Excerpt from DOE's Weatherization Program Notice (WPN) 03-3 related to income

PROCEDURES: The annual revision of the poverty income guidelines was published in the Federal Register/Volume 68, Number 26/Friday, February 7, 2003, on pages 6456-6458. Attached is a table displaying the revised guidelines' threshold incomes and our computed income eligibility limits at both 125 percent and 150 percent of the poverty threshold. Guideline tables for Alaska and Hawaii are included. These guidelines are effective as of February 7, 2003, and apply to both farm and non-farm families. States should distribute these tables immediately to their subgrantees for their use. Additionally, this notice provides grantees with a definition of income for use in the Weatherization Program. This definition is unchanged from the previous year's guidance. Clarifications on income and eligibility issues are discussed in the Program Year 2003 Weatherization Grant Guidance, WPN 03-1, section 5.10.

John Milhone, Director
Office of Weatherization and Intergovernmental Program
Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy

DEFINITION OF INCOME

Refers to total annual cash receipts before taxes from all sources, with the exceptions noted below. Income data for a part of a year may be annualized in order to determine eligibility--for example, by multiplying by four the amount of income received during the most recent three months. The method of calculation is to be determined by the Grantee. Grantees should have a consistent policy covering its subgrantees on re-certification of applicants whose eligibility may have changed due to the length of time that may have expired awaiting weatherization services.

INCOME INCLUDES money, wages and salaries before any deductions; net receipts from non-farm or farm self-employment (receipts from a person's own business or from an owned or rented farm after deductions for business or farm expenses). INCOME ALSO INCLUDES regular payments from social security, railroad retirement, unemployment compensation, strike benefits from union funds, worker's compensation, veteran's payments, training stipends, alimony, and military family allotments; private pensions, government employee pensions (including military retirement pay), and regular insurance or annuity payments; dividends, interest, net rental income, net royalties, periodic receipts from estates or trusts, and net gambling or lottery winnings.

INCOME EXCLUDES capital gains; any assets drawn down as withdrawals from a bank, the sale of property, a house, or a car; one-time payments from a welfare agency to a family or person who is in temporary financial difficulty; tax refunds, gifts, loans, lump-sum inheritances, one-time insurance payments, or compensation for injury. INCOME ALSO EXCLUDES non-cash benefits, such as the employer-paid or union-paid portion of health insurance or other employee fringe benefits, food or housing received in lieu of wages, the value of food and fuel produced and consumed on farms, the imputed value of rent from owner-occupied non-farm or farm housing, and such Federal non-cash benefit programs as Medicare, Medicaid, Food Stamps, school lunches, and housing assistance. Note: CHILD SUPPORT PAYMENTS AND COLLEGE SCHOLARSHIPS ARE EXCLUDED.