The California Department of Social Services (CDSS) has issued clarification regarding treatment of nonrecurring lump sum income for the purpose of determining CalFresh eligibility. Nonrecurring lump sum payments are excluded from the household’s income. Such payments include lump sum Social Security disability, retirement or survivors benefits, lump sum Supplemental Security Income benefits, income tax refunds or lump sum insurance settlement payments. The nonrecurring lump sum payment is considered a resource in the month received.
Most CalFresh households are not required to meet the resource limit because of modified categorical eligibility. For the households that are subject to the resource limit, such as elderly and disabled households with income above 200 percent of the federal poverty level, a nonrecurring lump sum payment is included in the month received when determining whether a household meets the resource limit. However, the determination of whether a household is within the resource limit is only made when processing a recertification or semi-annual report.
Counties cannot consider nonrecurring lump sum payments as income when determining whether an overissuance occurred. However, an overissuance may occur if a household subject to the resource limit receives a nonrecurring lump sum but does not report it on a semi-annual report or recertification. (ACIN I-12-19, April 22, 2019.)