[nabs-l] I'm Employed!

[Joseph C. Lininger]

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Hello there. You wrote:

> It is not a full-time position, and someone familiar
> with SSI can tell me how it will affect my benefits, if they would.  They are taking
> out a third of my compelte payment for food and shelter, and the way they explaiend
> it made it sound like they would be taking the majority of the payment, which simply
> doesn't sound right.

Ok, here's the basic formula for determining SSI payments. This assumes
your state doesn't contribute matching dollars or anything like that.
This is the basic formula for federal SSI. Before we go on, you need to
know I'm not an SSI expert. Don't take my statements as diffinitive.
This is how the system works to the best of my knowledge. However, there
are lots of exceptions and stuff. You'll want to talk to an actual SSI
representative about your specific situation. You'll also need to
consider things like overpayments and that if you're making enough
money. Here's how you can calculate it though, assuming only federal
dollars and no special exceptions.

First, if you have over $2000 in assets as of midnight the first of the
month, you are not elegable for SSI that month. That number goes up to
$3000 combined assets if you are married. If you don't have that, then
continue on.

Let m be the maximum amount the feds pay in SSI. Last time I checked,
that number was $637. It may be different now. Let i be the amount of
money you make in income. Let a be the amount you are going to receive
for a month. The following two formulas can be used to calculate your
benefit amount, or a.

If your room and board are not covered, meaning you pay your own rent
and that, the formula is:

a = m - ((i - 85) / 2)

If your room and board are covered, like you've implied is true in your
case, the formula is:

a = (m * (2 / 3)) - ((i - 85) / 2)

The two formulas are identicle, except that m is reduced by 1/3 in the
second formula. Don't let the parenthesis scare you off, even though
they seem excessive in the second formula. I put an extra set in for
clarity. In english, this set of formulas means:

1. Start with the maximum amount the feds currently pay in SSI. $637
last time I checked.

2. If your room and board are covered, reduce the amount paid by 1/3.
The number becomes $420.42 if it was $637.

3. If there is income other than SSI, first subtract 85 dollars from
that income. Then for every two dollars left over, subtract one dollar
from the amount paid in SSI.

Let's do a quick example to clarify how the formula works. Suppose the
maximum amount is still $637, and that you are making $1000 per month in
income. In that case, m=637 and i=1000 in our formulas. So, if your room
and board are not covered, you would receive:

a = 637 - ((1000 - 85) / 2)
a = 637 -  457.5
a = 179.5

You would receive $179.50 in benefits.

If your room and board are covered, the formula works out as:

a = (637 * (2 / 3)) - ((1000 - 85) / 2)
a = 420.42 - 457.5
a = -37.08

In this case, you wouldn't be receiving anything in SSI benefits since a
<= 0.

Hope this helps. Again, I encourage you to speak with a social security
representative about your specific situation.
- --
Yes means no and no means yes. Delete all files [Y]?
Joseph C. Lininger, <jbahm at pcdesk.net>
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