How
does deeming apply to Benefits Planning Assistance and Outreach
(BPAO) activities?
Deemed income calculations are extremely complex and may only be
performed by the SSA Claims Representative. Benefits Specialists
should never attempt to make deeming calculations without assistance
from Social Security personnel. Yet, it is important for Benefits
Specialist to:
Benefits
Specialists must be aware of when deemed income is at play because
it will interact with other forms of unearned income and earned
income. Consideration of deemed income must be integrated into all
benefits analysis and advisement.
For Example:
What
are SSI recipients required to report to the SSA related to
deeming?
Deeming
increases the reporting responsibilities to include all others
involved in the deeming equation. The recipient will need
to report any changes involving:
Address
or living arrangement;
Household
changes such as birth, death, adoption, or other circumstance;
Marital
status such as marriage, divorce, separation, and resumption
of living together after a separation or divorce;
Attainment
of age 18 by an eligible or ineligible child in the household;
Attainment
of age 22 by an eligible student child or age 21 by an
ineligible student child;
Student
status of an eligible child under age 22 and an ineligible
child under age 21;
Income
of all those involved in the deeming equation in cluding
ineligible parent(s), ineligible children in the house
hold, ineligible spouse, and sponsors of aliens and their
living arrangements with spouses;
Resources of ineligible spouses, parents, sponsors of
aliens and their living-with a spouse.
Does
deeming apply to Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI)
beneficiaries also, or are there separate deeming rules for
SSDI beneficiaries?
No,
deeming does not apply to SSDI beneficiaries and there are
no separate rules for deeming for SSDI. SSDI has no deeming
rules associated with it.
Does
deeming still apply if the responsible party really does NOT
contribute to the welfare to the claimant/recipient by providing
assistance with food, clothing and shelter?
Yes,
it does not matter if money is actually provided to the SSI
claimant/recipient for deeming to apply.
If
an SSI recipient has a representative payee and/or guardian
is she/he subject to deeming due to SSI's terminology that
"Deeming is based on the concept that, in some situations,
those who have a responsibility for one another share their
income and resources."
No,
the presence of a representative payee and/or guardian for
someone on SSI does not mean that SSI recipient receives deemed
income or resources from her/his payee or guardian. Many SSI
recipients have either or both representative payees and guardians
yet are not subject to deeming. For instance, once a child
reaches the age of 18, regardless of whether her/his parent
is the 18-year-old youth's representative payee or guardian,
parent-to-child deeming ends at age 18.
If
an SSI recipient, receiving deemed income from a parent, sponsor
or spouse, chooses to go to work will SSI and Medicaid eligibility
cease when the SSI recipient's check is reduced to $0.00 due
to the SSI recipient's wages?
No,
the SSI recipient will continue to be Medicaid and SSI "eligible"
if the only reason her/his SSI check was reduced to "$0.00"
was due to earned income at this point under the 1619(b) work
incentive provision. Also, in this situation it's important
to note that the Medicaid threshold earnings limit will only
be based on the SSI recipient's wages. The deemed income will
not be included in determining if the recipient is working
at the state threshold earnings limit. For example, if the
state threshold is $18,000 per year, and the SSI recipient
is earning $17,900 per year in gross wages plus receiving
$400 per month ($4,800 per year) in deemed income from a spouse,
the $4,800 in deemed income is not included in determining
if the person is earning at the state limit of $18,000. Therefore,
the person has $17,900 in earned income and $4,800 in deemed
income, for a total of $22,700. However, he/she is still below
the state threshold because only the $17,900 is counted for
threshold determination purposes.
Plan
for Achieving Self-Support (PASS)
Keep
in mind that as a form of unearned income, deemed income may
be set aside in a Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS).
There is no rule prohibiting deemed income from use in a PASS.
This can be a powerful tool for Benefits Specialists to use
in helping an individual to achieve career goals, while easing
the transition from dependence upon SSI to self-support. For
more information on PASS see the VCU Briefing Paper on PASS:
Plan for Achieving Self-Support (PASS) PASS-PDF
| PASS-Word
| PASS-text
FAQ
Disclaimer: The VCU-BARC FAQ Pages are general information provided
as a public service. The contents do not necessarily represent the
policy, interpretations or opinion of the Social Security Administration
(SSA). The information contained here is intended to inform readers
of issues that may affect Social Security and/or other public assistance
benefits. Because individual circumstances differ, the reader should
not rely on any information here as being specifically applicable
to an individual's situation.
