Addendum 3
Countable and Excluded income for MAGIModified Adjusted Gross Income Medicaid
*If an individual has a Medicaid Income Qualifying Trust (Miller’s Trust) or Special Needs Trust, please follow ADLTC manual section 528.
*A tax dependent's countable income under the tax filing threshold is not countable. See section 818.
This chart is not comprehensive. For questions regarding income types, please e-mail .
Type of income / Countable for MAGI Medicaid?Adoption payments, subsidized / No
Adult Pubic Assistance (APA) / No
American Indian/Alaska Native payments:
1) Distributions from Alaska Native Corporations and Settlements Trusts (ANSCA);
2) Distributions from any property held in trust located within the most recent boundaries of a proper Federal reservation;
3) Distributions and payments from rents, leases, rights of way, royalties, usage rights, or natural resource extraction and harvest;
4) Distributions resulting from real property ownership interests relation to natural
resources and improvements;
5) Payments resulting from ownership interests in or usage rights to items that have unique religious, spiritual, traditional, or cultural significance or rights that support subsistence or a traditional lifestyle according to applicable Tribal Law or custom;
6)Student financial assistance provided under the Bureau of Indian Affairs education Programs;
7)Settlement payments resulting from the Cobell v. Salazar class action lawsuit. / No
Annuities (recurring payments received from investments) / Yes
Alaska Temporary Assistance Program payments, including supportive payments / No
Alien Sponsor income / Yes
Child Support / No
Compensatory payments, court ordered / No
Contractual Income, such as monthly payments from sale of a house / Yes
Contract Work / Yes, Individuals who are employed under a contract and are not paid for their contractual
work on at least a monthly basis will have their earnings prorated over the number
of months covered by the income. However, any draws or wages received in advance
of the contractual earnings are treated as earned income in the month of receipt.
The months covered by the contractual income are the months in which the employee
is actually working under the terms of the contract.
Corporation For National and Community Service (CNCS) payments, which include AmeriCorps, VISTA, National and Civilian Corp, Foster Grandparents, the Senior Companion Program, and Retired and Senior Volunteer Corps (RSVP) / Yes
(*AmeriCorps award at end of service is not countable if it goes directly to an educational institution.)
Corporation income from partnerships, estates, and S-corporations / Yes
Disaster and Emergency Assistance provided by states, local governments, or disaster assistance organizations / No
Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) / No
Educational Grants, Awards, and Loans issued under any program funded under the Title IV of the Higher Education Act or under a Bureau of Indian Affairs student assistance program / No
*amount used for living expenses is countable
Employer Sponsored Occupational Disability payments / No
Energy Employees Occupational Illness Compensation / No
Estate Income / Yes
Flexible Health benefits / If the employer pays flexible health benefits on behalf of the employee and the employee must use this money to purchase health insurance, only the amount that goes directly to the employee (benefit contribution excess) is counted when determining a household's
gross income. Any amount that the employer pays for mandatory health insurance benefits
that the employee does not receive in addition to their regular pay is not counted as income to the employee.
Food Stamps, including Food Stamp Hold harmless payment / No
Foster Care, including Therapeutic Foster Care and boarding home payments / No
Garnishments / Yes
General Assistance (GA) / No
Gifts / No
Guardianship payments, subsidized / No
Heating Assistance, direct payments to households and vendors / No
Inheritances / No
In-kind earned income received as compensation for services rendered, such as rent reduction in exchange for managing apartments / Yes
In-kind support and maintenance not in the form of money such as meals, clothing, or housing / No
Interim Assistance / No
Jury Duty payments and Witness fees / Yes
Jury Duty Reimbursements and per diem / No
Loans, including educational, personal, and commercial / No
Lump sum payments, non-recurring / Yes, counted only in the month received
MAAST (Mature Alaskans Seeking Training Skills) / Yes
Military wages / Yes (see Addendum 6 for further information)
PASS I, II, III Childcare / No
Payee Arrangements when an individual is acting as a formal or informal agent, trustee, payee, or financial guardian for another person. A client who cashes a severely disabled relative's assistance checks and spends the
cash to meet that person's needs;
An urban client who occasional receives cash or a money order from a friend who lives
in a remote area and needs an intermediary to purchase supplies on his behalf;
A client who has been given signature authority on an institutionalized relative's
bank account; or
A client accepts a roommate's share of the rent and passes it on to their landlord.
Such arrangements may involve a joint bank account, signature authority, deposits
of the non-client's funds into a singly held account, or simply a hand or mail transfer
of cash. / No, These funds will not count as MAGI Medicaid available income, to the extent that
the client can demonstrate that he or she merely passes through the monies, and that
they are not used for support of the household. Prudent judgment will be required
in determining whether all or part of such monies can be exempted, as the often-informal
nature of many payee arrangements makes documentary proof hard to obtain.
Per Diem payment from employment / No
Permanent Fund Dividends / Yes, PFD payments will be annualized. The amount used should be the amount of the last year’s PFD until the current year’s PFD is officially announced by the DPA Policy Unit.
Punitive Payments, court ordered / Yes
Refugee Assistance, paid one time or monthly / No
Recoupments / No
Reimbursements / No
Relocation payments / No
Rental allowance for clergy persons/Parsonage Allowance / No
Rental income, including room rental / Yes
Retirement/pension income / Yes
Restitution made to Aleuts or individuals of Japanese ancestry under Public Law 100-383 / No
Self-employment income / Yes (see MS 821 for more information)
Exception: Self-employment income from fishing is exempt income for tribal members from and living in Metlakatla
Senior Benefits / No
Social Security Income (SSI) / Not countable for a child or the household member that claims the recipient as a tax dependent. Countable only to the adult who receives it.
Social Security payments, excluding SSI. These include Disability, Retirement, Widower’s, and Survivor’s payments / Yes. For child tax dependents, amount is only countable if child’s income is above the tax filing threshold
Spousal Support (Alimony) / Yes
Tax returns, federal, / No
Tax returns, state / Yes
Trust income / Yes
Unemployment benefits (UIB) / Yes
Vendor payments – money paid by an outside sourced to a third party on behalf of the household / No
Veterans Disability payments to primary individual or survivor, include VA dependency and indemnity payments / No
Veterans retirement paid by the Department of Defense Finance and Accounting Services (DFAS) / Yes
Veterans Survivor benefits / Yes
Victims of Crime Compensation / No
Vocational Rehabilitation from a state or Veteran program / No
Wages, including salaries, bonuses, commissions, tips, overtime, severance, and gratuities. This includes an SSI recipient’s wages. / Yes
Worker’s Compensation / No
Workforce Investment Act (WIA), such as the Summer Youth Employment and Training Program / Taxable wages are countable. Living allowances are not.
Work Study / No