When a qualified individual (SI 01310.150 ) has an essential person (SI 01310.135), the income of the essential person is included in determining the qualified individual's eligibility and payments. Unlike other types of deeming (i.e., spouse-to-spouse and parent-to-child) the law does not give the Secretary discretion to determine when it would be inequitable to deem the income of an essential person. Therefore, all of the essential person's income (except as described in B.1. below) is deemed to the qualified individual.

If an essential person is also the ineligible spouse of the qualified individual, or if an eligible child's parent is the essential person, apply these essential person deeming rules and not the spouse-to-spouse or parent-to-child deeming rules. See SI 01320.800 C.3. for the rules that apply when an ineligible spouse or parent ceases to be an essential person.

1. 1. 

   All of the essential person's income (except any income excluded by other Federal statutes as described in SI 01320.105) is deemed to be the eligible individual's unearned income.

2. 2. 

   Exclusions to which the eligible individual is entitled (see SI 00830.099) are applied to the individual's own earned income and to the individual's unearned income which includes income deemed from the essential person (from B.1. above).

3. 3. 

   The remaining amounts of countable income are combined and the total compared with the FBR for a qualified individual to determine whether the individual is eligible for SSI. The FBR for a qualified individual is equal to the FBR for an eligible individual (or an eligible couple) plus an increment for each essential person. (Amounts of the essential person increments are listed in SI 02001.020).

4. 4. 

   If the income of the essential person used in an eligibility determination causes the otherwise eligible qualified individual(s) to become ineligible, this deeming provision no longer applies and the qualified individual cannot have the essential person increment added in figuring their FBR. To determine eligibility beginning with the month the essential person increment no longer applies (i.e., the month deemed income from the EP resulted in ineligibility), the eligible individual's own countable income is deducted from the FBR without the essential person increment.

1. 1. 

   To determine the SSI payment amount when there is an essential person, the procedure in B. above is followed, using income received in the budget month. The budget month is 2 months prior to the computation month except when determining the payment amount for the initial 2 months of eligibility or the first 2 months after a period of ineligibility. See SI 02005.025 when an exception to the standard retrospective computation rules apply.

2. 2. 

   To determine the payment amount for months when the eligible individual no longer has an essential person, only the eligible individual's own countable income from the prior budget month is used. No deemed income from the essential person in that prior budget month is included to compute the payment amount. (See C.3. below when the essential person is an ineligible spouse or parent.)

   NOTE: This is a change which became effective on December 1, 1985. From April 1982 through November 1985, a prior budget month's income included deemed income from an essential person even if the eligible individual no longer had an essential person in the computation month.

3. 3. 

   When the eligible individual no longer has an essential person and the former essential person is the ineligible spouse or ineligible parent, the spouse-to-spouse deeming rules (SI 01320.400) or parent-to-child deeming rules (SI 01320.500) are applied beginning with the month that the essential person's income is no longer deemed. To determine the payment for this month, the eligible individual's own countable income in the budget month is used, but no deemed income is included from the essential person in that prior budget month.