What is a PASS?

A PASS is a way for SSI recipients to set aside income or resources for achieving a work goal. SSI will not count this money when they calculate your financial eligibility and benefit amount. A PASS can help you qualify for an SSI benefit if your income or resources are above the limits. It can also cause your SSI benefit to increase so that you can pay your living expenses as you set aside income or resources towards your work goal. The income you set aside can be:

• Unearned (an SSDI benefit, for example);
• Earned (wages from a job, for example); or
• Deemed from a spouse or parent.

For more details on how setting aside income helps you, see the final section of this program description.

A PASS involves identifying a specific work goal. This could be the job you would like to have, but it can also be an employment evaluation by the Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, or a new, higher paying position at your current job. The goal should be a job that would pay for your living, medical, and work related expenses. It also must be a reasonable and feasible goal given your abilities, limitations, and prior experience. For example, if you have trouble sitting for long periods of time, becoming a taxi driver would probably not be a reasonable work goal. To get some ideas about potential jobs, you can look at the Dictionary of Occupational Titles.

Once you identify your work goal, you have to create a detailed timeline that lists the steps that you need to take to achieve it. You also have to figure out how much each of these steps cost. These expenses will be what you set income aside for in your PASS. For example, your work goal might be to become a professional chef. Your expenses might include cooking classes, knives, transportation, and the costs of interviewing at restaurants. The expenses you identify have to be reasonably priced, bought by you, not offered for free, not reimbursed promptly, and not part of a prior debt. For many expenses like cars or computers, you will have to explain why you need a particular model or why existing resources aren’t good enough. Some examples of expenses are:

• Transportation to and from work;
• Tuition, books, fees, and supplies needed for school or training;
• Child care;
• Job coaching, resume writing, and other employment services;
• Supplies to start a business; and
• Equipment for the job.

Who is eligible for PASS?

To get a PASS, you have to be eligible for SSI based on disability or blindness. You also have to be able to show that you have income or resources to set aside for your work goal, and that if you get your PASS, you will still be able to pay for your basic living expenses.

If you are eligible for SSI but not receiving a benefit because your income or resources are too high, getting a PASS may allow you to get a benefit. If you are 65 or older, you can only get a PASS if you were receiving an SSI benefit based on disability or blindness in the month before your 65^th birthday.

For more information on SSI’s eligibility rules, see DB101’s SSI program description.

How do I apply for a PASS?

To apply for a PASS, you need to fill out a detailed form that asks about your work goal, how you plan on achieving it, and background information about your work history and future plans. There are agencies and PASS experts that specialize in helping people fill out this form and get a PASS. While you can fill the form out yourself, these people have a great deal of experience with the program. Working with them can help your application be approved without having to revise it. You may also wish to contact your local Social Security office for a list of organizations that will help you with your PASS application. You can allow Social Security to work directly with that organization on your PASS application. The preparation of your PASS can be included as one of your expenses related to your work goal. The PASS application is available online.

If your plan is to become self-employed, you also have to submit a business plan, so that both you and Social Security are sure that you’ve thought through all of the risks and expenses associated with starting your own business. It should include the type of business you want to start, your advertising plan, how much technical assistance you need, a profit- and loss- projection, what products or services your business will offer, a description of the market for the business, and the tools, supplies, and equipment that you’ll need. For help with a business plan, you can talk to someone from the Small Business Administration, Service Corps of Retired Executives, a local banker, or a vocational counselor.

When the form is complete, hand it in or mail it to your local Social Security office. A PASS expert within Social Security will review your application. You will usually hear back from them in one to three months. If there are any problems, they will contact you (or your representative) and try to work them out so that you can be approved for the program. If your application is denied, you can appeal the decision. Completing a successful application is easier with the help of a PASS expert!

How does a PASS work once I’m in the program?

Once Social Security approves your PASS, you basically need to follow the plan. If anything related to your PASS changes, be sure to tell Social Security immediately. This could include details about your work goal, expenses, or living situation. Social Security will work with you to amend your PASS to accommodate the changes. If you don’t accept the changes that Social Security suggests, they will suspend your PASS. If you later change your mind and accept the suggested amendments, your PASS will start again. The expert in charge of your PASS will contact you roughly every 6 months to see how things are going.

Be sure to keep receipts, bank statements, and other records of how you are funding your PASS. You must keep accounts that pay for PASS expenses separate from other accounts so that you can easily keep track of them.

Your PASS ends when you either:

• achieve your work goal and have paid all of your related expenses;
• are no longer disabled or blind; or
• do not follow your plan and don’t amend your PASS

How having income “not count” helps you achieve a work goal

To understand why PASS helps you live without benefits, you have to understand how the SSI program figures out the amount of your benefit check. The SSI benefit is meant to help you pay for your basic living expenses. When you have income, SSI assumes that you can use some of it to cover your basic living expenses and therefore replace some or all of your benefit. They also assume that there’s a part of that income that you can’t spend on these expenses and that can’t go to replacing your benefit. They address this issue by taking certain deductions from your income. For example, if your only income is $500 from an SSDI benefit, SSI assumes that only $480 of that can go to replacing your SSI. This is called your countable income. (To see how they arrive at that number, see the glossary entry for the countable income calculation). When they determine the amount of your benefit, they’ll take the amount you would normally be eligible for and subtract your countable income. If you’re an individual living independently, you would normally receive an $870 benefit in 2008, so your actual check will be for $390 (maximum benefit of $870 minus countable income of $480). You’ll still have $870 to spend on living expenses, but some of that will come from your SSDI income.

Along the same lines, they will not count certain expenses, like those that you have set aside for a PASS. If you set aside your entire SSDI check in a PASS, your SSI will increase to $870, because that SSDI will no longer be counted as income. You’ll still be able to spend $870 a month on living expenses, but you’ll also be able to save $480 a month to pay for your PASS expenses. SSI does this because it encourages you to go to work and get off of benefits. Another way to think of it is that your SSI benefit replaces the income (from a job or SSDI benefit) that you save to achieve your work goal. You should notice from the above example that the most you can set aside under a PASS is the maximum SSI benefit.

PASS can also be a resource exclusion. If you have resources above the SSI limit of $2,000 a month, ($3,000 for couples) you can set aside some of them for a PASS. SSI will then not count them when determining if you are eligible for a benefit check.

Sources

The following links are provided for those who want detailed information on PASS. For those looking for more general information, please go to DB101’s PASS Resources page.

Social Security Program and Operations Manual System (POMS) gives detailed information on policies and procedures related to PASS. The PASS application is also an excellent resource for learning more about the program.