Calculating Self Employment Income - For TANF, SFA, PWA, ABD, MCS and Medicaid
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Calculating Self Employment Income - For TANF, SFA, PWA, ABD, MCS and Medicaid

Revised February 4, 2013

WAC 388-450-0085Does the department count all of my self-employment income to determine if I am eligible for benefits?

WAC 388-450-0085

WAC 388-450-0085

Effective August 2, 2008

WAC 388-450-0085 Does the department count all of my self-employment income to determine if I am eligible for benefits?

This section applies to cash assistance, Basic Food, and medical programs for children, pregnant women, and families. We decide how much of your self-employment income to count by:

For cash, Basic Food, and family medical programs:

  1. We must count actual income in the month of application.

a.  Adding together your gross self-employment income and any profit you make from selling your business property or equipment;

b.  Subtracting your business expenses as described in subsection (2) below; and

c.  Dividing the remaining amount of self-employment income by the number of months over which the income will be averaged.

2.  We subtract one hundred dollars as a business expense even if your costs are less than this. If you want us to subtract your actual costs of more than one hundred dollars, you must list and give us proof of your expenses for us to count them. We never allow the following expenses:

  1. a. Federal, state, and local income taxes;

    b. Money set aside for retirement purposes;

    c. Personal work-related expenses (such as travel to and from work);

    d. Net losses from previous periods;

    e. Depreciation; or

    f. Any amount that is more than the payment you get from a boarder for lodging and meals.

3.  If you have worked at your business for less than a year, we figure your gross self-employment income by averaging:

  1. a. The income over the period of time the business has been in operation; and

    b. The monthly amount we estimate you will get for the coming year.

4.  For cash and medical assistance, if your self-employment expenses are more than your self-employment income, we do not use this "loss" to reduce income from other self-employment businesses or other sources of income to your assistance unit.

5.  For Basic Food, we use a "loss" from self-employment farming or fishing income to reduce other sources of income only if you meet the following three conditions:

a. Someone in your assistance unit is a self-employed farmer or fisher;

b. Your gross yearly income from farming or fishing is or is expected to be at least one thousand dollars; and

c. Your allowable costs for farming or fishing are more than your income from farming or fishing.

For children's and pregnancy medical programs:  

6.  If you have worked long enough at the business to file a federal tax return last year and it represents you current income, we figure your gross self-employment income by:

a.  Adding together your gross self-employment income and any profit you make from selling your business property or equipment;

b.  Subtracting your allowable business expenses except as described in subsection (2) above; and

c.  Averaging the income over the period the income covers.

7.  If you have worked at your business for less than a year or if you did not file a federal tax return in the last year, we figure your gross self-employment income by:

a.  Adding together your gross self-employment income and any profit you make from selling your business property or equipment over the period of time the business has been in operation within the last year;

b.  Subtracting your allowable business expenses except as described in subsection (2) above; and

c.  Averaging the income we estimate you will get for the coming year.

This is a reprint of the official rule as published by the Office of the Code Reviser. If there are previous versions of this rule, they can be found using the Legislative Search page.

Follow these links for budgeting self-employment income for children’s medical, pregnancy medical, or SSI related medical:

Calculating Self Employment Income – For Children’s and Pregnancy Medical Programs 

Calculating Self Employment Income – For SSI Related Medical

 

 

Clarifying Information

  1. Determine gross self-employment income:

To determine gross self-employment income, add together the total sales for all items the business sold and all income from providing services.

2.    Always allow the $100 standard deduction if the person doesn’t choose to claim actual costs for non roomer / boarder self-employment income. 

This includes when the person:

a.    Claims no self-employment expenses;

b.    Has self-employment expenses under $100.00;

c.    Has gross self-employment income under $100.00; or

d.    For Basic Food and cash assistance, the self-employment income is unearned. See WAC 388-450-0080(5) for when self-employment income is treated as unearned income.

3.    Transportation costs such as gas, oil, replacing worn items, registration and licensing fees, and auto loans:

a.    The person may claim the actual transportation costs; or

b.    Claim the State standard cost per mile. The Office of Financial Management publishes the standard cost for a privately owned vehicle in section 10.90.20 of the State Administrative and Accounting Manual: http://www.ofm.wa.gov/policy/10.90a.pdf

c.    The client must provide detailed mileage records or other documentation showing beginning and ending mileage and destination of each trip to support the expense.

4.   If someone chooses to use their actual expenses instead of the standard $100 deduction, they must list out and provide documentation of the expenses before we can use them.

 


NOTE:

The mileage rate as of January 1, 2013 is $.565 / mile.

Business Expenses

 

Generally, someone may claim any business expense that is allowed by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), with the exception that we don’t allow a deduction for depreciation.

 

Some examples of allowable business expenses are:

·        Materials used to produce goods

·        Maintenance of business property

·        Space rent

·        Payroll or wages

·        Chemicals, fertilizers, and supplies used to produce goods or services

·        Vehicle expenses for business purposes with documentation

·        Business loans (interest and principle)

·        Business phone

·        Banking fees

Some examples of line items we don’t count as an expense are:

·        Health insurance for you and your family

·        Personal Utilities (no separate meter from home)

·        Personal phone

·        Rent or mortgage of your home

·        Depreciation

·        Vehicle expenses without documentation

·        Guaranteed payments

 

Examples of allowable documentation of expenses are:

·         Receipts for expense claimed.

·         Itemized bank statements that correspond to expense claimed.

·         Itemized bank card statements that correspond to expense claimed.

 

Worker Responsibilities

Self Employment Budgeting

Types of Business Structures

1.    Calculating self-employment income:

Calculate countable self-employment income by taking all income received from sales or services and subtracting the allowable expenses for the same period of time.

  1. Budgeting self-employment income:

When someone earns self-employment income, average the income over the period the income covers. If they choose to claim actual self-employment expenses, average their allowable expenses over the same period.

a.    If the person earns their annual income as self-employment income, and they receive this income over a period of less than a year, average the self-employment income over the year.

b.    If a person's income is from self-employment for only part of the year (they have another source of income for the remainder of the year), average the income over the period of time the income covers.

  1. Change in self employment income:

If the averaged income doesn't reflect what the person will receive because of a significant increase or decrease in business:

a.    Anticipate the person's self-employment income for each month; and

b.    Average any capital gains they will get over the year.

c.    If someone chooses to use their actual expenses instead of the standard deduction, average or anticipate the expenses for the same period of time you use for the income.

  1. Calculate each self-employment business separately:

Each self-employment business is separate.  Calculate the net self-employment income for each self-employment enterprise separately.

a.    Don’t use the losses of one business to offset the profit of another business.

b.    Don’t use the losses of one period to offset the profits of another period.


6.      Boarder income (room and meals provided):

a.    Count only payments people pay directly to the AU for room and board as income. This includes foster care payments if the person in foster care is a member of the AU.

b.    Don’t  use the standard $100 deduction as an expense.  Instead, use either:

                                                i.            The maximum Basic Food allotment for a household size equal to the number of boarders (see WAC 388-478-0060 ); or

                                              ii.            The actual, verified cost of providing room and meals if it is more than the maximum allotment and the cost is separate from normal living expenses.

7.    Roomer income (home owner or renter who receives income for renting out rooms):

a.    A person may choose to use their entire shelter cost toward their shelter deduction or use a portion of it as a business expense.

b.    Calculate prorated share of the rent, or mortgage, taxes, and insurance if they don't use the entire shelter cost toward the shelter deduction. Base the pro-ration on the number of total bedrooms in the house; and

c.    Allow verified costs directly related to the cost of renting rooms, such as laundry expenses or advertising expenses, even if the entire housing cost is used as a shelter deduction.

d.    To calculate the shelter expense, see the Shared Living / Roomer section of Clarifying Information under WAC 388-450-0190.

e.  People that share a residence are not considered to have roomers if they:

i. Don’t charge their roommates an amount above the total rent as shown on the lease; and

ii. Don’t own or aren’t buying the residence.

 


NOTE:

People in the same Assistance Unit who share household costs are not roomers. We do not count these shared household costs as roomer income.

EXAMPLE

Stan is buying his 3 bedroom home and rents out a room for $400. His mortgage payment of $750 includes taxes and insurance. His tenant pays $400 a month rent. Stan chooses to use actual expenses, rather than the standard $100 Self-Employment deduction. The pro-rated portion of his mortgage, taxes and insurance is 250 ($750 / 3 bedrooms).

Stan has $150 in net self employment income. His shelter deduction would be the utility allowance he is eligible for under WAC 388-450-0195  and $500 mortgage (the portion of his housing costs that wasn't taken as a business expense.)

Enter $400 as roomer income and enter the mortgage payment and number of bedrooms in Stan’s home for ACES to calculate his expenses correctly.

EXAMPLE

Louise is renting her two bedroom townhome for $500 per month. She charges Jolene $650 to sublet her second floor. Louise chooses to use actual expenses. The prorated portion of her rent is $250 ($500 / 2 bedrooms).

Louise has $400 in net self employment income. Her shelter deduction would be the utility allowance she is eligible for under WAC 388-450-0195  and $250 rent (the portion of her housing costs that wasn't taken as a business expense.)

Enter $650 as roomer income and enter the rent and number of bedrooms in Stan’s home for ACES to calculate his expenses correctly.

7.    Rental property:

a.    Rental property that is subject to the criteria in WAC 388-450-0080 (5) is property that someone owns, but is not their residence.

b.    We count any managerial duties toward the 20-hour weekly requirement for rental   property to be treated as self-employment earned income under WAC 388-450-0080. Count time people spend bookkeeping, showing the property to possible tenants, doing yard work, repairs, etc. as time spent managing the property.

c.    Budget the gross earned or unearned income from renting the property after subtracting the standard self-employment deduction or the following verified expenses:

                                              i.        Property tax or a prorated share of the tax if their home and the rental property are taxed as a single unit;

                                             ii.        Maintenance costs for the property;

                                           iii.        The mortgage or sales contract payment for the rental property or a prorated share if their property and the rental property are in the same loan or contract; and

                                           iv.        The insurance premium, or a prorated share, if they insure their home and rental property as a unit.

 

ACES procedures

For Work Study income, see Income Eligibility and Budgeting - Special Income Situations - Work Study Income

See Interview - EARN screen

See Income Eligibility and Budgeting - Special Income Situations - Cash Gifts

Modification Date: February 4, 2013