What the words mean
Payee accounting has a small vocabulary, and several of its words sound like each other. This page says what each one means in PayeeKit and on the form you send to SSA. It describes words, not your situation. It is not legal, financial or benefits advice. Where a term is SSA's, the source is linked at the bottom.
The pair that trips everyone up. Saved or conserved at period end and Conserved funds both sound like "money you still have," and they are different numbers. One is all the benefits not spent by the end of a reporting period, wherever the money is kept. The other is the savings balance alone.
What was saved, on the report and in the app
Saved before this period is a line on the report. It is what your records show was held for the beneficiary when the reporting period began, not counting a dedicated account. SSA-623's instructions call this "any benefits you reported as saved on last year's report." If that report showed a different amount, the form uses that one.
Total accountable amount is the benefits received plus what was saved before the period. It is the amount the rest of the report accounts for.
Saved or conserved at period end is the benefits not spent by the last day of the period, including what was saved before it and any interest, wherever the money is kept: the benefits account, savings or cash.
total accountable amount + interest − (food and housing + clothing, education, medical, recreation and personal) = saved or conserved at period end
Conserved funds is a balance, shown on the beneficiary's dashboard and on Balances. It is what is in savings right now. Money left in the benefits account counts toward the report's saved figure and not toward conserved funds, which is why the two differ. Moving money into savings is not spending, so it changes conserved funds and leaves the report's saved figure where it was.
| Saved or conserved at period end | Conserved funds | |
|---|---|---|
| Answers | How much of the benefits went unspent? | How much is in savings right now? |
| As of | The last day of a reporting period | Today |
| Where | The report, and Copy totals | The dashboard and Balances |
| Benefits account | Counted | Not counted |
If your report shows "Not yet spent or saved"
Versions of PayeeKit before 1.1 printed two other lines. Saved or conserved was the money moved into savings during the period, and Not yet spent or saved was the period's benefits neither spent nor moved into savings. Neither matched a line on SSA's form, and what was saved before the period appeared on no line at all. Version 1.1 replaced them with the three lines above. If your report still shows the old lines, update PayeeKit from the App Store.
The report's lines
Reporting period. The twelve months SSA assigns you to account for. It is not necessarily a calendar year, and it is printed on the form SSA sends.
Total benefits received. Social Security and SSI paid to you as payee during the period. Only those two: the accounting asks how the benefits were used.
Other income received (not SSA benefits). VA benefits, wages, a pension, anything that is not Social Security or SSI. PayeeKit keeps it on its own line because it is not part of what SSA's report asks about. Note that the spending lines include everything paid out of these accounts whichever money paid for it, so the amounts you give SSA may be lower.
Food and housing. Rent or mortgage, utilities, groceries, and a facility's monthly charge where one is paid.
Clothing, education, medical, recreation and personal. The other spending bucket: clothing, medical and dental, prescriptions, personal care, recreation, education, transportation, phone and anything else.
Saved before this period, Total accountable amount, Saved or conserved at period end. The three lines about saving, defined together above.
The SSI resource limit
Countable resources. What SSI measures against the limit. In PayeeKit: cash in the benefits account and the personal needs allowance, plus conserved funds, less anything you have marked as excluded. An account below zero counts as zero. A dedicated account is not counted.
The limit. For SSI, $2,000 for an individual and $3,000 for a couple. Resources are measured at the first moment of each month, which is why a balance that is comfortable mid-month can still cost a payment.
The 80% and 95% warnings. PayeeKit's own, set to give notice early. SSA's rule is only the limit itself.
Excluded resource. Something you have marked as not counting toward the limit. An ABLE account and a properly established special needs trust are the usual examples. The mark is your statement about your situation. PayeeKit records it and does not decide it.
The accounts
Benefits account. Where the benefits land and most spending comes from.
Personal needs allowance. The small monthly amount a beneficiary living in a facility keeps for personal spending. The amount is set by your state and facility; PayeeKit never suggests one.
Dedicated account. A separate account holding large past-due SSI for a child under 18, with its own rules about what the money may be spent on. PayeeKit warns when an expense falls outside the listed uses; it warns and lets you continue, because a payment you have already made still needs recording.
The exclusion has a condition. A dedicated account is not counted toward the resource limit while only past-due SSI and its interest are in it. For any month other money is in it, monthly SSI included, the exclusion is lost for the whole account, not just the part you added. Keep it separate, and keep other deposits out of it.
In the ledger
Deposit. Money arriving: a benefit payment or other income.
Expense. Money spent for the beneficiary. Expenses are never shown as negative numbers; an expense is an expense.
Refund. Money coming back against an earlier expense. It reduces that category. It isn't recorded as income.
Adjustment. A correction to benefits received, such as an overpayment being recovered. It carries a direction, increase or decrease.
Repaid to me from benefits. A switch on an expense, for when you paid with your own money and have paid yourself back from the benefits. The spreadsheet calls it Reimbursement. It is useful when a reviewer asks why a payment looks unusual.
Reconciled. Matched against the bank statement. Reconciling compares the statement's ending balance with the ledger's and shows the difference, so a missing entry surfaces while you can still remember it.
Starting balances. What each account held on the day you started keeping records in PayeeKit. Entries dated on or after that day are added to these amounts; entries before it are treated as already included.
Sources
- SSA, Representative Payee Program
- SSA, A Guide for Representative Payees (PDF)
- SSA, FAQs for Payee Accounting
- SSA, Dedicated Accounts
- SSA, Payee and ABLE Accounts
PayeeKit helps you prepare and keep your own records. It does not represent you, does not act for you, and does not file anything with the Social Security Administration. It is not legal or financial advice. If a term on your form does not match what you read here, follow the instructions that came with the form and call SSA.