(a) For the purposes of determining family income and assessing the parent share of cost, Boards shall ensure that family income is calculated in accordance with Commission guidelines that:
  (1) take into account irregular fluctuations in earnings; and
  (2) ensure that temporary increases in income, including temporary increases that result in monthly income exceeding 85 percent of SMI, do not affect eligibility or parent share of cost.
(b) In accordance with Commission income calculation guidelines, Boards shall ensure that the following income sources are excluded from the family income:
  (1) Medicare, Medicaid, SNAP benefits, school meals, and housing assistance;
  (2) Monthly monetary allowances provided to or for children of Vietnam veterans born with certain birth defects;
  (3) Needs-based educational scholarships, grants, and loans, including financial assistance under Title IV of the Higher Education Act--Pell Grants, Federal Supplemental Educational Opportunity grants, Federal Work Study Program, PLUS, Stafford loans, and Perkins loans;
  (4) Individual Development Account (IDA) withdrawals for the purchase of a home, medical expenses, or educational expenses;
  (5) Tax refunds and tax credits;
  (6) VISTA and AmeriCorps living allowances and stipends;
  (7) Noncash or in-kind benefits such as employer-paid fringe benefits, food, or housing received in lieu of wages;
  (8) Foster care payments and adoption assistance;
  (9) Special military pay or allowances, including subsistence allowances, housing allowances, family separation allowances, or special allowances for duty subject to hostile fire or imminent danger;
  (10) Income from a child in the household between 14 and 19 years of age who is attending school;
  (11) Early withdrawals from qualified retirement accounts specified as hardship withdrawals as classified by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS);
  (12) Unemployment compensation;
  (13) Child support payments;
  (14) Cash assistance payments, including Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), Refugee Cash Assistance, general assistance, emergency assistance, and general relief;
  (15) Onetime income received in lieu of TANF cash assistance;
  (16) Income earned by a veteran while on active military duty and certain other veterans' benefits, such as compensation for service-connected death, vocational rehabilitation, and education assistance;
  (17) Regular payments from Social Security, such as Old-Age, and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund;
  (18) Lump sum payments received as assets in the sale of a house, in which the assets are to be reinvested in the purchases of a new home (consistent with IRS guidance);
  (19) Payments received as the result of an automobile accident insurance settlement that are being applied to the repair or replacement of an automobile;
  (20) One-time cash payments, including insurance payments, gifts, and lump sum inheritances; and
  (21) Any income sources specifically excluded by federal law or regulation.
(c) Income that is not listed in subsection (b) of this section as excluded from income is included as income.

Source Note: The provisions of this §809.44 adopted to be effective January 29, 2007, 32 TexReg 336; amended to be effective September 8, 2008, 33 TexReg 7568; amended to be effective January 8, 2013, 38 TexReg 155; amended to be effective October 1, 2016, 41 TexReg 7529; amended to be effective October 3, 2022, 47 TexReg 6437