Figuring out Food Stamps will now be a snap, with the renaming of the program….“Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program†or SNAP is the new national food program. Contingent on a state budget, the following changes impacting recipients will be effective 10/1/08: 1) the standard deduction will be raised to $144 and indexed it to inflation starting in FFY 2010; 2) removes the cap on dependent care expenses; 3) adjusts the asset limit to inflation (don’t get your hopes up, the trigger is not expected to be reached until 10/2012!); 4) excludes all tax-preferred education accounts and retirement accounts (e.g., IRAs), from countable resources; 5) increases the minimum benefits amount, indexed to inflation, from the current $10; 6) increases the time to preserve benefits in inactive EBT accounts.
Other changes are pending federal implementing regulations. [Download]