Pennsylvania Code › Title 204 - JUDICIAL SYSTEM GENERAL PROVISIONS › Part IX - ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT REGULATIONS › Chapter 401 - ELIGIBILITY REGULATIONS APPLICABLE TO ACCESS TO JUSTICE ACT FUNDING › Section 401.4 - Income Inclusions

Current through Register Vol. 54, No. 28, July 13, 2024
The sources of income to be included in determining the total
				  monthly gross income are:
(a) money
				wages or salary earned by individuals 14 years of age or older before
				deductions for taxes, social security, bonds, pensions, union dues, health
				insurance, and similar purposes for work performed as an employee including
				commissions, tips, piece-rate payments, and cash bonuses;
(b) Armed Forces pay which includes base pay
				plus cash housing and/or subsistence allowances, but does not include the value
				of rent-free quarters;
(c)
				voluntary or court-ordered spousal and/or child support received by a present
				or former spouse;
(d) voluntary or
				court-ordered child support;
(e)
				net income from non-farm self employment, defined as gross receipts minus
				expenses from one's own business, professional enterprise, or partnership.
				Gross receipts include the value of all goods sold and service rendered.
				Business expenses include costs of goods purchased, rent, heat, light, power,
				depreciation charges, wages and salaries paid, business taxes (no personal
				income taxes), and similar expenses. Inventory changes may be considered in
				determining net income only when they are documented by income tax returns or
				other official records which reflect inventory changes. The value of marketable
				merchandise consumed by the proprietors of retail stores is not included as
				part of net income;
(f) net income
				from farm self-employment, defined as gross receipts minus operating expenses
				from the operation of a farm by a person on his/her own account, as an owner,
				renter, or share-cropper. Gross receipts include the value of all products
				sold, government subsidies-crop loans, money received from the rental of farm
				equipment to others, and incidental receipts from the sale of wood, sand gravel
				and similar items. Operating expenses include the cost of feed, fertilizer,
				seed, and other farming supplies, cash wages paid to farm hands, depreciation
				charges, cash rent, interest on farm mortgages, farm building repairs, farm
				taxes (not State and Federal income taxes), and similar expenses. The value of
				fuel, food, or other farm products used for family living is not included as
				part of net income. Inventory changes may be considered in determining net
				income only when they are documented by income tax returns or other official
				records which reflect inventory changes;
(g) net income from non-resident real
				property income, defined as gross receipts minus the expenses for continuing
				the income such as depreciation charges, business taxes (not personal income
				taxes), interest on mortgage, repairs, and similar expenses;
(h) Social Security pensions, survivors'
				benefits, permanent disability insurance payments, and special benefit payments
				made by the Social Security Administration before deductions of health
				insurance premiums;
(i) Railroad
				retirement, disability, and survivors' benefit payments made by the U.S.
				Government under the Railroad Retirement Act before deductions of health
				insurance premiums;
(j) State Blind
				Pension payments made by the Department of Public Welfare;
(k) Public assistance or welfare payments
				such as General Assistance, SSI and State Supplemental payments, only when the
				person is not the Applicant;
(l)
				private pension and annuities, including retirement benefits paid to a retired
				person or his/her survivors by a former employer or by a union, either directly
				or though an insurance company;
(m)
				government employee pensions received from retirement pensions paid by Federal,
				State, County, or other governmental agencies to former employees including
				members of the Armed Forces or their survivors;
(n) unemployment compensation received from
				government unemployment agencies or private companies during periods of
				unemployment and any strike benefits received from union funds;
(o) worker's compensation received from
				private or public insurance companies for injuries incurred at work. The cost
				of this insurance must have been paid by the employer and not by the
				worker;
(p) Veterans payments,
				defined as money paid periodically by the Veterans Administration to disabled
				members of the Armed Forces or to the survivors of deceased veterans, and
				subsistence allowances, paid to veterans for education and on-the-job training,
				as well as the so-called "refunds" paid to ex-service persons as GI insurance
				premiums. The two basic educational programs sponsored by the Veterans
				Administration are the G.I. Bill Educational Training Program and the VA
				Vocational Rehabilitation Program. There is a different method for providing
				funds to veterans in these programs. The veteran in G.I. Bill Education
				Training Program receives a monthly sum which may be used totally for education
				or subsistence, or partially for education and partially for subsistence. The
				VA calls this monthly sum a "rate." Therefore, all the money received by the
				G.I. Bill veteran is counted as income. The Veteran in a VA Vocational
				Rehabilitation Program receives what the VA calls a "subsistence allowance" and
				the VA itself handles the educational costs directly. Therefore, for the
				disabled veteran in the Vocational Rehabilitation Program, the subsistence
				allowance and the veteran's disability allowance are counted as
				income;
(q) dividends including
				dividends from stockholdings or memberships in associations;
(r) interest on savings, checking accounts
				and bonds;
(s) income from estates
				and trust funds;
(t) net income
				from royalties;
(u) net income from
				room and board payments, paid singly or in combination, and for rent from
				apartments, determined by deducting the sum of (1) and (2) from the total gross
				receipts.
(1) Deductions for minimal costs:
(i) $10 per month for each tenant (lone
				person) or tenant group (two or more persons living together as a family
				normally would) whose rent arrangements with the landlord/landlady are
				independent of other persons, or
(ii) $20 per month for each boarder,
				or
(iii) $30 per month for each
				separate tenant-boarder (person not included in (a) or (b) above) whose rent
				and board arrangements with the landlord/landlady are independent or other
				persons.
(iv) $30 per month for the
				first person and $20 per month for each additional person in a tenant-boarder
				group (persons not included in (a), (b), or (c) above) whose joint rent and
				board arrangements with the landlord/ landlady are independent of other
				persons, and;