TN 67 (04-95)

Citations:

Act as amended, Section 1612(a)(2);

20 CFR 416.1120; 20 CFR 416.1201(a), (b)

A. Introduction

No special policy applies to Individual Indian Money (IIM) accounts. Regular income and resources rules concerning restricted and unrestricted accounts apply. The following material is provided for informational purposes only.

IIM accounts are similar to regular bank accounts. Funds retained in an IIM account may earn interest. The BIA area office or agency on the reservation administers these accounts which are either restricted or unrestricted. A restricted account may be converted to an unrestricted account or vice versa, but only with BIA approval.

B. Definitions

1. Restricted IIM Account

A restricted IIM account requires BIA authorization for the individual to make a withdrawal.

2. Unrestricted IIM Account

An unrestricted account does not require BIA authorization for the individual to make a withdrawal.

C. List of IIM deposit sources

The following are typical sources of deposits to IIM accounts. The following list is not all-inclusive:

• Money distributed from tribal funds;

• Proceeds from trust sources;

• Proceeds from the sale or conversion of trust capital assets;

• Proceeds from an inheritance interest in trust lands;

• Per capita payments from judgments of the Indian Claim Commission;

• Proceeds from the sale of crops, livestock, or other personal property held in trust;

• Restricted funds pursuant to a specific plan approved by the Federal Government;

• Benefits from Federal agencies due minors and incompetents who have neither guardians nor payees;

• Lease income.

D. Procedure

Use the following guidelines, when necessary, to develop IIM accounts.

REMINDER: Regular income and resources rules apply to the development of IIM accounts.

As necessary, use information in the recipient's possession, or determine through contact with BIA or a review of the IIM ledger coding (accessible through BIA) whether an account is restricted or unrestricted. Include a complete description of the ledger coding in the precedent file. (Various terms such as controlled, uncontrolled, held, supervised, programmed, etc., may be used to describe an IIM account. These terms, alone, are not reliable for determining whether an account is restricted.)

If an account has been converted from restricted to unrestricted or vice versa, note the beginning and ending dates for each period.

Use Form SSA-4641-U2, Authorization for Social Security Administration to Obtain Personal Information from a Financial Institution, to obtain an individual's consent when it is necessary to verify the type and balance of a particular account.

NOTE: A precedent file on administration of IIM accounts in the BIA service area may be established using information from BIA agency superintendents on the reservations.

E. Examples

These examples show how regular income and resources rules apply to IIM accounts.

Example 1 - Restricted Account

In March, Mr. Strong's $2,200 annual individual Indian trust income payment is deposited, as required by BIA, into his restricted IIM account. The same month, his title II check of $250 is also directly deposited into that account. Because Mr. Strong's title II check was available to him in March (though he opted to have it deposited into his restricted account), regular income rules require treating the $250 as unearned income for that month. If retained in the restricted account, the title II benefits are not a resource.

Under P.L. 103-66, $2,000 of lease income would be excluded per SI 00830.850. However, per SI 01140.200, none of the lease income is income when deposited or a resource when retained in the IIM account since Mr. Strong does not have direct control of the funds.

In April, the BIA releases $200 to Mr. Strong. Per SI 00810.030 A., $200 is counted as unearned income for the month of April since the nonexcludable $200 of the $2,200 lease income was then available to him. Per SI 01130.700 B.2., the FO assumes that the nonexcludable lease income funds are withdrawn first, leaving as much of the excludable funds in the account as possible.

Example 2 - Unrestricted Account

In May, a $150 per capita payment from locally managed tribal funds is deposited into Mr. Thornton's unrestricted IIM account. Development reveals that these funds were not held in trust by the Secretary of the Interior and, therefore, are not excluded from income and resources. The $150 counts as income to Mr. Thornton in May, per SI 00810.030 A., and counts as a resource, to the extent retained, in June per SI 01120.005 B.2. In June, Mr. Thornton withdraws the money from his account. The $150 is a conversion of a resource in June per SI 00815.200, and is therefore not counted as income for that month.

F. References

• When income is counted, SI 00810.030

• What is income, SI 00810.005

• What is not income, SI 00815.001

• Conversion of a resource, SI 00815.200

• Definition of resources, SI 01110.100

• Checking and savings accounts, SI 01140.200

• Commingled funds, SI 01130.700