Appendix C - 7 CFR Part 273.9(d)(6)(iii)

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Food and Nutrition Service, USDA

§ 273.9

(ix) Reasonable cost of transportation and lodging to obtain medical
treatment or services;
(x) Maintaining an attendant, homemaker, home health aide, or child care
services, housekeeper, necessary due to
age, infirmity, or illness. In addition,
an amount equal to the one person benefit allotment shall be deducted if the
household furnishes the majority of the
attendant’s meals. The allotment for
this meal related deduction shall be
that in effect at the time of initial certification. The State agency is only required to update the allotment amount
at the next scheduled recertification;
however, at their option, the State
agency may do so earlier. If a household incurs attendant care costs that
could qualify under both the medical
deduction of § 273.9(d)(3)(x) and the dependent care deduction of § 273.9(d)(4),
the costs may be deducted as a medical
expense or a dependent care expense,
but not both.
(4) Dependent care. Payments for dependent care when necessary for a
household member to search for, accept
or continue employment, comply with
the employment and training requirements as specified under § 273.7(e), or
attend training or pursue education
that is preparatory to employment, except as provided in § 273.10(d)(1)(i).
Costs that may be deducted are limited
to the care of an individual for whom
the household provides dependent care,
including care of a child under the age
of 18 or an incapacitated person of any
age in need of care. The costs of care
provided by a relative may be deducted
so long as the relative providing care is
not part of the same SNAP household
as the child or dependent adult receiving care. Dependent care expenses must
be separately identified, necessary to
participate in the care arrangement,
and not already paid by another source
on behalf of the household. If a household incurs attendant care costs that
could qualify under both the medical
deduction of § 273.9(d)(3)(x) and dependent care deduction of § 273.9(d)(4), the
costs may be deducted as a medical expense or a dependent care expense, but
not both. Allowable dependent care
costs include:
(i) The costs of care given by an individual care provider or care facility;

(ii) Transportation costs to and from
the care facility; and
(iii) Activity or other fees associated
with the care provided to the dependent that are necessary for the household to participate in the care.
(5) Optional child support deduction.
At its option, the State agency may
provide a deduction, rather than the
income exclusion provided under paragraph (c)(17) of this section, for legally
obligated child support payments paid
by a household member to or for a nonhousehold member, including payments made to a third party on behalf
of the nonhousehold member (vendor
payments) and amounts paid toward
child support arrearages. Alimony payments made to or for a nonhousehold
member shall not be included in the
child support deduction. A State agency that chooses to provide a child support deduction rather than an exclusion in accordance with this paragraph
(d)(5) must specify in its State plan of
operation that it has chosen to provide
the deduction rather than the exclusion.
(6) Shelter costs—(i) Homeless shelter
deduction. A State agency may provide
a standard homeless shelter deduction
of $143 a month to households in which
all members are homeless individuals
but are not receiving free shelter
throughout the month. The deduction
must be subtracted from net income in
determining eligibility and allotments
for the households. The State agency
may make a household with extremely
low shelter costs ineligible for the deduction. A household receiving the
homeless shelter deduction cannot
have its shelter expenses considered
under paragraphs (d)(6)(ii) or (d)(6)(iii)
of this section. However, a homeless
household may choose to claim actual
costs under paragraph (d)(6)(ii) of this
section instead of the homeless shelter
deduction if actual costs are higher and
verified. A State agency that chooses
to provide a homeless household shelter deduction must specify in its State
plan of operation that it has selected
this option.
(ii) Excess shelter deduction. Monthly
shelter expenses in excess of 50 percent
of the household’s income after all
other deductions in paragraphs (d)(1)
through (d)(5) of this section have been

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§ 273.9

7 CFR Ch. II (1–1–19 Edition)

allowed. If the household does not contain an elderly or disabled member, as
defined in § 271.2 of this chapter, the
shelter deduction cannot exceed the
maximum shelter deduction limit established for the area. For fiscal year
2001, effective March 1, 2001, the maximum monthly excess shelter expense
deduction limits are $340 for the 48 contiguous States and the District of Columbia, $543 for Alaska, $458 for Hawaii, $399 for Guam, and $268 for the
Virgin Islands. FNS will set the maximum monthly excess shelter expense
deduction limits for fiscal year 2002 and
future years by adjusting the previous
year’s limits to reflect changes in the
shelter component and the fuels and
utilities component of the Consumer
Price Index for All Urban Consumers
for the 12 month period ending the previous November 30. FNS will notify
State agencies of the amount of the
limit. Only the following expenses are
allowable shelter expenses:
(A) Continuing charges for the shelter occupied by the household, including rent, mortgage, condo and association fees, or other continuing charges
leading to the ownership of the shelter
such as loan repayments for the purchase of a mobile home, including interest on such payments.
(B) Property taxes, State and local
assessments, and insurance on the
structure itself, but not separate costs
for insuring furniture or personal belongings.
(C) The cost of fuel for heating; cooling (i.e., the operation of air conditioning systems or room air conditioners); electricity or fuel used for
purposes other than heating or cooling;
water; sewerage; well installation and
maintenance; septic tank system installation and maintenance; garbage
and trash collection; all service fees required to provide service for one telephone, including, but not limited to,
basic service fees, wire maintenance
fees, subscriber line charges, relay center surcharges, 911 fees, and taxes; and
fees charged by the utility provider for
initial installation of the utility. Onetime deposits cannot be included.
(D) The shelter costs for the home if
temporarily not occupied by the household because of employment or training away from home, illness, or aban-

donment caused by a natural disaster
or casualty loss. For costs of a home
vacated by the household to be included in the household’s shelter costs,
the household must intend to return to
the home; the current occupants of the
home, if any, must not be claiming the
shelter costs for SNAP purposes; and
the home must not be leased or rented
during the absence of the household.
(E) Charges for the repair of the
home which was substantially damaged
or destroyed due to a natural disaster
such as a fire or flood. Shelter costs
shall not include charges for repair of
the home that have been or will be reimbursed by private or public relief
agencies, insurance companies, or from
any other source.
(iii) Standard utility allowances. (A)
With FNS approval, a State agency
may develop the following standard
utility allowances (standards) to be
used in place of actual costs in determining a household’s excess shelter deduction: an individual standard for
each type of utility expense; a standard
utility allowance for all utilities that
includes heating or cooling costs
(HCSUA); and, a limited utility allowance (LUA) that includes electricity
and fuel for purposes other than heating or cooling, water, sewerage, well
and septic tank installation and maintenance, telephone, and garbage or
trash collection. The LUA must include expenses for at least two utilities. However, at its option, the State
agency may include the excess heating
and cooling costs of public housing
residents in the LUA if it wishes to
offer the lower standard to such households. The State agency may use different types of standards but cannot
allow households the use of two standards that include the same expense. In
States in which the cooling expense is
minimal, the State agency may include
the cooling expense in the electricity
component. The State agency may
vary the allowance by factors such as
household size, geographical area, or
season. Only utility costs identified in
paragraph (d)(6)(ii)(C) of this section
must be used in developing standards.
(B) The State agency must review
the standards annually and make adjustments to reflect changes in costs,
rounded to the nearest whole dollar.

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Food and Nutrition Service, USDA

§ 273.9

State agencies must provide the
amounts of standards to FNS when
they are changed and submit methodologies used in developing and updating standards to FNS for approval
when the methodologies are developed
or changed.
(C) A standard with a heating or
cooling component must be made
available to households that incur
heating or cooling expenses separately
from their rent or mortgage and to
households that receive direct or indirect assistance under the Low Income
Home Energy Assistance Act of 1981
(LIHEAA). A heating or cooling standard is available to households in private rental housing who are billed by
their landlords on the basis of individual usage or who are charged a flat
rate separately from their rent. However, households in public housing
units which have central utility meters
and which charge households only for
excess heating or cooling costs are not
entitled to a standard that includes
heating or cooling costs based only on
the charge for excess usage unless the
State agency mandates the use of
standard utility allowances in accordance with paragraph (d)(6)(iii)(E) of
this section. Households that receive
direct or indirect energy assistance
that is excluded from income consideration (other than that provided under
the LIHEAA) are entitled to a standard
that includes heating or cooling only if
the amount of the expense exceeds the
amount of the assistance. Households
that receive direct or indirect energy
assistance that is counted as income
and incur a heating or cooling expense
are entitled to use a standard that includes heating or cooling costs. A
household that has both an occupied
home and an unoccupied home is only
entitled to one standard.
(D) At initial certification, recertification, and when a household moves,
the household may choose between a
standard or verified actual utility costs
for any allowable expense identified in
paragraph (d)(6)(ii)(C) of this section
(except the telephone standard), unless
the State agency has opted, with FNS
approval, to mandate use of a standard.
The State agency may require use of
the telephone standard for the cost of
basic telephone service even if actual

costs are higher. Households certified
for 24 months may also choose to
switch between a standard and actual
costs at the time of the mandatory interim
contact
required
by
§ 273.10(f)(1)(i), if the State agency has
not mandated use of the standard.
(E) A State agency may mandate use
of standard utility allowances for all
households with qualifying expenses if
the State has developed one or more
standards that include the costs of
heating and cooling and one or more
standards that do not include the costs
of heating and cooling, the standards
will not result in increased program
costs, and FNS approves the standard.
The prohibition on increasing Program
costs does not apply to necessary increases to standards resulting from
utility cost increases. If the State
agency chooses to mandate use of
standard utility allowances, it must
provide a standard utility allowance
that includes heating or cooling costs
to residents of public housing units
which have central utility meters and
which charge the households only for
excess heating or cooling costs. The
State agency also must not prorate a
standard utility allowance that includes heating or cooling costs provided to a household that lives and
shares heating or cooling expenses with
others. In determining whether the
standard utility allowances increase
program costs, the State agency shall
not consider any increase in costs that
results from providing a standard utility allowance that includes heating or
cooling costs to residents of public
housing units which have central utility meters and which charge the households only for excess heating or cooling
costs. The State agency shall also not
consider any increase in costs that results from providing a full (i.e., not
prorated) standard utility allowance
that includes heating or cooling costs
to a household that lives and shares
heating or cooling expenses with others. Under this option households entitled to the standard may not claim actual expenses, even if the expenses are
higher than the standard. Households
not entitled to the standard may claim
actual allowable expenses. Requests to
use an LUA should include the approximate number of SNAP households that

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§ 273.10

7 CFR Ch. II (1–1–19 Edition)

would be entitled to the nonheating
and noncooling standard, the average
utility costs prior to use of the mandatory standard, the proposed standards,
and an explanation of how the standards were computed.
(F) If a household lives with and
shares heating or cooling expenses with
another individual, another household,
or both, the State agency shall not prorate the standard for such households
if the State agency mandates use of
standard utility allowances in accordance with paragraph (d)(6)(iii)(E) of
this section. The State agency may not
prorate the SUA if all the individuals
who share utility expenses but are not
in the SNAP household are excluded
from the household only because they
are ineligible.
[Amdt. 132, 43 FR 47889, Oct. 17, 1978]

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EDITORIAL NOTE: For FEDERAL REGISTER citations affecting § 273.9, see the List of CFR
Sections Affected, which appears in the
Finding Aids section of the printed volume
and at www.govinfo.gov.

§ 273.10 Determining household eligibility and benefit levels.
(a) Month of application—(1) Determination of eligibility and benefit levels.
(i) A household’s eligibility shall be determined for the month of application
by considering the household’s circumstances for the entire month of application. Most households will have
the eligibility determination based on
circumstances for the entire calendar
month in which the household filed its
application. However, State agencies
may, with the prior approval of FNS,
use a fiscal month if the State agency
determines that it is more efficient and
satisfies FNS that the accounting procedures fully comply with certification
and issuance requirements contained in
these regulations. A State agency may
elect to use either a standard fiscal
month for all households, such as from
the 15th of one calendar month to the
15th of the next calendar month, or a
fiscal month that will vary for each
household depending on the date an individual files an application for the
Program. Applicant households consisting of residents of a public institution who apply jointly for SSI and
SNAP benefits prior to release from
the public institution in accordance

with § 273.11(i) will have their eligibility determined for the month in
which the applicant household was released from the institution.
(ii) A household’s benefit level for
the initial months of certification shall
be based on the day of the month it applies for benefits and the household
shall receive benefits from the date of
application to the end of the month unless the applicant household consists of
residents of a public institution. For
households which apply for SSI prior to
their release from a public institution
in accordance with § 273.11(i), the benefit level for the initial month of certification shall be based on the date of
the month the household is released
from the institution and the household
shall receive benefits from the date of
the household’s release from the institution to the end of the month. As used
in this section, the term ‘‘initial
month’’ means the first month for
which the household is certified for
participation in SNAP following any
period during which the household was
not certified for participation, except
for migrant and seasonal farmworker
households. In the case of migrant and
seasonal farmworker households, the
term ‘‘initial month’’ means the first
month for which the household is certified for participation in SNAP following any period of more than 1
month during which the household was
not certified for participation. Recertification shall be processed in accordance with § 273.10(a)(2). The State agency shall prorate a household’s benefits
according to one of the two following
options:
(A) The State agency shall use a
standard 30-day calendar or fiscal
month. A household applying on the
31st of a month will be treated as
though it applied on the 30th of the
month.
(B) The State agency shall prorate
benefits over the exact length of a particular calendar or fiscal month.
(iii) To determine the amount of the
prorated allotment, the State agency
shall use either the appropriate Food
Stamp Allotment Proration Table provided by FNS or whichever of the following formulae is appropriate:
(A) For State agencies which use a
standard 30-day calendar or fiscal

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