Benefits Highlights

Supplemental Security Income or SSI is an economic “needs-based” program intended to supplement any income an individual may already have to meet minimum needs for food and shelter. After initial eligibility for SSI is established, SSA continues to assess the countable income of eligible individuals, couples, and deemors on a monthly basis. Countable income is that part of total income received after all applicable work incentives or other exclusions or deductions are applied. To determine how much SSI is due for a month, the countable income is subtracted from the annually determined SSI Federal Benefit Rate (FBR) for either an individual or a couple. The more countable income an individual or couple has in a month, the less the SSI benefit will be for that month. If an individual or couple has too much countable income, they will not be eligible for a payment at all.

With the passage of the Social Security Act of 2003, SSA eliminated clothing from the definition of income and from the definition of in-kind support and maintenance. Effective March 9, 2005, SSA is removing the specific reference to clothing from the definition of income. (Note that this is OISP policy, not ours.) As a result, SSA generally will not count gifts of clothing as income when deciding whether a person can receive SSI benefits or when computing the amount of the benefits. There will be one situation where SSA will be required to consider clothing as income. This situation could occur when an individual receives clothing from an employer that would count as “wages”. Wages are the same for SSI purposes as for the earnings test in the Social Security retirement program. Under the earnings test, wages may include the value of food, clothing, or shelter, or other items provided instead of cash. Situations in which clothing constitutes wages are very uncommon. For more information about this final rule, see 20 CFR part 416, page 6340.

An important part of a Benefits Specialist’s job is helping SSI recipients understand how income affects their eligibility and cash benefit amount. The following discussion will explain how SSA treats income for the SSI program. The rules apply to both the Federal Benefit as well as Federally Administered State Supplementary payments, in the States where such payments exist.

For More Information, see the VCU-BARC Briefing Paper: The Effect of Income on SSI Eligibility And Cash Benefit Amount - Vol. 14, April, 2005