Division of Family Support

Division of Family Support

Operation Manual

Transmittal Letter No.491

October 1, 2015

Subject:Annual Cost–of-Living Changes for Utility and Income Standards, Shelter Deductions and Various Policy Changes

Volume I

MS 0730, Disqualified Recipient Subsystem (DRS), is revised to reflect the name change to Electronic Disqualified Recipient Subsystem (eDRS). It is further revised to add language stating that the procedure for obtaining information pertaining to out-of-state IPV disqualifications now consists of a query via eDRS in the SNAP Web Portal.

Volume II

MS 5200, Income Eligibility Scale, is revised to reflect the annual COLA changes to the maximum and net income limits. The example in item 4 is also revised to reflect income changes.

MS 5320, Business Expenses, is revised to state that if an income tax return is provided as verification, only the Schedule C portion from the most recent income tax return is sufficient to verify self-employment gross income and business expenses. It is further revised for formatting.

MS 5330, Budgeting – Nonfarm Income, is revised to state that if an income tax return is provided as verification, only the Schedule C portion from the most recent income tax return is sufficient to verify self-employment gross income and business expenses. It is further revised to state that whenever records and receipts other than tax returns are used, document the reason the tax return was not used and document in detail the records and receipts that were used to determine countable income and for formatting.

MS 5340, Budgeting – Farm Income, is revised to state that if an income tax return is provided as verification, only the Schedule F portion from the most recent income tax return is sufficient to verify self-employment farm income and business expenses and for formatting.

MS 5350, Farm Income Net Loss, is revised to change “tax return” to “schedule F from the most recent income tax return” and for formatting.

MS 5400, Deductions, General, is revised to reflect the annual COLA changes to the standard deduction for households with four or more members and maximum shelter cost deduction.

MS 5430, Allowable Medical Deductions, is revised to clarify that when a client claims mileage expenses for the medical deduction that the worker is to compare the client stated total miles with a map program, such as MapQuest to ensure the client’s stated total is reasonable, and the client must provide a signed and dated statement detailing the total number of miles they are claiming and for the period of time they cover, i.e. weekly, monthly, or the entire period. It is further revised for clarity and formatting.

MS 5490, Heating and Cooling Costs/Standard Utility Allowance, is revised to reflect the updated SUA.

MS 5498, Non-Heating and Non-Cooling Costs/ Basic Utility Allowance, is revised to reflect the updated BUA and telephone standard. It is further revised to instruct how the telephone standard must be verified.

MS 5800, Calculations of Allotment, is revisedto reflect the annual COLA change to the Maximum Shelter Deduction.

MS 6102, Taking the Application, is revised to remove Phone Interview as a Special Interview.

MS 6145, Web Portal Case Worker Role, is revised to change “normal local office business hours” to “5:30pm EST (4:30pm CST)” when referring to the workday application deadline.

MS 7000, Required Verification at Application, is revised to state that SDX is not acceptable source of verification for RSDI or other unearned income.

MS 7050, Sources of Verification, is revised to state that SDX is not acceptable source of verification for RSDI or other unearned income.

MS 8220, Authorizing Replacements Due to a Casualty Loss, is revised state that workers complete an in-depth review of requests for replacement due to a casualty loss, to ensure that the request meets policy requirements and verification is provided. If the household has a pattern of requesting replacements, additional verification is needed and/or receipts should be requested before approval of the replacements. The Food and Nutrition Services (FNS) has begun requiring states to separate replacement amounts from normal issuance amounts on budget reports, and large replacement numbers must of be substantiated.