SSA Q& A

Question 10

Question: I receive SSI and $720 per month gross wages. I am writing a PASS for myself and want to know how to determine how much of my wages I should put into the PASS.

Answer: We advise people to put no more than their “countable earned income” into a PASS. (To put any more than that would leave you less money to live on each month and wouldn’t increase your SSI check beyond the full Federal Benefit Rate - $579 in 2005).

To determine your countable earned income, first you deduct $85 from your gross monthly earnings (the amount before taxes). Then you take what’s left and divide by two. The resulting amount is your countable earned income. If you are grossing $720 per month, first you deduct the $85, and that gives you $635. When you divide that $635 in half, you get $317.50 in countable earned income to put into the PASS. This means you’ll receive a full $579 (2005 figure) SSI check and you’ll retain $402.50 ($317.50 + $85) in NON-countable earnings, for a total of $981.50. You’ll also have the $317.50 in your PASS.

Example
	$720.00 - 85.00 635.00 ÷ 2 $317.50	Gross Monthly Income Countable Earned Income (to put into PASS)
Available income:
No Pass:	$720.00 + $261.50 $981.50	Monthly Gross Wages SSI ($579 less $317.50 countable income) Total Monthly Income
With Pass:	$402.50 + $579.00 $981.50	Monthly Gross Wages less Amount to PASS SSI Total Monthly Income
	plus an additional $317.50 in countable wages sheltered in the PASS to be used to support employment