(a)(1) Subject to the exceptions in this section, no State may use any of its Federal TANF funds to provide assistance (as defined in § 260.31 of this chapter) to a family that includes an adult head-of-household or a spouse of the head-of-household who has received Federal assistance for a total of five years (i.e., 60 cumulative months, whether or not consecutive).

(2) The provision in paragraph (a)(1) of this section also applies to a family that includes a pregnant minor head-of-household, minor parent head-of-household, or spouse of such a head-of-household who has received Federal assistance for a total of five years.

(3) Notwithstanding the provisions of paragraphs (a)(1) and (a)(2) of this section, a State may provide assistance under WtW, pursuant to section 403(a)(5) of the Act, to a family that is ineligible for TANF solely because it has reached the five-year time limit.

(b)(1) States must not count toward the five-year limit:

(i) Any month of receipt of assistance by an individual who is not the head-of-household or married to the head-of-household;

(ii) Any month of receipt of assistance by an adult while living in Indian country (as defined in section 1151 of title 18, United States Code) or a Native Alaskan Village where at least 50 percent of the adults were not employed; and

(iii) Any month for which an individual receives only noncash assistance provided under WtW, pursuant to section 403(a)(5) of the Act.

(2) Only months of assistance that are paid for with Federal TANF funds (in whole or in part) count towards the five-year time limit.

(c) States have the option to extend assistance paid for by Federal TANF funds beyond the five-year limit for up to 20 percent of the average monthly number of families receiving assistance during the fiscal year or the immediately preceding fiscal year, whichever the State elects. States are permitted to extend assistance to families only on the basis of:

(1) Hardship, as defined by the State; or

(2) The fact that the family includes someone who has been battered, or subject to extreme cruelty based on the fact that the individual has been subjected to:

(i) Physical acts that resulted in, or threatened to result in, physical injury to the individual;

(ii) Sexual abuse;

(iii) Sexual activity involving a dependent child;

(iv) Being forced as the caretaker relative of a dependent child to engage in nonconsensual sexual acts or activities;

(v) Threats of, or attempts at, physical or sexual abuse;

(vi) Mental abuse; or

(vii) Neglect or deprivation of medical care.

(d) If a State opts to extend assistance to part of its caseload as permitted under paragraph (c) of this section, it would grant such an extension to a specific family once a head-of-household or spouse of a head-of-household in the family has received 60 cumulative months of assistance.

(e) To determine whether a State has failed to comply with the five-year limit on Federal assistance established in paragraph (c) of this section for a fiscal year, we would divide the average monthly number of families with a head-of-household or a spouse of a head-of-household who has received assistance for more than 60 cumulative months by the average monthly number of all families that received assistance during that fiscal year or during the immediately preceding fiscal year.

(f) If the five-year limit is inconsistent with a State's waiver granted under section 1115 of the Act, we will determine State compliance with the Federal time limit in accordance with the provisions of subpart C of part 260.

If we determine that a State has not complied with the requirements of § 264.1, we will reduce the SFAG payable to the State for the immediately succeeding fiscal year by five percent of the adjusted SFAG unless the State demonstrates to our satisfaction that it had reasonable cause, or it corrects or discontinues the violation under an approved corrective compliance plan.

(a) We will not impose the penalty if the State demonstrates to our satisfaction that it had reasonable cause for failing to comply with the five-year limit on Federal assistance or it achieves compliance under a corrective compliance plan, pursuant to §§ 262.5 and 262.6 of this chapter.

(b) In addition, we will determine a State has reasonable cause if it demonstrates that it failed to comply with the five-year limit on Federal assistance because of federally recognized good cause domestic violence waivers provided to victims of domestic violence in accordance with provisions of subpart B of part 260.

(a) Pursuant to section 1137 of the Act and subject to paragraph (a)(2) of that section, States must meet the requirements of IEVS and request the following information from the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), the State Wage Information Collections Agency (SWICA), the Social Security Administration (SSA), and the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS):

(1) IRS unearned income;

(2) SWICA employer quarterly reports of income and unemployment insurance benefit payments;

(3) IRS earned income maintained by SSA; and

(4) Immigration status information maintained by the INS.

(b) The requirements at §§ 205.51 through 205.60 of this chapter also apply to the TANF IEVS requirement.

If we determine that the State has not complied with the requirements of § 264.10, we will reduce the SFAG payable for the immediately succeeding fiscal year by two percent of the adjusted SFAG unless the State demonstrates to our satisfaction that it had reasonable cause or achieved compliance under a corrective compliance plan pursuant to §§ 262.5 and 262.6 of this chapter.

(a)(1) The State agency must refer all appropriate individuals in the family of a child, for whom paternity has not been established or for whom a child support order needs to be established, modified or enforced, to the child support enforcement agency (i.e., the IV-D agency).

(2) Referred individuals must cooperate in establishing paternity and in establishing, modifying, or enforcing a support order with respect to the child.

(b) If the IV-D agency determines that an individual is not cooperating, and the individual does not qualify for a good cause or other exception established by the State agency responsible for making good cause determinations in accordance with section 454(29) of the Act or for a good cause domestic violence waiver granted in accordance with § 260.52 of this chapter, then the IV-D agency must notify the IV-A agency promptly.

(c) The IV-A agency must then take appropriate action by:

(1) Deducting from the assistance that would otherwise be provided to the family of the individual an amount equal to not less than 25 percent of the amount of such assistance; or

(2) Denying the family any assistance under the program.

(a)(1) If we find that, for a fiscal year, the State IV-A agency did not enforce the penalties against recipients required under § 264.30(c), we will reduce the SFAG payable for the next fiscal year by one percent of the adjusted SFAG.

(2) Upon a finding for a second fiscal year, we will reduce the SFAG by two percent of the adjusted SFAG for the following year.

(3) A third or subsequent finding will result in the maximum penalty of five percent.

(b) We will not impose a penalty if:

(1) The State demonstrates to our satisfaction that it had reasonable cause pursuant to § 262.5 of this chapter; or

(2) The State achieves compliance under a corrective compliance plan pursuant to § 262.6 of this chapter.

(a) If a State fails to repay the amount of principal and interest due at any point under a loan agreement developed pursuant to section 406 of the Act:

(1) The entire outstanding loan balance, plus all accumulated interest, becomes due and payable immediately; and

(2) We will reduce the SFAG payable for the immediately succeeding fiscal year quarter by the outstanding loan amount plus interest.

(b) Neither the reasonable cause provisions at § 262.5 of this chapter nor the corrective compliance plan provisions at § 262.6 of this chapter apply when a State fails to repay a Federal loan.

(a)(1) When we withhold Federal TANF funds from a State during a fiscal year because of other penalty actions listed at § 262.1 of this chapter, the State must replace these Federal TANF funds with State funds during the subsequent fiscal year.

(2) If the State fails to replace funds during the subsequent year, then we will assess an additional penalty of no more than two percent of the adjusted SFAG during the year that follows the subsequent year.

(b) A State must expend such replacement funds under its TANF program, not under “separate State programs.”

(c) We will assess a penalty of no more than two percent of the adjusted SFAG plus the amount equal to the difference between the amount the State was required to expend and the amount it actually expended in the fiscal year.

(1) We will assess the maximum penalty amount if the State made no additional expenditures to compensate for the reductions to its adjusted SFAG resulting from penalties.

(2) We will reduce the percentage portion of the penalty if the State has expended some of the amount required. In such case, we will calculate the applicable percentage portion of the penalty by multiplying the percentage of the required expenditures that the State failed to make in the fiscal year by two percent.

(d) The reasonable cause and corrective compliance plan provisions at §§ 262.5 and 262.6 of this chapter do not apply to this penalty.

Pursuant to Section 408(a)(12) of the Act, states are required to implement policies and practices, as necessary, to prevent assistance (defined at § 260.31(a) of this chapter) provided with federal TANF or state TANF MOE funds from being used in any electronic benefit transfer transaction in any: liquor store; casino, gambling casino or gaming establishment; or retail establishment which provides adult-oriented entertainment in which performers disrobe or perform in an unclothed state for entertainment.

(a) Pursuant to Section 409(a)(16) of the Act and in accordance with 45 CFR part 262, a penalty of not more than five percent of the adjusted SFAG will be imposed for failure to report by February 22, 2014 and each succeeding fiscal year on the state's implementation of policies and practices required in § 264.60. The penalty will be imposed in the succeeding fiscal year, subject to § 262.4(g) of this chapter.

(b) Pursuant to Section 409(a)(16) of the Act and in accordance with 45 CFR part 262, a penalty of not more than five percent of the adjusted SFAG will be imposed for FY 2014 and each succeeding fiscal year in which the state fails to demonstrate the state's implementation of policies and practices required in § 264.60. The penalty will be imposed in the succeeding fiscal year subject to § 262.4(g) of this chapter.

(c) A penalty applied under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section may be reduced based on the degree of noncompliance of the state.

(d) Fraudulent activity by any individual in an attempt to circumvent the policies and practices required by § 264.60 shall not trigger a state penalty under paragraphs (a) and (b) of this section.