The local office shall accept any pertinent documentary
evidence provided by the household and shall be primarily concerned with how
adequately the verification proves the statements on the application, during
recertification, in the PRF, or in any reported changes. Local offices shall
accept the minimum verification requirements outlined throughout this document,
unless questionable. If written verification cannot be obtained, the
eligibility technician shall substitute an acceptable collateral
contact.
4.504.1
Documentary
Evidence
Documentary evidence consists of written confirmation of a
household's circumstances. Households may supply documentary evidence in
person, through the mail, by facsimile or other electronic device, or through
an authorized representative. The local office shall not require the household
to present verification in person at the office.
4.504.2
Collateral Contacts
A. A collateral contact is a verbal
confirmation of a household's circumstances by a person outside the household,
made either in person, in writing, or by telephone. Acceptable collateral
contacts include, but are not limited to: employers, landlords, social/migrant
service agencies, and neighbors of the household who can be expected to provide
accurate third-party verification. The name of the individual contacted, the
individual's contact information, and the information provided shall be
documented in the case record.
B.
Confidentiality shall be maintained when talking with collateral contacts. The
local office shall disclose only the information that is necessary to get
information being sought. When talking with collateral contacts, the local
office must not state that an individual or household has applied for
SNAP.
C. If the household fails to
provide a collateral contact or provides a contact that is unacceptable to the
eligibility technician, the technician may select a collateral contact that can
provide information that is needed.
D. The local office shall not determine the
household to be ineligible when a person outside the household fails to
cooperate with a request for verification. Household members who are
disqualified or in an ineligible status shall not be considered individuals
outside the household.
E. In cases
in which the information from another source contradicts statements made by the
household, the household shall be afforded a reasonable opportunity to resolve
the discrepancy prior to an eligibility determination.
4.504.3
Home Visits
For the purposes of determining eligibility, home visits
shall be used as verification only if documentary evidence cannot be obtained
and the visit is scheduled in advance with the household. Home visits are to be
used on a case-by-case basis where the supplied documentation or verification
is insufficient.
4.504.4
Systematic Alien Verification Entitlement (SAVE)
The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service (USCIS),
Systematic Alien Verification for Entitlement (SAVE) system will verify the
alien status of applicant non-citizens. The use of SAVE shall be documented in
the case record. The record will contain the date the primary or secondary
request was submitted, along with a copy of the Form G-845 when applicable, and
any response to the request for verification.
4.504.5
Colorado Income Eligibility
Verification System (IEVS)
A. The
Colorado Income and Eligibility Verification System (IEVS) provides for the
exchange of information on SNAP clients with the Social Security Administration
(SSA), Internal Revenue Service (IRS), and the Colorado Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE).
B. At initial
certification and recertification, all applicants for SNAP shall be notified
through a written statement provided on or with the application form that
contains the following information:
1.
Information available through the IEVS will be requested and verified through
collateral sources when discrepancies are found by the local office.
2. Information available through the IEVS
shall be used and that such information will be used and may affect the
household's eligibility and level of benefits.
C. With respect to all household members,
including any excluded household members for whom a Social Security Number
(SSN) is available, the agency shall be responsible for requesting verification
through the IEVS or directly from locally accessed automated information. All
such information shall be requested at the first available opportunity after
the date of application.
D. The
local office shall at a minimum, prior to approval of benefits at initial
application, recertification, and periodic report, verify potential earnings or
unemployment benefits through the DOLE for all applicants.
E. Determination of a household's eligibility
and benefit level shall not be delayed past the application processing time
standards if verification of information is not available nor shall
determination be delayed awaiting verification from the IEVS.
F. The local office is required to act upon
information received from IEVS within forty-five (45) calendar days of the
receipt of that information, except for UIB information received from the DOLE,
which must be acted upon in accordance with Section 4.604.
G. Some information received through the IEVS
is not considered verified and is subject to independent verification by the
local office. Benefits shall not be delayed pending receipt of verification
from a collateral source, such as an employer, when independently verifying
information received from the IEVS. Such verification of IEVS information may
include contacting the household in writing informing them of the information
received from the IEVS data source and requesting a response within ten (10)
calendar days, or by appropriate collateral contact. The following Information
received through the IEVS shall be treated as not verified and subject to
independent verification by the local office:
1. Wage data from the Colorado Department of
Labor and Employment.
2. Internal
Revenue Service unearned income information.
H. Through the IEVS, participant SSNs will be
matched with source agency records on a regular basis to identify potential
earned and unearned income and resources and assets from the following sources:
1. Social Security Administration (SSA)
Information received from the Social Security Administration
includes:
a. Wages, payments of
retirement income, Title II Social Security benefits, Title XVI Social Security
benefits, pensions, and federal employee earnings maintained by the
SSA.
b. Federal retirement,
survivors disability, SSI, and related information available from SSA through
BENDEX (Beneficiary Data Exchange) and SDX (State Data
Exchange).
2. State Data
Exchange (SDX) and Beneficiary Data Exchange (BENDEX) Death information, SSI
benefit amounts, and social security benefit information may be obtained
verified through SDX AND BENDEX. See Section 4.504.6, E, for what information
from SSA is considered verified upon receipt.
3. Colorado Department of Labor and
Employment (DOLE)
a. Information received from
the DOLE includes wage and unemployment insurance benefits (UIB). Wage data
received from the DOLE shall not be considered as verified upon receipt and
shall be subject to independent verification. Unemployment information reported
through the IEVS shall be verified through the DOLE or by the household.
Verification of unemployment compensation insurance benefits, including
beginning dates, duration of payments and amount of payments can be obtained
from the Colorado Department of Labor and Employment.
b. The local office shall at a minimum, prior
to approval of benefits at initial application, recertification, and periodic
report, verify potential earnings or unemployment benefits through the DOLE for
all applicants, including ineligible and disqualified members' SSNs. With
respect to all members of a participant household, the local office shall use
UIB information received through the Income and Eligibility Verification System
(IEVS). Participant SSNs will be matched at least monthly with the DOLE, UIB
records.
4. Internal
Revenue Service (IRS)
Unearned income information received from the IRS includes,
but is not limited to, interest on checking and savings accounts, dividends,
royalties, winnings from betting establishments, and capital gains. Unearned
income information from the IRS that is reported through the IEVS shall not be
considered as verified upon receipt and shall be subject to independent
verification.
4.504.6
Information Considered Verified
Upon Receipt
A. Verified upon receipt
(VUR) is a term given to a state-prescribed list of specific information that
comes directly from the primary source of the information and is free from
question.
B. Information that is
considered VUR shall be acted upon for all households. Information considered
VUR shall be acted on at the time of application, recertification, periodic
report, and during a household's certification period if the information causes
a change in the SNAP benefit amount. A household shall not be convicted of
fraud for not reporting a change in the information it is not required to
report.
C. Information considered
VUR shall be considered verified unless the office has reason to believe that
the information may be inaccurate. Advance notice of adverse action shall be
given when acting on information that is considered VUR, except as noted in
Section 4.608.1.
D. The local
office shall consider only the following information as VUR:
1. Social Security and SSI benefit amounts
obtained from SSA.
SSI and benefit amounts obtained from the SSA are considered
reported and verified on the day the information is first known to the agency,
either through the IEVS, SDX, BENDEX or another automated interface of
information, whichever is sooner.
2. Death information received from the Burial
Assistance program.
Death information received from the Burial Assistance program
is considered reported and verified on the day the information is first known
to the agency.
3.
Unemployment insurance benefits (UIB) that are reported through the IEVS and
obtained through the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The UIB information shall be considered reported and verified
on the date of the IEVS notification. Advance notice of adverse action shall be
given when acting on the change in information.
4. PA benefit amounts (Colorado Works, Aid to
the Needy Disabled (AND) program consisting of AND-State Only (AND-SO) and
AND-Colorado Supplement (AND-CS), Home Care Allowance (HCA), and Old Age
Pension (OAP), obtained from the State Department.
5. Information that is reported and verified
to a PA program which results in a change to the PA benefit amount and that
meets SNAP verification requirements.
Such information shall be considered reported and verified on
the day the PA program processes the change and authorizes the new PA benefit
amount.
6. Child support
income and expense amounts obtained through the ACSES.
Such information is considered reported and verified on the
day the information is reported through an automated interface with
ACSES.
7. Non-compliance
information obtained from EF agencies of the failure of an ABAWD to meet work
requirements.
8. Colorado
IPVs.
9. Information obtained from
the SAVE system regarding non-citizen status.
10. Changes in household composition that are
reported and verified and result in one (1) or more members being removed from
one (1) SNAP household and added to a new or existing SNAP household.
Duplicate benefits shall not be issued for a particular
individual when removing that individual from one SNAP household and adding
them to a new SNAP household.
11. Changes in household composition that are
reported and verified by child welfare agencies and result in a child being
removed from one SNAP household and added to a new or existing SNAP
household.
12. The disqualification
of a household member who is determined to be a fleeing
felon.
4.504.61
Information Not Considered Verified Upon Receipt (VUR)
A. Some information received from sources
other than the household are not considered VUR. Such information shall be
subject to independent verification prior to taking adverse action against a
household's SNAP benefits during the certification period.
B. The following sources of information shall
not be considered as VUR:
1. Death
information received from a source other than the Burial Assistance
program.
2. Veterans Assistance
(VA) benefit amounts obtained through the IEVS.
3. Wage data obtained through the IEVS and
the DOLE.
4. IRS income and asset
information obtained through the IEVS.
5. Information regarding railroad retirement
benefits obtained through the IEVS.
6. Information received from the Public
Assistance Reporting and Information System (PARIS).
7. Prisoner information received during the
certification period.
8.
Information received from the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH).
9. Social Security benefit amounts reported
via an award letter given by the household.
10. IPV/disqualification data from another
state as reported through the disqualified recipient
database.
Notes
10 CCR 2506-1-4.504
37
CR 15, August 10, 2014, effective 9/1/2014
37
CR 21, November 10,2014, effective 12/1/2014
38
CR 23, December 10, 2015, effective 1/1/2016
39
CR 01, January 10, 2016, effective
2/1/2016
39
CR 05, March 10, 2016, effective
4/1/2016
39
CR 07, April 10, 2016, effective
5/1/2016
39
CR 15, August 10, 2016, effective
9/1/2016
39
CR 17, September 10, 2016, effective
10/1/2016
39
CR 19, October 10, 2016, effective
11/1/2016
39
CR 23, December 10, 2016, effective
1/1/2017
40
CR 11, June 10, 2017, effective
7/1/2017
40
CR 17, September 10, 2017, effective
10/1/2017
41
CR 15, August 10, 2018, effective
9/1/2018
40
CR 23, December 10, 2017, effective
12/30/2018
42
CR 01, January 10, 2019, effective
2/1/2019
42
CR 03, February 10, 2019, effective
3/15/2019
42
CR 17, September 10, 2019, effective
10/1/2019
42
CR 18, October 10, 2019, effective
10/1/2019
42
CR 23, December 10, 2019, effective
12/30/2019
43
CR 01, January 10, 2020, effective
1/30/2020
43
CR 05, March 10, 2020, effective
2/7/2020
43
CR 07, April 10, 2020, effective
4/30/2020
43
CR 21, November 10, 2020, effective
11/30/2020
44
CR 21, November 10, 2021, effective
11/30/2021
45
CR 05, March 10, 2022, effective
3/30/2022
45
CR 19, October 10, 2022, effective
10/1/2022
45
CR 19, October 10, 2022, effective
11/1/2022
45
CR 21, November 10, 2022, effective
11/30/2022
46
CR 17, September 10, 2023, effective
9/30/2023
