Home > SNAP > Expenses and Deductions > Introduction > Expenses/Deductions Introduction
Overview
There are several allowable deductions from income in SNAP. Two of these deductions are automated in BEACON and the remaining five deductions are determined by you after the interview has been conducted and verifications of those deductions have been received.
The deductions are as follows:
Standard Deduction (Based on Household Size-Automatically Applied in BEACON)
Earned Income Deduction (Automatically Applied in BEACON)
Excess Medical Expense Deduction / Health Insurance (Limited to Elderly/Disabled Households)
Shelter Expenses Deduction (including Homeless Deduction)
No other deductions are allowed in calculating SNAP benefits.
Optional Verifications
Expense deductions are optional verifications. Households that do not verify these expenses at application, reapplication, reported change or recertification cannot be denied or closed for failure to provide verifications.
Processing of Unverified Expense Deductions
Households that do not verify:
medical/health insurance expenses
dependent care expenses
child support expenses and/or
shelter/utility expenses
must have their eligibility and benefit amount determined as follows:
At application: If a household does not verify the expense, the expense is not allowed and the benefit and eligibility amount is calculated without the expense. Annotate the Narrative tab explaining why the expense was not allowed.
At recertification or Interim Report (IR): For expense other than Medical Expense Deduction (see medical expense page), if a household reports a change but does not verify the expense, zero out the expense and calculate the benefit amount without the expense. Annotate the Narrative tab explaining why the expense was not allowed.
Reported change during a certification period: If a household reports a change but does not verify the expense, continue to use the previously verified expense amount. Annotate the Narrative tab explaining why the change was not allowed.
Exception: When a household reports a change in Shelter Expenses or Utility Expenses due to a change of address but does not verify the changes, you must calculate the benefits without the deduction (s).
For Transitional Benefit Alternative (TBA) households: If a household reports a change but does not verify the expense, continue to use the currently verified expense amount. During the TBA period only verified changes that increase the monthly benefit amount must be acted on. Annotate the Narrative tab explaining why the expense was not allowed.
For Simplified Reporting (SR) households:If a household reports a change in an expense, during the first half of the recertification period or in the period after the Interim Report (IR), but does not verify the expense, continue to use the previously verified expense amount. Annotate the Narrative tab explaining why the expense was not allowed.
Expenses and Deductions Policy and Procedures