Earned Income EAEDC

Earned income is income in cash or in kind earned through employment or self-employment. Earned income may be received as wages, salary, tips, commissions, or in kind.  For employees earned income is the total gross amount received.  For self-employment earned income is the total gross income less total business expenses. Business expenses are the cost of doing business and do not include personal expenses, such as lunch or transportation.

Important: Earnings of temporary decennial census workers are noncountable income. When entering this income in the earned income page you must select Temporary  Census Worker from the Type drop-down.

To enter earned income, you must:

  1. go to the Assessed Person Income and Expenses workflow
  2. open the Employment Status page (accessible if you answered Yes to the Employed question on the Income and Expenses Q and A Navigator)
  3. click Yes for the Employed radio button
  4. enter information on the other fields as appropriate
  5. click Save
  6. open the Earned Income page
  7. select the appropriate type of income by clicking the drop-down box in the Type field in the Employed tab and selecting the appropriate income type
  8. enter the Start (date), Hourly wage (entered in the 00.00 format) and Weekly hours (can be partial hours such as 37.5) in their respective fields
  9. select how often the payments are received by clicking the Frequency drop-down box and selecting the appropriate interval
  10. click the Yes or No radio button for Countable EAEDC
  11. click the Yes or No radio button for Countable SNAP. See Types of Earned Income in the SNAP Income book for information on how income is counted for SNAP
  12. select the Employer tab and enter at least the name of the employer
  13. click the appropriate Yes or No radio buttons for Permanent job and Job held>thirty days
  14. select the Employer tab and enter at least the name of the employer
  15. select the Earnings tab and enter in the appropriate amount of gross income (calculated off-line) and hours for the appropriate time period 
  16. click the Yes or No radio button for Garnished.  Garnishment is the withholding of all or part of a client's or former client's wages to satisfy a judgment.  Often, wages are garnished for child support or alimony, but garnishment can be applied to many other debts
  17. click Save
  18. click the Prospective tab
  19. click the boxes next to the income to be considered for Prospective Averaging calculation
  20. click Calculate
  21. click Save

Always remember to verify information the client provides on the Verification tab and complete Interview Wrapup.

Related Topics

Income Policy and Procedures EAEDC

Last Update: August 4, 2025