How to Complete a HUD Income Calculation Worksheet: Form 50058

Completing a HUD income calculation worksheet means working through four ordered steps: total every household member’s gross income, subtract the federal income exclusions to reach annual income, apply the mandatory deductions to reach adjusted income, and then use that adjusted figure to calculate your total tenant payment. For 2026, the dependent deduction is $500, the elderly or disabled family deduction is $550, the asset imputation threshold is $52,787, and HUD’s passbook savings rate is 0.4 percent.¹² Using last year’s numbers throws the whole calculation off, so start there.

Step 1: Total Your Household’s Gross Income

Gross income captures money received by every household member who is 18 or older, plus the head of household and spouse regardless of age, plus any unearned income received on behalf of children under 18.³ The housing agency projects income forward over a 12-month period, so the number reflects what you expect to earn, not just what you earned last year.

Wages, salary, overtime, commissions, bonuses, and tips all count. So do periodic payments like Social Security, private pensions, annuities, disability payments, death benefits, and insurance payouts received on a regular schedule. Agencies verify these through pay stubs, W-2s, benefit award letters, and direct contact with employers or paying agencies.

Self-Employment Income

If someone in the household runs a business or works as an independent contractor, HUD counts net income, not gross receipts. Subtract ordinary operating expenses from total revenue. Two things you cannot subtract: money spent expanding the business, and payments toward business debt principal. Straight-line depreciation is allowed, following IRS rules.³

Watch this one carefully: cash or assets withdrawn from the business count as income, unless the withdrawal is simply taking back money the family originally invested.³ Pull $5,000 from a sole proprietorship account to cover personal expenses, and that $5,000 gets added to household income even if the business itself lost money on paper.

Step 2: Add Income From Assets

Savings accounts, stocks, bonds, and rental property contribute to the worksheet through the returns they generate. The Housing Opportunity Through Modernization Act (HOTMA) changed how this works, and for 2026 the calculation depends on whether total net family assets sit at or below $52,787 or above it.²

At or below the threshold, only actual income counts. A savings account earning $38 in interest and a stock portfolio paying $200 in dividends contribute $238 to annual income. Families at this level can self-certify their asset values instead of producing statements for every account.⁴

Above $52,787, the agency still counts actual income when it’s known. For any asset where actual return cannot be determined, the agency imputes income by multiplying that asset’s net value by the 0.4 percent passbook rate. Under HOTMA, actual and imputed amounts are added together across all assets, rather than the agency picking whichever was higher on each asset (which was the old approach).⁴

Assets You Sold or Gave Away

Selling or giving away assets for less than fair market value in the two years before certification does not remove them from the worksheet. The agency counts the difference between fair market value and what you actually received, reduced by any outstanding debt on the asset and reasonable costs of converting it to cash.⁵ Assets lost through foreclosure or bankruptcy don’t count as below-market dispositions.

The $100,000 Asset Cap on Eligibility

Separate from the imputation math, HOTMA bars families from receiving public housing or Housing Choice Voucher assistance if net family assets exceed $100,000 (adjusted for inflation after 2024) or if the family owns real property suitable to live in. Agencies cannot waive this. Current participants get up to six months to come into compliance before termination.⁶ This cap sits at the eligibility stage, not the income calculation.

Step 3: Remove the Income Exclusions

Some money that looks like income doesn’t count. Catching the exclusions before you add everything up prevents the agency from overcharging you on rent.

Earned income from any household member under 18, including foster children, is excluded entirely.³
Payments received for the care of foster children, foster adults, or state and tribal kinship guardianship payments are excluded.³
Lump-sum receipts such as inheritances, insurance settlements, and capital gains are excluded because they aren’t recurring.
For dependents who are enrolled as full-time students, earned income above the $500 dependent deduction is excluded, which effectively zeroes out a dependent student’s earned income.⁷

Scholarships and Grants

Financial aid used for tuition, books, supplies, room and board, and fees charged by the college is excluded. For students who aren’t the head of household or spouse, reasonable housing costs while attending school and living elsewhere are also excluded.³ The exclusion covers grants and scholarships from federal, state, and tribal governments, registered nonprofits, businesses, and schools themselves.

What isn’t covered: work-study or teaching fellowship pay (that’s compensation for services), gifts from family or friends, and any scholarship money that exceeds actual educational costs. A student receiving a $15,000 scholarship whose actual tuition, fees, and required costs come to $12,000 has $3,000 of income to report.³

Step 4: Apply the Deductions to Reach Adjusted Income

After exclusions, you subtract the mandatory deductions to reach adjusted income. This adjusted figure is what drives rent. All deduction amounts adjust for inflation each year.

Dependent deduction: $500 per dependent for 2026. A dependent is any household member other than the head or spouse who is under 18, has a disability, or is a full-time student.¹
Elderly or disabled family deduction: $550 per household where the head, spouse, or sole member is 62 or older or has a disability. Flat per household, not per person.¹
Childcare expenses: reasonable childcare costs for children 12 and younger, when the care lets a family member work or attend school.⁸
Medical and disability-related expenses: only for elderly or disabled families. Unreimbursed medical expenses and reasonable disability assistance costs above a percentage of annual income are deductible.

The Medical Expense Threshold in 2026

HOTMA raised the medical expense threshold from 3 percent of annual income to 10 percent, phased in for families who were claiming the deduction as of January 1, 2024. Those families moved through the higher threshold in steps: 5 percent for the first 12 months, 7.5 percent for the next 12 months, then 10 percent going forward.⁹ Families who started claiming after January 2024 begin at 10 percent with no phase-in.

By 2026, most families in the phase-in have reached the 10 percent threshold. That’s a real change. A family with $15,000 in annual income now needs more than $1,500 in qualifying medical expenses before any deduction applies, compared to $450 under the old rule. HUD does allow hardship exemptions where the higher threshold causes severe financial strain.⁹ Keep receipts, medical bills, and statements from providers to document each expense.

Step 5: Turn Adjusted Income Into Rent

Federal regulations set your total tenant payment (TTP) as the highest of four amounts: 30 percent of monthly adjusted income, 10 percent of monthly gross income, any welfare rent designated by a public agency for housing costs, or the housing agency’s minimum rent.¹⁰ For most families, 30 percent of monthly adjusted income is the controlling figure because it comes out largest.

Agencies can set a minimum rent of up to $50 for public housing and voucher programs, or $25 for other Section 8 programs. The minimum applies even when the income-based math would produce less. If financial hardship makes the minimum unaffordable, request an exemption; the agency has to suspend the minimum rent starting the month after your request while it reviews the case. Qualifying hardships include job loss, loss of public benefits, a death in the family, or facing eviction due to inability to pay.¹¹

The Form of Record: HUD-50058

The HUD-50058 (Family Report) is the official form agencies use to record and transmit all the numbers above. It has a calculation column where staff can work through the math, and the completed form is submitted electronically to HUD.¹² Many local agencies also use their own supplemental worksheets in a friendlier format, but the HUD-50058 is what matters on the record.

Bring documentation for every line: pay stubs, bank statements, benefit letters, medical receipts, childcare payment records, scholarship award letters, and business records if anyone is self-employed. Agencies verify every number before finalizing the worksheet, so gathering everything before your appointment saves time.

Reporting Changes Between Recertifications

The worksheet isn’t a one-and-done. Agencies must reexamine income and household composition at least once a year.¹³ Between annual recertifications, you’re required to report significant income changes so the agency can do an interim reexamination. Whether you report on time has real financial consequences.

Report an income decrease on time and the rent reduction starts the first day of the month after your report. Report late and it doesn’t start until processing finishes. Income increases work in the opposite direction: report on time, and the increase kicks in the first of the month after a 30-day notice period. Fail to report an increase and the higher rent applies retroactively to the first of the month after the income actually changed, creating a lump-sum debt that’s much harder to manage.¹⁴

Agencies are expected to complete interim reexaminations within 30 days of the family’s report.¹⁴ Keep a written record of when and how you reported any change. Disputes about timing come up often, and a dated email or letter usually settles them.

If the Calculation Looks Wrong: Informal Hearings

Disagree with how the agency figured your income or set your rent, and you have the right to an informal hearing. The hearing officer must be someone who wasn’t involved in the original decision and isn’t a subordinate of whoever made it.¹⁵

You can bring a lawyer or other representative at your own expense. Before the hearing, the agency has to let you examine and copy any documents it plans to use; if it withholds a relevant document, it cannot use that document at the hearing. You can present your own evidence, make arguments, and cross-examine any witnesses the agency brings.¹⁵ Requesting a hearing promptly preserves your position while the dispute is worked out.

Why Accurate Reporting Matters

When an agency discovers unreported income, the family owes back rent for the full overpayment period. Repayment agreements typically cap the combined monthly repayment plus current rent at no more than 40 percent of monthly adjusted income, and the terms must allow renegotiation if income shifts by $200 or more per month. Defaulting on a repayment agreement can end your housing assistance.

Intentional misrepresentation is a federal offense, punishable by up to five years in prison under 18 U.S.C. 1001.¹⁶ HUD’s Office of Inspector General investigates suspected fraud and can pursue criminal prosecution, civil claims for restitution, and permanent exclusion from federal housing programs.¹⁷ Report every source of income and every change as it happens, and keep the paperwork. Documentation protects you as much as it protects the agency.

1
HUD User. CY2026 Revised Amounts and Passbook Rate
2
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Notice PIH 2026-15
3
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.609 – Annual Income
4
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HOTMA Net Family Assets Training
5
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.603 – Definitions
6
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Assets, Asset Exclusions, and Limitation on Assets Resource Sheet
7
HUD Exchange. HOTMA Student Financial Assistance Resource Sheet
8
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.611 – Adjusted Income
9
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. PIH 2023-27 HOTMA Implementation
10
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.628 – Total Tenant Payment
11
eCFR. 24 CFR 5.630 – Minimum Rent
12
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Form HUD-50058 Instruction Booklet
13
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. Exhibit 7-1 – Sample Annual Recertification
14
HUD Exchange. Interim Income Reexaminations Resource Sheet
15
eCFR. 24 CFR 982.555 – Informal Hearing for Participant
16
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 U.S. Code 1001 – Statements or Entries Generally
17
Office of Inspector General, Department of Housing and Urban Development. Investigation and Inquiry Reports