Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or SNAP requires beneficiaries to meet certain requirements. Therefore, not every American citizen can benefit from it. Those who would like to know if they qualify must know the following restrictions. Not only will they check your net, but also your gross income per month. Apart from this, they will also have a look at the members of the family in the household.
After that, the next thing you need to know is the fact that your income cannot be higher than the U.S. property level. So, it is essential that you meet that net monthly requirement to get SNAP benefits. On the other hand, as for your gross monthly income requirements, your income cannot be higher than 130% of the aforementioned poverty level. If you are three in your family, to work out SNAP, the poverty line for the 2023 federal fiscal year is $1,920 monthly.
What counts as income to get SNAP?
Knowing that your net income must be lower or at the poverty line in the USA, you may wonder what income refers to. To get SNAP benefits all cash income from different sources counts. It is the earned income even before payroll tax deductions and income that is unearned. For instance, child support, Social Security, Unemployment insurance, or cash assistance.
Besides, you may want to know about SNAP asset requirements. They must be lower than certain limits. If your household does not have a member that has a disability or who is 60 years old or older your assets can be as high as $2,750 or lower. On the contrary, if there is a member that is at age 60 or older or a person that has a disability you must have assets of 4,250 dollars or less than that amount.
What could be considered an asset?
In fact, they could be any resources that a family may have to get some food. Take for example the money you have got in your bank account. Personal property, retirement savings, or your home do not count as assets. Most cars do not count either and there might be states that have lower limits. Some people are not eligible for SNAP benefits though.
Regardless of their personal situation, if you are on strike you are not entitled to SNAP benefits. Besides, if you are a person without a documented immigration status you cannot opt for it either. There could be other cases like some college students going more than half-time and specific immigrants who are lawfully present.
In addition to this, it is not only the money we receive through SNAP that we have to take into account. We have to be very careful with all our monthly expenses. We should not buy things we do not need and we always have to save some money every month, even if it is very little.