Government of New Brunswick

For self-employed applicants or clients, see Self-Employed.

The Wage Exemption is intended to exempt a portion of wages earned from part-time and full-time employment and/or self-employment when calculating income. The wage exemptions benefits are available to clients; but are not available to applicants. Wage exemptions are not to be considered in determining eligibility. The wage exemptions are applied to a case, not to a particular member and therefore apply to the total wages in the unit.

 

The wage exemption will be applied when determining eligibility for applicants who have been Basic Assistance clients within the past 30 days (E.g. Case is closed on Jan. 10th, client reapplies on Feb. 8th, the wage exemption will be used to determine eligibility).

 

Business Deduction

A deduction to allow for business expenses may be provided for the following types of wages, and may be provided in addition to a wage exemption:

 

Wage Exemption Amounts


A full exemption on the first $500 in combined wage earned and a 50% exemption on the balance.  
 

Examples of wage exemption calculation:

(1) Client remains eligible for a portion of monthly assistance cheque 

Single Employable at the Transitional Rate = $593.00  Monthly earned income = $650
To calculate total wage exemption amount:
Step #A  = $650 monthly earnings – fix portion amount ($500) = $150
Step # B = $150 remaining earnings ( .50)  = $75
Total amount of  wage exemption is = fix portion amount ($500) + $75 (50% of the balance of the earnings) = $575
Total amount of income deducted from cheque = $650 (monthly earned income)  - $575 (total wage exemption)  = $75
Monthly cheque amount after the wage exemption is applied  =  $593 - $75= $518

 

(2) Client remains eligible for a portion of monthly assistance cheque 

Single Parent at the Transitional Rate = $ 931  Monthly earned income = $800
To calculate total wage exemption amount:
Step #A  = $800 monthly earnings – fix portion amount exemption ($500) = $300
Step # B = $300 balance of earnings ( . 50)  = $150
Total amount of  wage exemption is = (fix portion amount exemption) $500   + $150 (50% of the balance of earnings) = $650
Total amount of income deducted from cheque = $800(monthly earned income)  - $650 (total wage exemption)  = $150
Monthly cheque amount after the wage exemption is applied  = $931 - $150 = $781

 

A month is defined as the 22nd to the 21st as per income reporting periods. The reporting period for July would be May 22nd to June 21st and for August, June 22nd to July 21st and so on for other months.

Also see Clients Who Become Employed for example calculations.