Wisconsin Department
of Children and Families - Division
of Early Care and Education
Bureau of Child Care Subsidy Administration
Wisconsin Shares Handbook
The Department of Workforce Development (DWD) is the State Wage Income Collection Agency (SWICA). The Department of Children and Families (DCF) is required by federal law to exchange information with DWD to identify discrepancies in wages used to determine eligibility. For more information about how SWICA discrepancies are created, see Process Help Section 44.4.2.2.
Local agencies must resolve at least 80% of SWICA discrepancies within 45 days of receipt of the discrepancy. Overpayments related to SWICA discrepancies are not required to be established within the 45-day time frame.
Upon receipt of the SWICA discrepancy, agency workers must review the discrepancy to determine if it can be resolved without further verification. See Process Help Section 44.7.3 for the SWICA Discrepancy Flow Chart that provides the steps to resolve SWICA discrepancies for all programs. Agency workers must not pend ongoing eligibility if the SWICA discrepancy only reflects historical information.
If the SWICA discrepancy cannot be resolved without further verification, the agency worker must generate a request for verification and allow the parent seven (7) business days to respond (see 7.4).
If a parent does not respond to the request for earned income verification and the case has ongoing eligibility, eligibility will not end due to lack of financial verification (see 7.9.2). Agency workers must not take any action to manually end eligibility if the SWICA discrepancy was for a period during the parent’s 12-month eligibility period and income does not exceed 85% SMI.
Agency workers must manually end eligibility if verification is not provided and:
The discrepancy was for a person added to the Assistance Group (AG) during the SWICA quarter.
There was an application or renewal during the SWICA quarter.
The
SWICA income indicates that the case was over 85% SMI for two (2)
consecutive calendar months.
SWICA
discrepancy was received |
If not verified, what happens? |
| Application or Renewal, difference of $250 or more | Agency worker uses manual override process in CARES Mainframe to fail the case for lack of earned income verification using reason code 767. |
| Income over 85% SMI | Agency worker uses manual override process in CARES Mainframe to fail the case for lack of earned income verification using reason code 767. |
| Person Add | Agency worker uses manual override process in CARES Mainframe to fail the case for lack of earned income verification at Person Add using reason code 759. |
| During the 12-month eligibility period
(Ongoing Eligibility), income at or above 190% FPL at last renewal |
Agency workers must not end current ongoing eligibility when the SWICA discrepancy was for a period during the 12-month eligibility period and income was below 85% SMI, even if the income from the SWICA quarter is not verified. |
If the case was over 85% SMI for two (2) consecutive calendar months in the SWICA discrepancy quarter, and the parent verifies or verbally confirms that they are still over 85% SMI, the income must be updated on the Employment page and eligibility will end according to adverse action due to being over the income limit. If the SWICA income or other data exchange information shows that the case was over 85% SMI for two (2) consecutive calendar months and the parent does not provide verification or verbally confirm the amount, eligibility must be manually ended for not providing verification.
The local agency should use the Post Load Benefit Correction (PLBC) module in CSAW to determine if the subsidy amount received by the parent was correct. See the PLBC User Guide for further details. An overpayment will not be assessed if the parent failed to report an increase in income that would not have affected eligibility or the subsidy amount.
This section last updated 10/1/2023