If your family was receiving TAFDC and your benefits— due to earnings, voluntary case closing, or most reasons other than a TAFDC program sanction— you will automatically get five months of SNAP/food stamp benefits. The amount of SNAP/food stamps you get will be calculated using only the income you had in the month your TAFDC benefits stopped, excluding your TAFDC cash grant. DTA will also not count new income you receive after your TAFDC case closes, such as new earnings or child support. This special benefit is called the Transitional Benefits Alternative or "TBA". See 106 C.M.R. § 365.190

Example

Samantha receives $433 monthly in TAFDC for herself and her two children, plus $300 in Social Security Survivors Benefits. They have no deductions other than the standard deduction. Their SNAP/food stamp benefits are $286 a month. Samantha starts working at a job that pays $800 a month and asks DTA to close her TAFDC case. Under TBA, DTA recalculates Samantha's benefits counting only the $300/month in Social Security Survivors Benefits. DTA excludes the terminated TAFDC income and excludes the new income from her new job. Their benefits will be $416 a month for five months.

During the five-month TBA period, you are not required to report any changes in your household. However, you have the option to report changes and if you report a change that could increase your benefits (such as loss of income or the addition of a household member), DTA is required to act on that change and recertify your benefits to the higher amount. You will no longer be a TBA household. See 106 C.M.R. § 366.110(B).

Once the five-month TBA period ends, DTA should switch your household to semi-annual reporting.