38 C.F.R. § 3.261

Current through September 30, 2024
Section 3.261 - Character of income; exclusions and estates

The following factors will be considered in determining whether a claimant meets the requirements of §§ 3.250 , 3.251 and 3.252 with reference to dependency, income limitations and corpus of estate:

(a)Income.

IncomeDependency (parents)Dependency and indemnity compensation (parents)Pension; old-law (veterans, surviving spouses and children)Pension; section 306 (veterans, surviving spouses and children)See-
(1) Total income from employment, business, investments, or rentsIncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded§ 3.262(a) .
(2) Income of spouse......do......doExcluded......do§ 3.262(b) .
(3) Earnings of members of family under legal age......doExcluded......doExcluded§ 3.250(b)(2) .
§ 3.252(e)(3) .
(4) Earned income of child-claimantIncluded......do
(5) Gifts, including contributions from adult members of family:
Property......doIncluded......do......do§ 3.262(k) .
Money......do......do......doIncluded
(6) Value of maintenance by relative, friend, or organizationExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded§ 3.262(c) .
(7) Rental value of property owned by and resided in by claimant......do......do......do......do
(8) Charitable donations......do......doIncluded......do§ 3.262(d) .
(9) Family allowance authorized by service personnelIncludedIncluded......doIncluded
(10) Reasonable value of allowances to person in service in addition to base pay......do......do......doIncluded except as earned income of child-claimant
(11) Mustering-out payExcluded......doExcluded......do
(12) Six-months' death gratuity......doExcluded......doExcluded
(13) Bonus or similar cash gratuity paid by any State based on service in Armed Forces of United StatesExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded
(14) Retired Serviceman's Family Protection Plan; Survivor Benefit Plan (10 U.S.C. ch. 73):
Retired Serviceman's Family Protection Plan (Subch. I):
Annuities......do......do......do......do
Refund (10 U.S.C. 1446 )IncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded
Survivor Benefit Plan (Subch. II) (Pub. L. 92-425 ; 86 Stat. 706)......do......do......do......do§ 3.262(e) .
Annuity under §653 , Pub. L. 100-456 IncludedIncludedExcludedExcluded§ 3.262(r)
(15) Retirement pay received direct from service departmentIncluded
......do
Included
......do
Included
......do
Included
......do
§ 3.262(e) .
§ 3.262(h) .
(16) Retirement benefits; general......do......do......do......do§ 3.262(e) .
(17) Social security benefits:
Old age and survivors', and disability insuranceIncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded§ 3.262(f) .
Charitable programsExcludedExcluded......doExcluded
Lump-sum death paymentsIncluded......do......do......do
Supplemental security incomeExcludedExcluded......do......do
(18) Railroad Retirement benefits......doIncludedDisability pension-Excluded Death pension-IncludedIncluded§ 3.262(g) .
(19) Retirement pay waived under Federal statuteExcludedExcludedExcluded......do§ 3.262(h) .
(20) Department of Veterans Affairs payments:
PensionExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded
Compensation and dependency and indemnity compensation......do......do......do......do
World War I adjusted compensation......doIncluded......doIncluded
U.S. Government life insurance or national service life insurance for disability or death, maturity of endowment policies, and dividends, including special and termination dividendsExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded
Servicemembers' group life insurance......do......do......do......do
Veterans' group life insurance......do......do......do......do
Servicemembers' indemnity......do......do......do......do
Subsistence allowance (38 U.S.C. ch. 31)IncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded
Veterans educational assistance in excess of amounts expended for training (38 U.S.C. ch. 34)......do......do......do......do
Educational assistance (38 U.S.C. ch. 35)ExcludedExcluded
Special allowance under 38 U.S.C. 1312(a) ExcludedIncluded......doIncluded
Statutory burial allowance......doExcluded......doExcluded
Accrued......doIncluded, except accrued as reimbursement......doIncluded, except accrued as reimbursement
(21) Compensation (civilian) for injury or deathIncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded§ 3.262(i) .
(22) Contributions by a public or private employer to a:
Public or private health or hospitalization plan for an active or retired employeeExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded
Retired employee as reimbursement for premiums for supplementary medical insurance benefits under the Social Security Program (Pub. L. 91-588 ; 84 Stat. 1580)IncludedIncludedExcludedExcluded
(23) Overtime pay; Government employeesIncludedIncludedDisability pension-Excluded. Death pension-IncludedIncluded
(24) Commercial life insurance; disability, accident, or health insurance, less payments of medical or hospital expenses resulting from the accident or disease for which payments are madeIncluded (as received)Included (as received)Included (special provision)Included (as received)§ 3.262(j) .
(25) Commercial annuities or endowments......doIncluded (special provision)......doIncluded (special provision)§ 3.262(j) .
(26) Dividends from commercial insuranceExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded
(27) Insurance under Merchant Marine Act of 1936, as amendedIncludedIncludedIncludedIncluded
(28) Reimbursement for casualty loss (Pub. L. 100-687 )IncludedExcludedIncludedIncluded§ 3.262(t)
Other fire InsuranceExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded§ 3.262(t)
(29) Bequests, devises and inheritances:
PropertyIncludedExcludedIncluded......do§ 3.262(k) .
Money......doIncluded......doIncluded
Joint bank accounts......do......do......doExcluded§ 3.262(k)(1) .
(30) Profit from sale of propertyExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded§ 3.262(k) .
(31) Jury duty or obligatory civic duties......do......do......do......do
(32) Relocation payments (Pub. L. 90-448 ; Pub. L. 90-495 )......do......do......do......do§ 3.262(c) .
(33) The following programs administered by the ACTION Agency:
Foster Grandparent Program and Older Americans Community Service Programs payments (Pub. L. 93-29 ; 87 Stat. 55)......do......do......do......do§ 3.262(q)(1) .
Volunteers in Service to America (VISTA), University Year for ACTION (UYA), Program for Local Services (PLS), ACTION Cooperative Volunteers (ACV), Foster Grandparent Program (FGP), and Older American Community Service Programs, Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP), Senior Companion Program (Pub. L. 93-113 ; 87 Stat. 394)......do......do......do......do§ 3.262(q)(2) .
(34) The Service Corps of Retired Executives (SCORE) and Active Corps of Executives (ACE) administered by the Small Business Administration. (Pub. L. 93-113 ; 87 Stat. 394)......do......do......do......do§ 3.262(q)(2) .
(35) Income received under Section 6 of the Radiation Exposure Compensation Act (Pub. L. 101-426 )ExcludedExcludedIncludedIncluded§ 3.262(t)
(36) Income received from income tax returnsExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded§ 3.262(u)
(37) Other amounts excluded from income by statuteExcludedExcludedExcludedExcluded§ 3.262(v)
§ 3.279

1 The compensation received through a crime victim compensation program will be excluded from income computations unless the total amount of assistance received from all federally funded programs is sufficient to fully compensate the claimant for losses suffered as a result of the crime.

(b)Deduction of amounts paid by claimant.

DeductionDependency (parents)Dependency and indemnity compensationPension; old-law (veterans, surviving spouses, and children)Pension; section 306 (veterans, surviving spouses, and children)See
(1) Unusual medical expensesNot authorizedAuthorizedNot authorizedAuthorized§§ 3.262(b)(1) and (1) .
(2) Veteran: just debts, expenses of last illness and burialNot authorizedAuthorized, except debtsNot authorizedAuthorized§§ 3.262(m) and (o) .
(3) Veteran's spouse or child: expenses of last illness and burialNot authorizedNot authorizedNot authorizedAuthorized§ 3.262(n) .
(4) Parent's spouse: just debts; expenses of last illness and burialNot authorizedAuthorized§ 3.262(o) .
(5) Prepayment on real property mortgages after death of spouse (Pub. L. 91-588 )Not authorizedNot authorizedNot authorizedAuthorized§§ 3.262(k)(6) .

(c)Corpus of estate.

Dependency (parents) Dependency and indemnity compensation Pension; old-law (veterans, widows, and children) Pension; section 306 (veterans, surviving spouses, and children) See
Considered conditionallyNot consideredNot consideredConsidered§ 3.263 .

38 C.F.R. §3.261

28 FR 31, Jan. 1, 1963, as amended at 29 FR 15205, Nov. 11, 1964; 31 FR 15632, Dec. 13, 1966; 33 FR 15286, Oct. 15, 1968; 36 FR 8446, May 6, 1971; 37 FR 6677, Apr. 1, 1972; 37 FR 7092, Apr. 8, 1972; 37 FR 21436, Oct. 11, 1972; 38 FR 872, Jan. 5, 1973; 38 FR 26804, Sept. 26, 1973; 38 FR 28826, Oct. 17, 1973; 40 FR 13305, Mar. 26, 1975; 40 FR 57459, Dec. 10, 1975; 41 FR 17386, Apr. 26, 1976; 42 FR 43834, Aug. 31, 1977; 57 FR 59298, Dec. 15, 1992; 58 FR 12174, Mar. 3, 1993; 58 FR 31909, June 7, 1993; 58 FR 33766, June 21, 1993; 59 FR 37696, July 25, 1994; 60 FR 2522, Jan. 10, 1995; 60 FR 18355, Apr. 11, 1995; 62 FR 51278, Sept. 30, 1997; 67 FR 49586, July 31, 2002; 68 FR 60852, Oct. 24, 2003; 70 FR 15591, Mar. 28, 2005; 76 FR 4248, Jan. 25, 2011; 83 FR 47268, Sept 18, 2018
83 FR 47268, 10/18/2018