3003-6      GUIDELINES FOR COMPUTING INCOME

The Heating Assistance program counts all income for the household in the month prior to the application being received, with the exception of our categorically eligible clients. See HAPHeating Assistance Program MS 3002-1.A.8.

Heating Assistance does not prospect income into the future to determine the benefit amount. The cents on the final income amounts of 50 cents or more are rounded up to the nearest dollar. Amounts of 49 cents or less are rounded down.

If a household member worked a variable work schedule, such as workers who are employed in mining, construction, ferry workers, on-call workers, and oil field and service workers who have rotating schedules, fluctuating payroll schedules, and/or seasonal lay-offs that do not reflect income on a monthly basis, HAPHeating Assistance Program will calculate their income using a 12 month average of all available income for the previous 12 months from the date they applied.

A household that is over income based on income from the month prior to receipt of the application but is eligible in the month the application is received does not have to reapply. The same application is used for the determination of eligibility for the subsequent month.

Income from all members in the household, including illegal aliens, is counted, except earned income from students under the age of 18, who are not the head of the household. The notice must include what income was counted, who received the income, the source of income, and the calculation of the income in making the eligibility determination.

All unearned income is counted, unless it is specifically listed in MS 3003-2 of this manual, Non-Countable Income.

If the household's income is not clearly indicated on the application and cannot be ascertained through the other information resources available to HAPHeating Assistance Program, the application should be pended for this information.