Virginia TANF

[hua7450]

Summary

Implements Virginia Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program, including both regular TANF and TANF-UP (Unemployed Parent) benefits.

Closes #7134

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Virginia TANF Income Rules

Regulatory Authority

• Virginia TANF Manual Section 300 (Financial Eligibility)
• Virginia TANF Manual Section 700 (TANF-UP Program)
• 22 VAC 40-295 (TANF Administrative Code)

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1. INCOME ELIGIBILITY TESTS

Two-Step Income Test (Section 305.1)

Step 1 - Gross Income Test:

• Limit: Need Standard
• Definition: Gross earned income + countable unearned income (after disregards only)

Step 2 - Net Income Test:

• Limit: Grant Standard (or UP Grant Standard for TANF-UP)
• Definition: Countable income after all deductions applied

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 305.1

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2. INCOME DEDUCTIONS & EXEMPTIONS

A. Flat Earned Income Deduction

Assistance Unit Size	Monthly Deduction
1-3 persons	$167
4 persons	$178
5 persons	$209
6+ persons	$240

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.6

B. Earned Income Disregard

20% of remaining earned income (after flat deduction) is disregarded.

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.6

C. Dependent Care Expense Deduction

Care Recipient	Full-Time (30+ hrs)	Part-Time (<30 hrs)
Under age 2	$200/month	$120/month
Age 2+ or disabled adult	$175/month	$120/month

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.6

D. Child Support Disregard

• Amount: First $100/month excluded from unearned income

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.7

E. Unemployment Compensation Disregard (TANF-UP Only)

• Amount: 100% excluded for TANF-UP eligible households

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 702

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3. INCOME STANDARDS

Base Values (July 2020) with Annual Multiplier

Standards are stored as July 2020 base values with a standard_multiplier parameter that applies percentage increases:

Date	Increase	Cumulative Multiplier
Pre-2016	(base)	0.769
Jan 2016	+2.5%	0.788
Jul 2016	+2.5%	0.808
Jul 2017	+2.5%	0.828
Jul 2019	+5%	0.870
Jul 2020	+15%	1.0 (base values)
Jul 2021	+10%	1.1
Jul 2022	+5%	1.155
Jul 2023	+10%	1.2705

Source: Virginia TANF Interim Working Group Report - January 2023, SB800 Budget Amendment 341#1s

Implementation Note: Future annual increases only require updating the standard_multiplier.yaml parameter file - no need to update the full standard tables.

Need Standard (Base Values - July 2020)

Family Size	Group II	Group III
1	$453	$631
2	$663	$842
3	$836	$1,017
4	$997	$1,178
5	$1,178	$1,339
6+	+$160/person	+$162/person

Grant Standard (Base Values - July 2020)

Family Size	Group II	Group III
1	$226	$316
2	$332	$422
3	$417	$508
4	$499	$589
5	$589	$670
6+	+$81/person	+$81/person

TANF-UP Grant Standard (Base Values - July 2020)

Family Size	Group II	Group III
1	$197	$275
2	$289	$367
3	$363	$442
4	$423	$513
5	$481	$583
6+	+$71/person	+$71/person

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.4

Locality Groups

• Group III (26 localities): Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Prince William counties and associated cities
• Group II: All other Virginia localities

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.4

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4. BENEFIT CALCULATION

Formula:

Benefit = min(Grant Standard − Countable Income, Maximum Payment)

Where Countable Income = Countable Earned + Countable Unearned

Countable Earned:

max(max(Gross Earned − Flat Deduction, 0) × 0.8 − Childcare, 0)

Countable Unearned:

Gross Unearned − Child Support Disregard (− Unemployment if TANF-UP)

Maximum Payment (Base Values - July 2020)

Program	Group II	Group III
Regular TANF	$625	$745
TANF-UP	$544	$648

Source: Virginia TANF Manual Section 302.4

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5. VIRGINIA'S 50% FPL GOAL

Virginia's 2021 Appropriation Act established a goal to increase TANF standards by 10% annually until they reach 50% of the federal poverty level.

Current Status (as of July 2023 increases):

• Grant Standard ≈ 32% of FPL (goal: 50%)
• Need Standard ≈ 46% of FPL

At 10% annual increases, reaching 50% FPL would take approximately 7+ more years.

Source: Virginia TANF Interim Working Group Report - January 2023

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🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Co-Authored-By: Claude noreply@anthropic.com

[codecov]

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 100.00%. Comparing base (38e7e54) to head (47336d2).
⚠️ Report is 173 commits behind head on main.

Additional details and impacted files

@@             Coverage Diff             @@
##             main     #7135      +/-   ##
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  Branches        1         0       -1     
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+ Hits           97       207     +110     
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[hua7450]

Suggested change

	p = parameters(period).gov.states.va.dss.tanf
	eitc = parameters.gov.irs.credits.eitc(f"2020-01-01")