Views of Responding Officials: The Department does not agree with this finding. According to 45 CFR section 205.55, it states, “…the State agency will request through the Income Eligibility and Verification System (“IEVS”)…”. However, the policy does not specify the State agency must “properly us...
Views of Responding Officials: The Department does not agree with this finding. According to 45 CFR section 205.55, it states, “…the State agency will request through the Income Eligibility and Verification System (“IEVS”)…”. However, the policy does not specify the State agency must “properly use IEVS information to evaluate benefit amounts…” as notated in this finding under “Effect.”
Unless IEVS provides the necessary information for the applicable benefit month(s) used to determine a TANF applicant’s or recipient’s (“client”) eligibility, information obtained through IEVS will only validate whether a household received an income source, after the fact, but will not verify the dollar amount. Hard-copy verification is obtained from the client to verify income source and dollar amount, for the applicable benefit months, to determine eligibility in accordance with §17 676-51, Hawaii Administrative Rules. For example, if a client applied for TANF on February 28, 2025, and the department processes the application on March 20, 2025 (current month), verification of the household’s income received in February 2025 and received thus far in March 2025, must be obtained to determine eligibility for the month of application (February 2025) and subsequent months (based on projected income). Data obtained from IEVS are not current; therefore, if the information obtained from IEVS is used to determine eligibility, then we would violate our own administrative policy (i.e., §17 676-51, Hawaii Administrative Rules). For example, wage information through SWICA becomes available on a quarterly basis. The most current SWICA information available would have been for quarter ending December 31, 2024, for an application received on February 28, 2025, that was processed on March 20, 2025. Eligibility determination would have been improperly made if SWICA information from IEVS was applied.
Corrective Action Taken or Planned: The department will continue to conduct IEVS check. The information obtained will only be used to validate a source of income reported by the applicant/client IF the information is applicable.
Completion Date: On going
Responding Official(s): Catherine Scardino, Benefit, Employment, and Support Services Division Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Program Administrator