Benefit Renewals and Reporting Changes: When to Renew SNAP and Medicaid, and What to Report (Calendar Planner)

Most benefits have to be renewed, and some changes have to be reported in between. A SNAP approval lasts up to 12 months, and on simplified reporting you usually file one report between month 4 and month 6 and otherwise report only when income goes over a limit. Medicaid based on income is renewed every 12 months, and from January 1, 2027 every 6 months for many adults covered through Medicaid expansion. SSI wants each month’s wages by the 10th of the next month, and the marketplace wants changes within 30 days. Tick what you get below and type the day your approval started: your dates show as a list you can save to your phone’s calendar or print.

Why do renewals and reports matter so much?

Because missing a date can end a case even when nothing else changed: a SNAP periodic report not filed after its reminder ends the case, and Medicaid can end when a renewal form does not come back. The planner above turns the rules into dates for your own approval, so the form is expected before it comes.

The calendar file is made here in your browser, and your phone or computer keeps it, with a reminder 3 days before each date. We never see it, and we never ask for a phone number or an email address to remind you. If you would rather have paper, print the list instead.

Your own notices give the real days. The rules let each state choose some things for itself, such as how long a SNAP approval lasts and which reporting system it uses, and the planner says where that is so.

When do I renew SNAP?

When your approval period, which SNAP calls a certification period, ends. It can last no more than 12 months, or up to 24 months when every adult in the household is 60 or older or has a disability (with a contact at least every 12 months). States should give at least 6 months unless a household’s situation is unsettled (7 CFR 273.10(f)). Your approval notice says how long yours is.

• The renewal notice comes in the month before your approval’s last month, not earlier. It gives the day your approval ends, the day to apply by for no gap, the office’s address, your right to a hearing, and a warning that a missed interview can delay or deny SNAP (7 CFR 273.14(b)(1)).
• File by the 15th of your last month. Filed by then, your renewal is on time, and if the office cannot finish within 30 days through its own fault, it must pay a full month for the first month of your new approval (7 CFR 273.14(c)(2), (e)).
• The interview is set so that you have at least 10 days after it to send proof before your approval ends. If your case is held up only because you were given that time, SNAP comes within 5 working days of your proof, not cut short (7 CFR 273.14(b)(3)-(4)).
• Late? Filed within 30 days after your approval ends, it still counts as a renewal, though SNAP for that month starts from the day you file.

You do not have to prove everything again. At renewal the office checks a change in income only if its source changed or the amount changed by more than $50, and a change in medical or utility costs only if it is more than $25; what has not changed is not checked again unless it is incomplete, wrong or out of date (7 CFR 273.2(f)(8)).

What do I have to report to SNAP between renewals?

It depends on the reporting system your state uses for your household; your approval notice says which one (7 CFR 273.12).

Simplified reporting. You report only when your household’s income before tax in a month goes over SNAP’s gross income limit for your household size, which is 130% of the poverty line, measured against your household’s size at your last approval. You report by the 10th day after the end of that month, or 10 days after the pay if fewer than 10 days are left in the month (7 CFR 273.12(a)(5)(v)). The limits for October 1, 2026 to September 30, 2027 are the first column of the table below. If your approval is longer than 6 months, you also file one periodic report between month 4 and month 6; if it is not filed, the state sends a reminder giving 10 days, and no answer ends the case (7 CFR 273.12(a)(5)(iii)). There is one exception. When every adult in the household is 60 or older or has a disability and no one earns money from work, the state may not ask for a periodic report in an approval of 12 months or less, and asks for one report a year in an approval of 13 to 24 months.

Households with someone 60 or older or with a disability only need to pass the net income test. Many states let more households in with a higher gross limit; each state page says.

Sources: SNAP – Fiscal Year 2027 Cost-of-Living Adjustments (memo and tables, signed August 21, 2026) (USDA Food and Nutrition Administration (formerly Food and Nutrition Service)); 7 CFR 273.9 Income and deductions (eCFR up to date as of 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (USDA rule)); 7 CFR 273.10 Determining household eligibility and benefit levels (eCFR 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (USDA rule)); 7 CFR 273.8 Resource eligibility standards (eCFR 2026-10-29) (eCFR / National Archives (USDA rule)); Public Law 119-21 (the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act"), 4 July 2025, Title I Subtitle A "Nutrition", sections 10101-10108 (139 Stat. 81-85) (U.S. Government Publishing Office (govinfo)). Checked October 31, 2026.

Change reporting. You report within 10 days of the day you know of a change: a job starting or stopping, a change in pay or hours if your state asks for it, someone moving in or out, a new address or rent, unearned income (such as Social Security or child support) going up or down by more than a set amount, which changes each year and is on your approval notice, a licensed vehicle, cash or savings reaching the limit, a change in child support you must pay, and for adults under the time limit, work falling below 20 hours a week (7 CFR 273.12(a)(1)).

What happens next: a change that raises your SNAP takes effect no later than the first SNAP issued 10 days after you report it. A change that lowers or ends it needs a notice within 10 days of your report, and the cut starts after that notice’s own 10 days, unless you ask for a hearing. If what you report is unclear, the office must write to you and give you at least 10 days to answer (7 CFR 273.12(c)).

When do I renew Medicaid or CHIP?

Medicaid based on income is renewed once every 12 months, and no more often. Medicaid for people who are older, blind or have a disability is checked at least every 12 months (42 CFR 435.916). From renewals set on or after January 1, 2027, states must renew adults covered through Medicaid expansion every 6 months (Public Law 119-21, sec. 71107). The law leaves out only American Indians and Alaska Natives (and others the Indian Health Service counts as Indian). Other people the work rule leaves out, such as parents of young children or people who are medically frail, still renew every 6 months if they are covered through expansion. How a state moves people who are already covered onto the shorter cycle is its own choice, so watch your mail.

• Renewal from records first. The state must try to renew you with information it already has, without asking you. If it can, you may get only a notice.
• A form, if it needs one. It must be filled in already with what the state knows, and you get at least 30 days from the date on the form to answer. The state may not make you come in for an interview.
• Missed it? If coverage ended because the form or information did not come back, send it within 90 days after coverage ended and the state must look at it again without a new application (42 CFR 435.916(a)(3)).
• The work rule. From January 1, 2027, if you are covered through Medicaid expansion and the rule applies to you, the state checks your hours or income for one or more months since your last renewal, at your renewal; it may check more often (42 CFR 435.556).

Between renewals, the federal rule sets no number of days for reporting a change; your state does, and its notices say. The state must have a way for you to report a change through any of the ways you could apply, and must look at your case again promptly when it learns of one (42 CFR 435.916(c)-(d)).

What about marketplace health insurance?

Report any change that affects your eligibility, such as income, your household, your address or other coverage, within 30 days of the change (45 CFR 155.330(b)). The marketplace checks your eligibility every year and sends a notice early enough for you to answer and change things before the year starts (45 CFR 155.335).

Open enrollment for 2027 coverage on HealthCare.gov runs November 1 to December 15, 2026. A state that runs its own marketplace sets its own dates, ending no later than December 31, 2026; a plan picked by then starts January 1. Outside open enrollment, after an event such as losing other coverage, you generally have 60 days to pick a plan (45 CFR 155.420).

Then, at tax time, the tax credit paid in advance is settled on your return. From tax year 2026, any advance credit above what your income for the year allows is paid back in full, with no cap (Public Law 119-21, sec. 71305). Reporting a raise when it happens is how you avoid a large bill at tax time.

What does SSI need me to report?

Changes in your address, who you live with, your income (also a spouse’s or a parent’s), your savings and things you own, work and marriage. A report is late if it is made more than 10 days after the end of the month the change happened, so wages are reported by the 10th of the next month, every month; SSA may take a penalty from your SSI for a late report (20 CFR 416.714). If SSA asks you in writing for a report and you do not answer within 30 days, it may decide you are not eligible and stop SSI from the next month.

SSA reviews your SSI on a schedule that depends on how likely your situation is to change, and when you report a change (20 CFR 416.204). It writes to you; the planner cannot know the day, so it shows only your monthly wage reports.

If you get Social Security disability (SSDI), tell SSA promptly if you go back to work, change employer, work more or earn more; the rule gives no number of days (20 CFR 404.1588). Its medical reviews come 6 to 18 months after its last decision if your condition is expected to improve, and at least once every 3 years if improvement cannot be predicted (20 CFR 404.1590).

WIC, child care help and housing: when are they checked again?

WIC

Pregnant women are certified through the pregnancy and to the end of the month the baby turns six weeks old; after that, as new mothers, to the end of the sixth month after the birth. Breastfeeding women and babies, and children until their 5th birthday month, are certified about every six months, and a state may allow up to a year. The clinic must tell you at least 15 days before your certification ends (7 CFR 246.7(g), (j)). If the clinic learns your income changed, it checks it again, unless 90 days or less are left.

Child care help

Your state checks your eligibility no sooner than 12 months after the last time. In between, help stays the same while income stays at or below 85% of your state’s median income, and your copay cannot go up, except in a planned step-down. You must report only if income goes over 85% of state median income (and, if your state asks, a lasting stop in work or school). You may report other changes, and the state must act on one that lowers your copay (45 CFR 98.21).

Housing vouchers and public housing

Your housing authority reviews income and who lives with you at least once a year (24 CFR 982.516). Between reviews, it must recheck when your income after deductions rises 10% or more, but it may not count a rise in pay from work unless your rent was lowered at an interim review earlier in the same year. So a raise is usually counted at your yearly review. A higher rent starts after 30 days’ notice; a lower one from the first of the month after the change you reported. Your housing authority’s own written policy says what to report and when.

TANF and energy help

Your state sets when TANF is renewed and how fast changes must be reported. Federal law sets one outside limit: federal TANF money cannot pay a family whose adult has had it for 60 months in all, apart from hardship cases a state may exempt, and a state may set a shorter limit (45 CFR 264.1). Energy help is applied for each heating or cooling season, and your state sets the dates; choose your state in the planner to see its page.

What happens if I do not report a change in time?

• SNAP: SNAP you should not have got is a claim against every adult who was in the household. The state takes it back by cutting your SNAP by $10 or 10% a month, whichever is more, for a mistake, or $20 or 20% for breaking a rule on purpose. Claims go back at least 12 months and never more than 6 years (7 CFR 273.18).
• SSI: an overpayment, taken back at no more than 10% of your income a month unless it came from fraud or hiding facts; you can ask for a lower or a higher rate, and for a waiver if you were not at fault (20 CFR 416.571; 20 CFR 416.550).
• Housing: if you had to report and did not, the higher rent is charged back to the first of the month after the change (24 CFR 982.516(c)(4)). If the housing authority made the mistake and charged you too little, you do not have to repay it.
• The marketplace: paid back in full on your tax return, from tax year 2026.
• Child care help: help paid for a child who met the rules at the last check is not an error just because your situation changed; your state’s rules say the rest.

Rules checked November 1, 2026; SNAP limits checked October 31, 2026.

Questions people ask

How often do I have to renew SNAP?

At the end of your approval period, which is no longer than 12 months, or 24 when every adult is 60 or older or has a disability. File by the 15th of the last month to keep SNAP with no gap.

Is Medicaid renewal every 6 months now?

For adults covered through Medicaid expansion, yes, for renewals set on or after January 1, 2027. The only people the law leaves out are American Indians and Alaska Natives. Children, pregnant women, and people covered in another group (for example a parent group, or because of age or a disability) stay on 12 months.

Do I have to report a raise to SNAP?

On simplified reporting, only if your household’s income before tax in a month goes over SNAP’s gross limit for your size. On change reporting, within 10 days if your state asks for pay changes. Your approval notice says which you are on.

When do I report wages to SSI?

Every month, by the 10th of the next month.

What if I miss my Medicaid renewal?

Send the form or the information within 90 days after coverage ended, and the state must look at it again without a new application.

Does the calendar file send my information anywhere?

No. It is made in your browser and saved by you. Nothing you tick or type is sent to us or kept by this site.

Updated November 1, 2026