How to calculate if you are below 150% median income

[BunnyGo]

In the new Inflation Reduction Act there are extra funds available for home renovation projects to people if their household income is below either 80% of HUD AMI (Area Median Income) or 150% HUD AMI. It's not hard to look up what these limits are, but I'm unclear what counts towards "household income." 

[NCperson]

@BunnyGo  - it is not yet law as only the Senate has approved it

if passed it would not be effective until 2023, so let's give it a rest and let more details come out if the act is passed by both houses of Congress and signed by Biden.

the act runs 755 pages but it is probably in here somewhere!

https://www.democrats.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/inflation_reduction_act_of_2022.pdf

suggest using adjusted gross income in the meantime as a placeholder. 

[BunnyGo]

Sec 50122 is effective Fiscal Year 2022...which started October 2021. So by this time next week this will already be relevant and effective. Some of the "bill" is set to be effective Jan 1 2022, some Jan 1 2023. 

But as this was a question about how to calculate AMI which has other applications, I'm still curious about the answer regardless of legal/political pedantry.

[rjs]

Section 50122 of the Inflation Reduction Act (in its current form as of 8/8/22) does not make "funds available for home renovation projects." It makes funds available for state energy offices to establish "HOMES Rebate Programs." Those state programs will not be for general home renovations. They will only be for renovations that produce energy savings. The state programs will have eligibility rules based on household income as a percentage of area median income, but the act does not define how household income is to be calculated.

You will have to wait until the act is signed into law, then see if your state establishes a HOMES Rebate Program, and if so, how your state's program defines household income.

As far as "other applications" are concerned, since the act does not define household income, there could be different definitions for different applications.

You might consider this "legal pedantry," but when you are reading the text of a complicated law and trying to figure out exactly what it means, legal pedantry is what you have to deal with.

[BunnyGo]

Fair enough. I've been digging through HUD regulations and various state's implementations and been unable to find complete examples of what "total income" includes. I was coming to the conclusion that they leave it purposefully vague for HUD applications to be jerks to those who need access to HUD funds.

But if this one is going to shake out differently in every state, and be different yet again from what HUD uses...that'll be interesting.

[Critter-3]

IF you are trying to get a mortgage thru one of these HUD programs you should talk to a local mortgage broker to see if they have any more information on local programs.