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Ohio Laws and Rules
Unearned income is all income that is not wages or net earnings from self-employment. Thus, all income which does not meet the definition of earned income is considered unearned income.
(A) Eligibility for an unearned income payment does not, by itself, affect the amount of unearned income to be counted; actual receipt is the key factor. The assistance group must pursue potential income but the individual must actually be receiving the payment in order to have it included as income.
(B) The amount of unearned income to be established is dependent upon the amounts and frequency with which the income is actually received. However, sometimes there are deductions or withholding taxes deducted from certain types of unearned income. If the deductions are mandatory, only the net income is to be considered. If the deduction is voluntary, the gross amount must be considered as income.
(C) The entire payment from mortgage and land contract payments is unearned income. The verified amounts paid for taxes and insurance on the property are allowable expenses. Any amount the individual pays on the property such as the mortgage payment itself is deducted.
(D) Sick leave payments received in the form of an insurance benefit are unearned income. Benefits received in the form of wages are earned income.
(E) The income received from the rental of real property where the property is managed by a management firm or other company is considered unearned income to the family.
(1) Management of rental property would entail the actual functions of upkeep of property, collection of rent payments, payment of operation costs, bookkeeping and rental procedures such as credit analysis, and filling of vacancies.
(2) A relative, friend or tenant that provides services on a custodial basis would not be considered a property manager.
(3) When a management firm or other company manages the rental property and the assistance group is forwarded an amount (less management expenses), that amount is to be considered unearned income. When the assistance group receives the total amount of income from rental property, the unearned income would be the amount remaining after deducting operating expenses and management fees.
(4) Regardless of who receives the total income from the rental property, operating and management expenses are to be deducted from the total income.
(5) If the individual receives income from his efforts as manager of rental property, that situation would be considered self-employment and as such earned income. Only in situations where the individual directly manages the rental property will this be considered self-employment.
(F) A maximum of fifty dollars in current child support collections each month may be disregarded for an assistance group.
(1) Ohio court-ordered child support with an effective date prior to December 1, 1986 and received by the assistance group or by the CSEA shall have the first fifty dollars disregarded in the financial eligibility determination for CFC medicaid.
(2) New or modified Ohio court-ordered child support with an effective date on or after December 1, 1986 shall be paid through the local CSEA. A fifty dollar disregard is applied in the financial eligibility determination of these assistance groups.
(3) Any income received by the assistance group from the absent parent shall be considered a gift and no fifty dollar disregard shall be applied in the assistance group’s CFC medicaid financial eligibility determination.
(4) The fifty dollar disregard of child support is applied by assistance groups rather than by family or household.
(5) Child support payment distributions made by ODJFS pursuant to division (C) of Section 1 of Am. S.B. 170 of the 124th General Assembly and rules 5101:1-29-31.1 and 5101:1-29-31.2 of the Administrative Code shall be excluded form consideration as income or resources in the financial eligibility determination for CFC medicaid.
(G) Verification of unearned income is required at initial application, at reapplication, when the income amounts change, and when discrepancies in income information are discovered. Special attention should be paid to those types of unearned income which periodically are increased due to cost of living increases that are issued across the board to all recipients of specific benefits.
(1) When an individual alleges unearned income sufficiently high to make him clearly ineligible for CFC medicaid, there is no need for further verification if some other factor of eligibility, such as age or citizenship is clearly not met. Whenever such factor is only questionable and is not yet resolved, unearned income should be verified.
(2) Most forms of unearned income may be verified by a written statement from the agency, organization, or a person administering payment. The verification must show the monthly amount of the benefit, the amount of deductions, and must confirm whether or not the deductions are mandatory.
(H) A portion of the income of aliens who fail to meet citizenship requirements and sanctioned individuals is counted in determining the assistance group’s eligibility. The portion of income of these specifically excluded individuals that remains after application of appropriate disregards shall be treated as unearned income to the assistance group in the determination of the assistance group’s eligibility for CFC medicaid.
HISTORY: Eff 11-1-76; 5-14-77; 4-5-79; 10-1-81; 12-1-82; 3-1-84; 10-1-84 (Emer.); 12-27-84; 1-2-86; 4-1-86; 10-3-86; 10-1-87 (Emer.); 12-24-87; 7-1-89 (Emer.); 9-23-89; 5-1-93; 10-31-97 (Emer.); 1-26-98; 1-1-03
Rule promulgated under: RC 111.15
Rule authorized by: RC 5111.01, 5111.011
Rule amplifies: RC 5111.01, 5111.011
R.C. 119.032 review dates: 04/05/2002 and 01/01/2008