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| General | 416.1100 – 416.1104 | ||||||||||||||||
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42 U.S.C. 902(a)(5), 1381a, 1382, 1382a, 1382b, 1382c(f), 1382j, 1383, and 1383b; sec. 211, Pub. L. 93-66, 87 Stat. 154 (42 U.S.C. 1382 note).
45 FR 65547, Oct. 3, 1980, unless otherwise noted.
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Subscribe to: 20 CFR Part 416 Subpart K - General
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Nomenclature changes to part 416 appear at 68 FR 53509, Sept. 11, 2003.
You are eligible for supplemental security income (SSI) benefits if you are an aged, blind, or disabled person who meets the requirements described in subpart B and who has limited income and resources. Thus, the amount of income you have is a major factor in deciding whether you are eligible for SSI benefits and the amount of your benefit. We count income on a monthly basis. Generally, the more income you have the less your benefit will be. If you have too much income, you are not eligible for a benefit. However, we do not count all of your income to determine your eligibility and benefit amount. We explain in the following sections how we treat your income for the SSI program. These rules apply to the Federal benefit and to any optional State supplement paid by us on behalf of a State (§ 416.2025) except as noted in subpart T and in the Federal-State agreements with individual States. While this subpart explains how we count income, subpart D of these regulations explains how we determine your benefits, including the provision that we generally use countable income in a prior month to determine how much your benefit amount will be for a month in which you are eligible (§ 416.420).
[50 FR 48573, Nov. 26, 1985]
As used in this subpart—
Calendar quarter means a period of three full calendar months beginning with January, April, July, or October.
Child means someone who is not married, is not the head of a household, and is either under age 18 or is under age 22 and a student. (See § 416.1856)
Couple means an eligible individual and his or her eligible spouse.
Current market value means the price of an item on the open market in your locality.
Federal benefit rate means the monthly payment rate for an eligible individual or couple. It is the figure from which we subtract countable income to find out how much your Federal SSI benefit should be. The Federal benefit rate does not include the rate for any State supplement paid by us on behalf of a State.
Institution means an establishment which makes available some treatment or services beyond food and shelter to four or more persons who are not related to the proprietor. (See § 416.201)
Spouse means someone who lives with another person as that person's husband or wife. (See § 416.1806)
We, Us, or Our means the Social Security Administration.
You or Your means a person who is applying for, or already receiving, SSI benefits.
[45 FR 65547, Oct. 3, 1980, as amended at 50 FR 48573, Nov. 26, 1985; 51 FR 10616, Mar. 28, 1986; 60 FR 16375, Mar. 30, 1995]
Income is anything that you receive in cash or in-kind that you can use to meet your needs for food or shelter. For purposes of this definition, income may be received actually or constructively. Income is received constructively, unless there are significant restrictions on your ability to receive it, if it is under your control or you can use it despite not actually receiving it. Sometimes income also includes more or less than you actually receive (see §§ 416.1110 and 416.1123(b)). In-kind income is not cash but is something else that you can use to meet your needs for food or shelter. Exception: Food is not included in the calculations of in-kind support and maintenance, which is a type of unearned income that we have special rules for valuing (see §§ 416.1130 through 416.1148).
[89 FR 21209, Mar. 27, 2024]
Some things you receive are not income because you cannot use them as food or shelter, or use them to obtain food or shelter. In addition, what you receive from the sale or exchange of your own property is not income; it remains a resource. The following are some items that are not income:
(a) Medical care and services. Medical care and services are not income if they are any of the following:
(1) Given to you free of charge or paid for directly to the provider by someone else;
(2) Room and board you receive during a medical confinement;
(3) Assistance provided in cash or in kind (including food or shelter) under a Federal, State, or local government program whose purpose is to provide medical care or medical services (including vocational rehabilitation);
(4) In-kind assistance (except shelter) provided under a nongovernmental program whose purpose is to provide medical care or medical services;
(5) Cash provided by any nongovernmental medical care or medical services program or under a health insurance policy (except cash to cover food or shelter) if the cash is either:
(i) Repayment for program-approved services you have already paid for; or
(ii) A payment restricted to the future purchase of a program-approved service.
Example: If you have paid for prescription drugs and get the money back from your health insurance, the money is not income.
(6) Direct payment of your medical insurance premiums by anyone on your behalf.
(7) Payments from the Department of Veterans Affairs resulting from unusual medical expenses.
(b) Social services. Social services are not income if they are any of the following:
(1) Assistance provided in cash or in kind (but not received in return for a service you perform) under any Federal, State, or local government program whose purpose is to provide social services including vocational rehabilitation (Example: Cash given you by the Department of Veterans Affairs to purchase aid and attendance);
(2) In-kind assistance (except shelter) provided under a nongovernmental program whose purpose is to provide social services; or
(3) Cash provided by a nongovernmental social services program (except cash to cover food or shelter) if the cash is either:
(i) Repayment for program-approved services you already have paid for; or
(ii) A payment restricted to the future purchase of a program-approved service.
Example: If you are unable to do your own household chores and a private social services agency provides you with cash to pay a homemaker the cash is not income.
(c) Receipts from the sale, exchange, or replacement of a resource. Receipts from the sale, exchange, or replacement of a resource are not income but are resources that have changed their form. This includes any cash or in-kind item that is provided to replace or repair a resource (see subpart L) that has been lost, damaged, or stolen. Sections 416.1150 and 416.1151 discuss treatment of receipts to replace or repair a resource following a major disaster or following some other event causing damage or loss of a resource.
Example: If you sell your automobile, the money you receive is not income; it is another form of a resource.
(d) Income tax refunds. Any amount refunded on income taxes you have already paid is not income.
(e) Payments by credit life or credit disability insurance. Payments made under a credit life or credit disability insurance policy on your behalf are not income.
Example: If a credit disability policy pays off the mortgage on your home after you become disabled in an accident, we do not consider either the payment or your increased equity in the home to be income.
(f) Proceeds of a loan. Money you borrow or money you receive as repayment of a loan is not income. However, interest you receive on money you have lent is income. Buying on credit is treated as though you were borrowing money and what you purchase this way is not income.
(g) Bills paid for you. Payment of your bills by someone else directly to the supplier is not income. However, we count the value of anything you receive because of the payment if it is in-kind income as defined in § 416.1102.
Examples: If your daughter uses her own money to pay your mortgage payment directly to the mortgage lender, the payment itself is not your income because you do not receive it. However, because of your daughter's payment, the transaction provides you with shelter; the mortgage payment is in-kind income for shelter to you. Similarly, if you book a hotel room on credit and your son later pays the bill, the payment to the hotel is not income to you, but the payment of the bill is in-kind income for shelter to you. In this example, if your son pays for the hotel bill in a month after the month of the hotel stay, we will count the in-kind income to you in the month in which he pays the bill. On the other hand, if your brother pays a lawn service to mow your grass, the payment is not income to you because the mowing cannot be used to meet your needs for food or shelter. Therefore, the payment for the lawn service is not in-kind income as defined in § 416.1102.
(h) Replacement of income you have already received. If income is lost, destroyed, or stolen and you receive a replacement, the replacement is not income.
Example: If your paycheck is stolen and you get a replacement check, we count the first check as income. The replacement check is not income.
(i) Weatherization assistance. Weatherization assistance (Examples: Insulation, storm doors and windows) is not income.
(j) Receipt of certain noncash items. Any item you receive (except shelter as defined in § 416.1130) which would be an excluded nonliquid resource (as described in subpart L of this part) if you kept it, is not income.
Example 1: A community takes up a collection to buy you a specially equipped van, which is your only vehicle. The value of this gift is not income because the van does not provide you with food or shelter and will become an excluded nonliquid resource under § 416.1218 in the month following the month of receipt.
Example 2: You inherit a house which is your principal place of residence. The value of this inheritance is income because the house provides you with shelter and shelter is income. However, we value the house under the rule in § 416.1140.
[45 FR 65547, Oct. 3, 1980, as amended at 49 FR 48038, Dec. 10, 1984; 57 FR 53850, Nov. 13, 1992; 59 FR 33907, July 1, 1994; 70 FR 6344, Feb. 7, 2005; 89 FR 21209, Mar. 27, 2024]
We have described generally what income is and is not for SSI purposes (§ 416.1103). There are different types of income, earned and unearned, and we have rules for counting each. The earned income rules are described in §§ 416.1110 through 416.1112 and the unearned income rules are described in §§ 416.1120 through 416.1124. One type of unearned income is in-kind support and maintenance (shelter), which we value depending on your living arrangement. These rules are described in §§ 416.1130 through 416.1148 of this part. In some situations we must consider the income of certain people with whom you live as available to you and part of your income. These rules are described in §§ 416.1160 through 416.1169. We use all of these rules to determine the amount of your countable income—the amount that is left after we subtract what is not income or is not counted.
[45 FR 65547, Oct. 3, 1980, as amended at 65 FR 16815, Mar. 30, 2000; 70 FR 6345, Feb. 7, 2005; 89 FR 21209, Mar. 27, 2024]