Income is considered to be received infrequently if an individual receives it only once during a calendar quarter from a single source and the individual did not receive that type of income in the month immediately preceding that month or in the month immediately subsequent to that month, regardless of whether or not these payments occur in different calendar quarters.

Income is considered to be received infrequently if an individual receives it no more than once in a calendar quarter from a single source.

Income is considered to be received irregularly if an individual cannot reasonably expect to receive it.

An individual may occasionally receive an irregular interest payment by reason of a financial institution's own internal “housekeeping” rules. For example, a bank's rules may require an extra payment when someone closes an account or there may be a special “adjustment” payment due to a change in the accounting system or to closing the books at the end of a fiscal year. These kinds of irregular payments are from the financial institution itself and not from an individual's account with that institution. Therefore, they do not cause a regular (but infrequent) interest payment from an account to be considered “frequent” in that one quarter (see SI 00810.410F.3.).

Generally, this exclusion applies to any type of unearned income. This exclusion also applies to in-kind support and maintenance (ISM) as described in SI 00835.000 and payments received for completing research surveys.

For only the purposes of this exclusion, outside ISM should be treated as if it is the corresponding type of unearned income listed in SI 00830.210 through SI 00830.555 (e.g., gift, child support). It requires evaluation of contributions from each source separately if frequency is at issue.

We exclude income which is received either infrequently or irregularly. In order to be excluded, the income need only be one or the other (infrequent or irregular).

In evaluating frequency of receipt of unearned income, we look at receipts of the same type of income from a single source.

In July 2023, an individual's friend repays, with interest, money the individual had loaned the friend. The interest income is $50. In August 2023, the same friend gives the individual a gift of some football tickets with a value of $100. The individual has received two different types of income — interest and a gift — from the same source. Evaluating each receipt separately, we see that each can qualify separately as infrequent. The first $60 is excludable even though the total received exceeds $60. The infrequent or irregular income exclusion would reduce the $50 interest income in July to zero and the remaining $10 exclusion would reduce the value of the tickets to $90.

An individual lives in one household at the beginning of a calendar quarter and receives inside ISM. In the second month of the quarter, the individual moves to a different household from which the individual also receives ISM. Since we consider both households to be a single source, the ISM does not qualify as infrequent.

An individual has a savings account that pays interest of $15 in the second month of each quarter. The interest has been routinely excluded as infrequent as the individual has no other infrequent or irregular income.

In 2023, without any advance notice to depositors, the bank changes its accounting system. As a result, in June the individual receives a $2.03 one-time payment in addition to their regular $15 interest payment in May.

The bank does not intend to interrupt its usual quarterly interest schedule, so the CR correctly views the one-time payment in June as being from a separate source than the regular quarterly payments; i.e., it is a bank adjustment. Therefore, the regular $15 payment is still excludable as infrequent while the unexpected $2.03 payment is irregular. The total is within the $20 limit in the month of receipt and is excludable.

An individual was confined in jail on May 31^st and released on August 15^th. The CR correctly values the food and shelter received by the individual from the jail at the PMV for all months June through August. The ISM cannot be excluded as irregular because the individual could have reasonably expected to receive the food and shelter while incarcerated. The income cannot be excluded as infrequent income because the ISM was received in consecutive months. The fact that the individual was ineligible for SSI in June and July is not material to the irregular and infrequent determination.

An individual receives wages from three different employers during September 2023. He receives $60 from Target on September 1, $75 from Wal-Mart on September 5, and $100 from a Mobil gas station on September 20.

The individual received no wages in July, nor in August or October 2023 (the months preceding and following the month he received wages). Consider all three-wage payments infrequent income. Apply the $30 earned income exclusion to the Target wages since the individual received the Target wages first.

The following process is for any earned income but only for unearned income which is not subject to other exclusions.

The following process is for any earned income but only for unearned income which is not subject to other exclusions (see SI 00810.410O.).

Determine all of the earned income received on an infrequent or irregular basis during the calendar quarter and exclude the first $30. If the first infrequent or irregular earned income received results in PSY N01 (excess income) in a month, the $30 exclusion must still be applied to this income even if the PSY remains N01. Similarly, if the first infrequent or irregular earned income is received in a month of non-pay during the quarter (e.g., NO4, N22, etc.), the $30 exclusion must still be applied to this income which was received first.

Determine all of the unearned income received on an infrequent or irregular basis during the calendar quarter and exclude the first $60. If the first infrequent or irregular unearned income received results in PSY N01 (excess income) in a month, the $60 exclusion must still be applied to this income even if the PSY remains N01. Similarly, if the first infrequent or irregular unearned income is received in a month of non-pay during the quarter (e.g., N04, N22, etc.), the $60 exclusion must still be applied to this income which was received first.

Compare only the income received once in a calendar quarter against the $10/$20 monthly limits (see SI 00810.410K.3.).

Even though infrequent income has a monthly dollar limit, evaluate the frequency of receipt over a calendar quarter.

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  Add all of the earned income received on an infrequent or irregular basis in a month and compare the total against the $10 monthly limit; and/or

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  Add all of the unearned income received on an infrequent or irregular basis in a month and compare the total against the $20 monthly limit.

Situation: A recipient receives a birthday gift of $100 cash in January and wins $25 in March playing the State lottery.

Analysis: Since the income received is no more than once a quarter, its receipt is infrequent. Since neither could be anticipated, both are also irregular. The $60 infrequent or irregular income exclusion reduces the $100 to $40 since it is the first infrequent or irregular income received in that quarter. The $25 received in March is not affected by the infrequent or irregular income exclusion.

Situation: One member of an eligible couple receives a one-time wage payment of $85 for a single day of work in September. This member of the couple also receives in September 2023: an unexpected birthday gift of $30 in cash from the couple's daughter and $15 in winnings playing Bingo. The other member of the couple receives a title II check of $150 each month.

Analysis: The $30 gift is both infrequent and irregular unearned income. The $15 Bingo winnings are both infrequent and irregular unearned income. The $45 of unearned income in September from these sources may be excluded. The title II is received each month. Therefore, it is not excludable as infrequent or irregular. The wage payment is infrequent earned income and the first $30, of the $85 received, is excludable. The remaining $55 is subject to the other earned income exclusions (i.e., $65 plus one-half the remainder).

Situation: A claimant files for SSI in September 2023. In that month, the claimant receives a birthday gift of $25 cash from a friend on September 15. Also on September 2, the claimant's sister, who lives elsewhere, pays the claimant's $500 mortgage payment directly to the mortgage company “just to help my sibling out this month.”

Analysis: Both sources of income are infrequent and irregular. However, since the $500 payment was received first, the $60 exclusion reduces the amount to $440. This $440 is subject to the $324.66 PMV (2023 rate), so in September, we count ISM of $324.66 and cash of $25. NOTE: If the cash birthday gift had been received first, the $25 would have been excluded as infrequent or irregular income and the $500 mortgage payment would have been reduced to $465 by the remaining $35 of the infrequent or irregular income exclusion. The $465 remaining mortgage payment would then be subject to the $324.66 PMV.

Situation: An individual lived in an institution to receive vocational training from August 31, 2023 through December 20, 2023. The individual received food and shelter from the institution during the months September through December. The individual did not receive any ISM and did not have any other unearned income before or after the period of institutionalization.

Analysis: The CR correctly values the food and shelter received from the institution at the PMV for all months September through December. The first $60 of the actual value of ISM received in September is excluded as infrequent income. The remaining amount after the $60 is deducted is subject to the PMV. The ISM received in the months October through December is not irregular because the individual could have reasonably expected to receive the food and shelter. The ISM received in the months October through December is also not infrequent income because the individual received the ISM in more than one month of the calendar quarter.

Situation: An SSA eligible child received ISM in May 2023 from an absent parent as part of the child's support agreement. The actual value of the ISM was $600. The absent parent did not provide ISM in any other months during the calendar quarter.

Analysis: For the purpose of applying the infrequent or irregular income exclusion, the CR correctly treats the ISM as if it was child support and determines that the infrequent or irregular income exclusion does not apply because the child support is subject to another income exclusion. The CR then excludes from income $200 (one-third of the $600 in child support). The remaining $400 of ISM is subject to the PMV. The 2023 PMV is $324.66, which the CR charges as income in the month of May.

Situation: A claimant opens up a checking account on February 27, 2004. The account pays interest on a monthly basis. The claimant files for SSI the next month, in March, and receives the first checking account interest payment on March 31 in the amount of $10.

Analysis: The $10 interest payment is excludable as infrequent in March only, since it was received only once in the January-March quarter.

The monthly interest received in April and subsequent months is not excludable as infrequent or irregular since the interest is received more often than once in each calendar quarter and is received regularly.

Situation: A recipient owns two bank accounts, a checking account that pays interest of $2 a month and a savings account that pays interest of $19 once a quarter.

Analysis: The checking account interest is received more than once a quarter and is therefore not infrequent and not excludable under this provision. The savings account interest is received only once a quarter and is, therefore, infrequent. Since the total of all the unearned infrequent income does not exceed $20 in a month, the savings account interest may be excluded under this provision.

Note that in determining whether any interest income in this situation can be excluded as infrequent, we consider only the amount of income received once in a calendar quarter and compare that amount to the $20 unearned income limit for the infrequent/irregular income exclusion. Accordingly, in this situation, we do not add the $2 monthly checking account interest to the $19 savings account interest.

Also note that if the individual in this example has no income other than the savings and checking account interest, the checking interest is excludable under the $20 general income exclusion. See SI 00810.420 for a discussion of the general income exclusion.

Situation: A recipient owns a savings account which pays interest of $8 in the first month of each quarter. Also in the first month of every quarter, the recipient receives $16 in cash to help pay utility bills from a relative.

Analysis: Although both the income from the savings account and the income from the relative are received infrequently, the total of the infrequent income exceeds $20 in a month. Therefore, none of the income is excludable under this provision.

Note that were the relative to give the recipient $16 in the second or third month of every quarter (i.e., not in the same month the interest income is received), both types of income could be excluded under the infrequent income provision.