Income and Resources Limits

• Qualifying for SSI requires limited income and resources. Resources are your assets or things you own of value, but do not include your house and land, insurance policies under $1,500 and a burial plot. You may have $2,000 in resources, or $3,000 if you are married. Income comes in different forms, and SSI counts earned income, unearned income, in-kind income and deemed income. Unearned income is from stocks, interest or revenue sharing. In-kind income is barter or trading services for money. SSI counts in-kind income for food or shelter as income. Deemed income is income from someone who lives with you, like a spouse who does not qualify for SSI or a parent living with a disabled child. The assets and income of this person may determine qualification and continuation of SSI benefits.
  
  

Income Not Counted

• An SSI recipient can receive $20 in unearned income and $65 in earned income that does not count for SSI calculations. All earned income in excess of $65 counts at 50 percent. A disabled person participates in substantial gainful activity at $1,000 in income each month. Full SSI benefits are $674 in 2011, and some states supplement this amount. A couple receives $1,011 from the federal government in SSI benefits.
  
  

Calculations for SSI Subtractions

• Federal guidelines require subtraction of earned income in excess of $65, but if you have no unearned income, that figure is $85. If you make $1,085 in a month, SSI will subtract $500 from your SSI benefits, leaving you a possible total of $174. If you make $1,485 in a month, your federal benefits are $0. These figures consider no unearned income.
  
  

Collecting SSI and Social Security

• Social Security benefits count as unearned income for SSI. Some Social Security benefits are sufficiently low to allow collecting both SSI and Social Security. For those who collect both benefits as a result of age, disability or blindness, Social Security deducts the Social Security benefits from the SSI basic award of $674. For example, in 2010, the average disability award was $286.80 for a disabled spouse of a worker. Subtract $20 from the $286.80 for $266.80 in countable unearned income. Subtract $266.80 from the $674 to reach the award for the month before considering earned income. SSI calculates unearned income at 100 percent. The SSI recipient would have $407.20 before earned income subtractions apply.