In determining the resources for a household, the following shall be excluded from consideration.
A. Vehicles All of a household's licensed and unlicensed automobiles, motorcycles and vehicles, including recreational vehicles and seasonal vehicles, shall be totally exempt as a resource.
B. Home and Property The home and surrounding property, which is not separate from the home by intervening property owned by others, will be an exempt resource. Public rights of way, such as roads that run through the surrounding property and separate it from the home, will not affect the exemption of the property. The home and surrounding property shall remain exempt when temporarily unoccupied for reasons of employment, training for future employment, illness, or not habitable as a result of casualty or natural disaster, if the household intends to return. The property owned or being purchased by households that currently do not own a home and on which the household intends to build or is building a permanent home shall be exempt.
C. Prorated Income Monies that have been prorated and considered as income for eligibility purposes will be an exempt resource. Prorated student and self-employment income is exempt as a resource as long as a portion is still being counted as income.
D. Household Goods, Personal Effects, and Retirement Accounts 1. Household goods, personal effects, including one burial plot per household member, the cash value of life insurance policies, and livestock not excluded as income producing property are exempt resources.2. All retirement accounts with Federal tax preferred retirement status are exempt resources. The following retirement accounts are exempt:a. Pension or traditional defined benefit plan;b. 401(K) plan and simple 401(K);d. 403(A) and 403(B) plans;e. 408 plans including traditional individual retirement accounts (Roth IRA, SIMPLE IRA, and myRA), traditional Individual Retirement Annuitiesg. Federal employee thrift savings plan;i. 529A funds including funds in a qualified ABLE programj. Simplified employer plan;k. Profit sharing plan; and,3. All tax deferred education accounts are exempt resources. The two types of tax deferred education savings accounts are: a. Section 529 qualified tuition programs, which allow owners to prepay a student's education expenses or to contribute to an account to pay those expenses.b. Coverdell education savings accounts and IRA type of account designed to pay a student's education expense.4. One bona fide pre-purchased funeral agreement per household member, which may include one burial plot per household member, shall be excluded provided that the agreement does not exceed one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) in equity value; the equity value over one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) is counted as a resource. If a burial plot is included in the agreement, the burial plot portion will be exempted prior to determining the equity value of the funeral agreement.E. Income-Producing Property, Including Vehicles 1. Any property that is producing an annual income consistent with its fair market value in the community, even if it is used only on a seasonal basis, shall be an exempt resource. Such property includes farmland and rental homes, or work- related equipment, such as the tools of a tradesman or the machinery of a farmer, and vehicles which are essential to the employment or self-employment of a household member such as semi-tractor/trailer, boat, motor home, utility trailer, or seasonal or recreation vehicles used for income-producing purposes. Such property also includes livestock.2. Installment contracts for the sale of land or buildings if the contract or agreement is producing income consistent with its fair market value shall be an exempt resource. The exclusion shall also apply to the value of the property sold under the installment contract or held as security in exchange for a purchase price consistent with the fair market value of that property retained by the seller.3. Income-producing vehicles such as, but not limited to, a taxi, tractor, fishing boat, a vehicle used for deliveries, motor home, snowmobile, or camper is an exempt resource if it annually produces income consistent with its fair market value, even if only used on a seasonal basis. The exemption will apply when the vehicle is not in use because of temporary unemployment. This exemption also applies to ineligible non-citizens or disqualified persons whose resources are being considered available to the household.4. Property essential to the self-employment of a household member engaged in farming (including land, machinery, equipment, and supplies) shall be excluded for one (1) year from the date the household member terminates his or her self-employment from farming.F. Inaccessible Resources 1. Resources having a cash value which is not accessible to the household include, but are not limited to, irrevocable trust funds, property in probate, or property prohibited from sale by a creditor holding a lien, and real property which the household is making a good faith effort to sell at a reasonable price, and which has not been sold. In such cases, the local office shall establish that the property is for sale and that the household will accept a reasonable offer.2. Non-exempt, non-liquid resource, as defined in Section 4.408.1, B, that would have a net return of one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500) or less if sold, shall be considered an inaccessible resource. The equity value shall be used to determine this amount. The equity value is fair market value less verified encumbrances (amount owed).3. Any funds in a trust or transferred to a trust, and the income produced by that trust shall be considered inaccessible to the household if: a. The trust arrangement will not likely cease during the certification period, and no household member has the power to revoke the trust arrangement or change the name of the beneficiary during the certification period; orb. The trustee administering the funds is either a court, an institution, corporation, or organization which is not under the direction or leadership of any household member; or an individual appointed by the court who has court-imposed limitation placed on his/her use of funds which meet requirements of this section; or c. The trust investments made on behalf of the trust do not directly involve or assist any business or corporation under the control, direction, or influence of a household member; ord. The funds held in irrevocable trust are either established from household's own funds and are used solely to make investments on behalf of the trust or to pay educational or medical expenses of persons named by the household creating the trust; or established from non-household funds by a non-household member; or e. Monies which are withdrawn from trust and dividends that are or could be received by the household shall be considered as income.G. Resources with No Significant Return Resources that, as a practical matter, the household is unlikely to be able to sell for any significant return because the household's interest is relatively slight or because the cost of selling the household's interest would be relatively great and shall be considered inaccessible. A resource shall be so identified if its sale or other disposition is unlikely to produce any significant amount of funds for the support of the household. Verification of the value of a resource to be excluded shall not be required unless the eligibility worker determines that the information provided by the household is insufficient to permit a determination of the resource value or the technician believes that the information is questionable.
This provision regarding no significant return does not apply to negotiable financial instruments (as defined in C.R.S section 4-3-104). A significant return or a significant amount of funds shall be any return/funds after estimated costs of sale or disposition and considering the ownership interest of the household. A significant return or a significant amount of funds is an amount that is estimated to be more than one thousand five hundred dollars ($1,500).
H. Resources of Battered Women in Shelters Residents of shelters for battered women and children may not have been able to retain access to all the resources of their former household. Therefore, in cases where access to a resource, such as jointly held bank accounts requiring both signatures, vehicles, and property, is dependent upon the agreement of a person who still resides in the household where the woman was abused, the resource shall be considered inaccessible to the applicant.
I. Resources Used by Household Members Where an exclusion applies because of use of a resource by or for a household member, the exclusion shall also apply when the resource is being used by or for an ineligible non-citizen or disqualified person whose resources are being counted as part of the household's resources.
J. Government Payments The following government payments are received for a specific purpose or services and shall be excluded as a resource for SNAP eligibility.
1. P.L. No. 89-642. Section (11b) of the Child Nutrition Act of 1966 excludes the value of assistance to children under this Act from resources for SNAP purposes.2. Payments received from the youth incentive entitlement pilot projects, the youth community conservation and improvement projects, and the youth employment and training programs under Youth Employment and Demonstration Act of 1977 (P.L. No. 95-93) and extended under Title IV of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Amendments of 1978 (P.L. No. 95-524). (Note: Does not include other payments under the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) or payments under the Youth Adults Conservation Corps.)3. Any governmental payments which are designated for the restoration of a home damaged in a disaster, if the household is subject to a legal sanction if the funds are not used as intended: for example, payments made by the Department of Housing and Urban Development through the individual and family grant program or disaster loans or grants made by the Small Business Administration, Section 312(d) of Disaster Relief Act of 1974. The Disaster Relief Act of 1974. P.L. No 93-288 as amended by P.L. No. 100-707, Section 105(i). the Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Amendments of 1988. Payments precipitated by an emergency or major disaster as defined in this Act, as amended, are not counted as income or resources for SNAP purposes. This exclusion applies to Federal assistance provided to persons directly affected and to comparable disaster assistance provided by states, local governments, and disaster assistance organizations.
4. Reimbursements from the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policy Act of 1970 (P.L. No. 91-646. section 216).5. Benefits received from the special supplemental food program for women, infants and children (WIC) (P.L. No. 92-443). This payment is excluded as an in-kind benefit.6. Payments or allowances made under any federal laws for the purpose of energy assistance, other than Part A of Title IV of the Social Security Act (42 U.S.C. 601 through 42 u.S.C. 619), or a one-time payment or allowance made under federal or state law for the cost of weatherization or emergency repair or replacement of an unsafe or inoperative furnace or other heating or cooling device is exempt as a resource.7. HUD rental refund payments made pursuant to settlement of a series of class action lawsuits such as Underwood v. Harris, originally brought in the District of Columbia Federal District Court, are excluded in the month received and the following month.8. Mandatory deductions from military pay for educational purposes while the participant is enlisted. (P.L. No. 99-576, Veterans' Benefits Improvement and Health-Care Authorization Act of 1986, Section 303(a) (1)) Section 216 of P.L. No. 99-576 authorizes stipends for participation in study of Vietnam-Era veterans' psychological problems that are not excluded from income.9. Payments to U.S. citizens of Japanese ancestry and resident Japanese non-citizens for up to twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) each and payments to certain eligible Aleuts of up to twelve thousand dollars ($12,000) each. P.L. No. 100-383. Section 105(f)(2) Civil Liberties Act of 1988.10. P.L. No. 100-435, Section 501, amended Child Nutrition Act to allow under WIC demonstration projects, benefits that may be exchanged for food at farmers' markets.11. Payments made from the Agent Orange Settlement Fund (P.L. No. 101-201). All payments from the Agent Orange Settlement fund or any other fund established pursuant to the settlement in the Agent Orange product liability litigation are excluded from income retroactive to January 1, 1989. The veteran with disabilities will receive yearly payments. Survivors of deceased veterans with disabilities will receive a lump-sum payment. These payments were disbursed by the AETNA insurance company.12. A federal earned income tax credit received either as a lump sum or as payments under Section 3507 of the Internal Revenue code for the month of receipt and the following month for the individual and that individual's spouse (P.L. No. 101-508). A federal, state, or local Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) would be exempted for twelve (12) months from receipt for any household member if the individual receiving the EITC was participating in SNAP when the EITC was received and participation continues for twelve (12) months. Temporary non-participation due to administrative reasons, such as a delayed recertification, shall not affect the twelfth (12th) month participation requirement (P.L. No. 103-66, Mickey Leland Childhood Hunger Relief Act of 1993).
13. Any money received from the Radiation Exposure Compensation Trust Fund, pursuant to P.L. No. 101-426 as amended by P.L. No. 101-510.14. P.L. No. 103-286, Section 1(a) provides, in part, that payments made to individuals because of their status as victims of Nazi persecution shall be disregarded in determining eligibility for, and the amount of, benefits or services to be provided under any federal or federally assisted program which provides benefits or services based, in whole or in part, on need.15. Amendments to Section 1403 of the Crime Act of 1984 (42 U.S.C. 10602) provide in part that, notwithstanding any other law, if the compensation paid by an eligible crime victim compensation program would cover costs that a federal program or a federally financed state or local program would otherwise pay: a. Such crime victim compensation program shall not pay that compensation;b. The other program shall make its payments without regard to the existence of the crime victim compensation program. Based on this language, payments received under this Program must be excluded from income for SNAP purposes.
16. P.L. No. 104-204 requires that allowances paid under this law to children of Vietnam veterans who were born with spina bifida be excluded from resources.17. P.L. No. 111-312 and The American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 requires that Federal income tax refunds received beginning January 1, 2010 must be disregarded as a resource for twelve (12) months from the date of receipt by the client.37 CR 15, August 10, 2014, effective 9/1/201437 CR 21, November 10,2014, effective 12/1/201438 CR 23, December 10, 2015, effective 1/1/201639 CR 01, January 10, 2016, effective 2/1/201639 CR 05, March 10, 2016, effective 4/1/201639 CR 07, April 10, 2016, effective 5/1/201639 CR 15, August 10, 2016, effective 9/1/201639 CR 17, September 10, 2016, effective 10/1/201639 CR 19, October 10, 2016, effective 11/1/201639 CR 23, December 10, 2016, effective 1/1/201740 CR 11, June 10, 2017, effective 7/1/201740 CR 17, September 10, 2017, effective 10/1/201741 CR 15, August 10, 2018, effective 9/1/201840 CR 23, December 10, 2017, effective 12/30/201842 CR 01, January 10, 2019, effective 2/1/201942 CR 03, February 10, 2019, effective 3/15/201942 CR 17, September 10, 2019, effective 10/1/201942 CR 18, October 10, 2019, effective 10/1/201942 CR 23, December 10, 2019, effective 12/30/201943 CR 01, January 10, 2020, effective 1/30/202043 CR 05, March 10, 2020, effective 2/7/202043 CR 07, April 10, 2020, effective 4/30/202043 CR 21, November 10, 2020, effective 11/30/202044 CR 21, November 10, 2021, effective 11/30/202145 CR 05, March 10, 2022, effective 3/30/202245 CR 19, October 10, 2022, effective 10/1/202245 CR 19, October 10, 2022, effective 11/1/202245 CR 21, November 10, 2022, effective 11/30/2022