reminder: EWs must allow all appropriate income disregards which would have been allowed if the grant had been computed correctly.

EWs must compute the correct grant amount based on the correct information for the month involved in the overpayment. If the recipient was totally ineligible for that month, the correct grant amount is zero. Regulations in effect at the time the overpayment occurred must be used to determine the correct amount of the grant, except in the following situations:

Regulations invalidated by a court decision must not be used in determining the correct grant for the applicable period(s) as required by the court decision. The instructions implementing the court decision must be used.
If an AU fails to report income timely or the county fails to act correctly on a recipient report, the county must redetermine the cash aid the recipient should have received based on an accurate report and correct county action. If the recalculation results in an overpayment, the date that the overpayment begins is the first date that the change would have been made if timely and correct action had been taken based on the complete, timely and accurate client report.
When computing cash aid results in an overpayment, the county must recreate case circumstances using the correct processing time frames based on what the AU should have reported.
Any decrease in income during the SAR period in which benefits are recalculated shall be taken into consideration however no supplemental payment will be issued based on the actual income.

Example 1

The AU’s aid began and no income was reported. The EW determines through an IEVS match that the AU had income that exceeded the IRT April 5. The AU is still receiving the same level of income in the current SAR payment period and has never reported the income in a mid-period report or on any of the SAR 7s that have been submitted. The EW determines that the AU should have reported this change by April 15, and should have been discontinued due to financial ineligibility effective April 30. The AU should be discontinued with a 10-day notice and an overpayment must be established beginning May through the month of discontinuance.

Example 2

An AU of 3 in the January through June SAR payment period reported no income. Their IRT is $907. Fluctuating income is discovered while processing an IEVS match in August in the following amounts: $1,000 in January, $1,000 in February, $1,350 in March, $500 in April, $1,000 in May and $1,000 in June.

The overpayment is calculated by reviewing the initial month of eligibility. The income was first over the AU’s IRT of $907 in January and, because the income continued, the grant should have been decreased and the IRT recalculated beginning in February. February’s overpayment will be calculated using $1,000 of income and the IRT effective for February 1st should be $1,634 (the AU’s Tier 2 IRT). March’s income was not over the newly calculated IRT, so that increase of income did not need to be reported and March’s overpayment will be based on $1,000. April’s overpayment will be based on $500 and the IRT will be recalculated at $1,407 ($907 plus the last amount of income used to calculate the grant). Because May and June’s income of $1,000 is under the newly calculated IRT of $1,407, it was not mandated to be reported and the overpayment for those months will be based on $500 monthly income. If the income ended in June, June will be the last month of the overpayment.

Example 3

An IEVS match reveals that a client began working after their application was approved and failed to report the income. The income was over IRT and continued for several months, but stopped prior to the semi-annual report month. An overpayment is assessed beginning in the month following the month in which the income first exceeded the IRT, and continues until the income ends.

Computing the Correct Grant Amount Under Semi-Annual Reporting (SAR)

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

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