20 C.F.R. § 416.1166

Current through October 31, 2024

Section 416.1166 - How we deem income to you and your eligible child from your ineligible spouse

If you and your eligible child live in the same household with your ineligible spouse, we deem your ineligible spouse's income first to you, and then we deem any remainder to your eligible child. For the purpose of this section, SSI benefits include any federally administered State supplement. We then follow the rules in § 416.1165(e) to determine the child's eligibility for SSI benefits and in § 416.1165(f) to determine the benefit amount.

(a)Determining your ineligible spouse's income. We first determine how much earned and unearned income your ineligible spouse has, using the appropriate exclusions in § 416.1161(a) .

(b)Allocations for ineligible children. We next deduct an allocation for each ineligible child in the household as described in § 416.1163(b) .

(c)Allocations for aliens who are sponsored by and have income deemed from your ineligible spouse. We also deduct an allocation for eligible aliens who have been sponsored by and have income deemed from your ineligible spouse as described in § 416.1163(c) .

(d)Determining your eligibility for SSI benefits and benefit amount. We then follow the rules in § 416.1163(c) to find out if any of your ineligible spouse's current monthly income is deemed to you and, if so, to determine countable income for a couple. Next, we follow paragraph (e) of this section to determine your child's eligibility. However, if none of your spouse's income is deemed to you, none is deemed to your child. Whether or not your spouse's income is deemed to you in determining your eligibility, we determine your benefit amount as explained in § 416.1163(e) .

(e)Determining your child's eligibility and amount of benefits.

(1) If you are eligible for SSI benefits after your spouse's income has been deemed to you, we do not deem any income to your child. To determine the child's eligibility, we subtract the child's own countable income without deeming from the benefit rate for an individual.

(2) If you are not eligible for SSI benefits after your ineligible spouse's income has been deemed to you, we deem to your eligible child any of your spouse's income which was not used to reduce your SSI benefits to zero.

(f)Examples. These examples show how we deem income to an eligible individual and an eligible child in the same household. The Federal benefit rates used are those effective January 1, 1984.

Example 1. Mary, a blind individual, lives with her husband, John, and their disabled child, Peter. Mary and Peter have no income, but John is employed and earns $605 per month. We determine Mary's eligibility first. Since John's income is more than $157, which is one-half of the Federal benefit rate for an eligible individual, we treat the entire $605 as earned income available to John and Mary as a couple. Because they have no unearned income, we reduce the $605 by the $20 general income exclusion, and then by the earned income exclusion of $65 plus one-half the remainder. This leaves John and Mary with $260 in countable income. The $260 countable income is less than the $472 Federal benefit rate for a couple, so Mary is eligible; therefore, there is no income to be deemed to Peter.

Example 2. Al, a disabled individual, resides with his ineligible spouse, Dora, and their disabled son, Jeff. Al and Jeff have no income, but Dora is employed and earns $1,065 a month. Since Dora's income is more than $157, which is one-half of the Federal benefit rate for an eligible individual, we treat the entire $1,065 as earned income available to Al and Dora as a couple. We reduce this income by the $20 general income exclusion and then by $65 plus one-half the remainder (earned income exclusion), leaving $490 in countable income. Al is ineligible because the couple's $490 countable income exceeds the $472 Federal benefit rate for a couple. Since Al is ineligible, we deem to Jeff $18, the amount of income over and above the amount which causes Al to be ineligible (the difference between the countable income and the Federal benefit rate for a couple). We treat the $18 deemed to Jeff as unearned income, and we apply the $20 general income exclusion, reducing Jeff's countable income to zero. Jeff is eligible.

20 C.F.R. §416.1166

45 FR 65547, Oct. 3, 1980, as amended at 50 FR 48578, Nov. 26, 1985; 52 FR 8887, Mar. 20, 1987; 64 FR 31975, June 15, 1999