16 Del. Admin. Code § 9000-9049

Current through Register Vol. 28, No. 7, January 1, 2025

Section 9000-9049 - Excluded Resources

[7 CFR 273.8(e)]

Exclude the following resources when determining eligibility for food benefit purposes for non-categorical eligible households:

A. Property

1. Home the household resides in.

2. Property surrounding the home not separated by intervening property owned by others, except for public rights of way such as roads.

3. The home and surrounding property temporarily unoccupied for reasons of employment, training for future employment, illness, vacation, or uninhabitability caused by casualty or natural disaster, if the household intends to return.

4. The value of a lot on which a household intends to build (or is building) a permanent home as long as the household currently does not own a home.

5. Property that annually produces income consistent with its fair market value, even if used only on a seasonal basis, such as rental and vacation homes.

6. Property or work-related equipment essential to the employment or self-employment of a household member such as farmland, tools, or machinery.

7. Property essential to the self-employment of a household member engaged in farming is excluded for one year from the date the household member terminates his/her self-employment from farming.

8. Installment contracts for the sale of land or other buildings are exempt if the contract or agreement is producing income consistent with its fair market value. The value of the property sold under such contract or held as security in exchange for a purchase price consistent with the fair market value of that property is also excluded.

9. Security deposits on rental property or utilities.

10. Property in probate and property which the household is making a good faith effort to sell at a reasonable price.

11. Property (or portions of) that it is directly related to the maintenance or use of a vehicle excluded under DSSM 9051 (1, 2, and 6). For example, property used to park a produce truck on for sales, overnight parking and/or maintenance.

B. Household goods and personal effects.

C. Cash value of life insurance policies.

D. One burial plot per household member.

E. Value of one bona fide funeral agreement (not exceeding $1,500) per household member.

F. Licensed vehicles per DSSM 9051.

G. Governmental payments for the restoration of a home damaged in a disaster. Examples are payments from the Individual and Family Grant program or the Small Business Administration. The household must be subject to a legal sanction if the household does not use the funds as intended.

H. Irrevocable trust funds

1. Any funds in trust or funds transferred to a trust, and the income produced by that trust that is not available to the household is inaccessible to the household if:

(i) The trust arrangement is not likely to end 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;

(ii) The trustee administering the fund is either:

(a) A court, or an institution, corporation, or organization which is not under the direction or ownership of any household member, or

(b) An individual appointed by the court who has court imposed limitations placed on his/ her use of the funds which meet the requirements of this paragraph.

(iii) 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; and

(iv) The funds held in irrevocable trust are either:

(a) Established from the households' own funds, if the trustee uses the funds solely to make investments on behalf of the trust or to pay the educational or medical expenses of any person named by the household creating the trust, or

(b) Established from non-household funds by a non-household member.

I. Resources prorated as income, such as those of students or self-employed persons. See DSSM 9063.3 or DSSM 9074.

J. Indian lands held jointly with the Tribe or land that can be sold only with the approval of the Bureau of Indian Affairs.

K. Resources excluded by provisions of Federal law, such as:

1. Benefits received from the Special Supplemental Food Program for Women, Infants, and Children, (WIC).

2. Reimbursements from the Uniform Relocation Assistance and Real Property Acquisition Policy Act of 1970.

3. Payments received from the Youth Incentive Entitlement Pilot Projects, the Youth Community Conservation and Improvement Programs under Title IV of the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act Amendment of 1978.

4. Monthly allowances of $200, $700, or $1,200 paid to children of Vietnam veterans who are born with spina bifida based on the degree of disability suffered by the child.

5. Earned income tax credits as follows:

(i) A Federal earned income tax credit received either as a lump sum or as payments under Section 3507 of the Internal Revenue Code are excluded for the month of receipt and the following month for the individual and that individual's spouse.

(ii) Exclude any Federal, State or local earned income tax credit received by any household member for 12 months if the household was participating in the Food Supplement Program at the time of receipt of the earned income tax credit and provided the household participates continuously during that 12-month period.

(iii) Do not consider breaks in participation of one month or less due to administrative reasons as nonparticipation in determining the 12-month exclusion.

L. Excluded resources used by or for an ineligible alien or disqualified person when counted as part of a household's resources. For example, work-related equipment needed for the employment of an ineligible alien or disqualified person.

M. Energy assistance payments or allowances excluded as income under DSSM 9059.

N. Non-liquid assets that have a lien on them due to a business loan that the household cannot sell.

O. All of the resources of TANF/GA/RCA and SSI recipients* and households deemed categorically eligible due to DSSM 9042. This exclusion includes:

1. Education and Business Accounts (EBIA) (including interest) up to the $5000 maximum limit per DSSM 4002.5.

2. Saving for Education, Entrepreneurship and Down Payment (SEED) accounts (considered EBIA accounts) up to the $5000.00 limit per DSSM 4002.5.

* A household member is a 'recipient' of these benefits even if the benefits have been authorized but not received, if the benefits are suspended or recouped, or if the benefits are not paid because they are less than a minimum amount.

P. All retirement accounts with federal tax-preferred status in chart below.

Retirement Accounts with Federal Tax-Preferred Status Excluded for FSP

Section 401 IRS Code Traditional Defined-Benefit Plan

Section 401(a) IRS Code Cash Balance Plan

Section 401(a) IRS Code Employee Stock Ownership Plan

Section 401(a) IRS Code Keogh Plan

Section 401(a) IRS Code Money Purchase Pension Plan

Section 401(a) IRS Code Profit-Sharing Plan

Section 401(a) IRS Code Simple 401(k)

Section 401(a) IRS Code 401(k)

Section 403(a) IRS Code 403(a)

Section 403(b) IRS Code 403(b)

Section 408 IRS Code IRA

Section 408(p) IRS Code Simple Retirement Account IRA

Section 408(k) IRS Code Simplified Employee Pension Plan (SEP)

Section 408A IRS Code Roth IRA

Section 457(b) IRS Code Eligible 457(b) Plan

Section 501(c) (18) 501(c)18 Plan

Section 8439 of Title 5 USC Federal Thrift Savings Plan

Q. Tax-preferred education savings accounts.

Section 529 Qualified Tuition Programs

Coverdell IRA

16 Del. Admin. Code § 9000-9049

12 DE Reg. 1090 (02/01/09)