758-5          PAYMENTS TO NATIVE AMERICANS

The following types of payments made to American Indians or to Alaska Natives (Eskimos, Aleuts, Athabascans, Tlingits, Haidas, etc.) are not counted as income in determining eligibility or payment amount for ATAPAlaska Temporary Assistance Program applicants and recipients:

758-5 A.     PER CAPITA PAYMENTS

All funds held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior for an Indian tribe and distributed on a per capita basis to members of that tribe are excluded as income.  These per capita payments may be distributed by the Secretary of the Interior or by the tribe itself.  In Alaska, the only reported distribution of this type has been from the Metlakatla Indian Community.  These types of distributions are authorized under Public Laws 92-254, 93-134, 94-114 (Section 6 only), and 94-540, as amended by Public Laws 97-458 and 98-64.

758-5 B.      ANCSA DISTRIBUTIONS

The first $2,000 per year of cash distributions made by Native corporations to Alaska Natives under the Alaska Native Claims Settlement Act ( ANCSA ) are excluded as income.  This $2,000 exclusion applies to each individual and to each single calendar year. (See section 754-9 regarding ANCSAAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act payments and resources).  

If there is any reason to doubt a client's statement that he or she has received or expects to receive an ANCSAAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act payment, or reason to doubt the amount of that payment, verification must be sought from the client or the client's Native Corporation, which will usually require a specific written release of information.

Cash distributions paid in excess of $2,000 per calendar year to an individual shareholder by a regional or village Native corporation count as income to the individual shareholder in the month of receipt.  Normal Temporary Assistance prospective/retrospective budgeting policies apply to any ANCSAAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act cash distributions in excess of $2,000 per individual per calendar year.

Any income received by an individual applicant or recipient as a result of his own investment of his ANCSAAlaska Native Claims Settlement Act payments counts as income.

758-5 C.     INDIVIDUAL INDIAN MONEY ACCOUNTS

Funds deposited or held in an Individual Indian Money (IIMIndividual Indian Money) account are excluded as income.  However, once funds are removed from an IIMIndividual Indian Money account, they become a countable resource.

IIMIndividual Indian Money accounts primarily contain money collected by the federal government from farming and grazing leases, timber sales, mining, oil and gas production, and other activities on trust land, as well as certain per capita distributions. The funds in IIMIndividual Indian Money accounts are held in trust by the federal government for the benefit of individual Indians.