TDIU Marginal Employment: Income Records and the Poverty Threshold

For TDIU (Total Disability based on Individual Unemployability), work is marginal employment when your earned annual income does not exceed the Census Bureau's poverty threshold for one person, and marginal work does not count as substantially gainful employment under 38 C.F.R. 4.16(a). Compare each year's earned income with that year's Census figure, which for one person under 65 was $16,749 in 2025, not with a single pay stub or an HHS poverty guideline.

Income at or below the threshold does not prove TDIU by itself. You still need evidence that service-connected disabilities prevent substantially gainful work; the TDIU eligibility guide covers the rating and employment rules.

Census poverty thresholds for one person, 2020 to 2025

Source: the Census Bureau's annual "Poverty Thresholds by Size of Family and Number of Related Children Under 18 Years" tables, linked from its historical poverty thresholds page, checked September 23, 2026. The under-65 figures come from the table's no-children column. The 2025 table is the latest Census lists; there is no 2026 threshold yet.

Both 4.16(a) and VA's claims manual (M21-1, Part VIII, Subpart iv, Chapter 3, Section A) say "the poverty threshold for one person" and point to this Census page without naming a row. The under-65 figure and the weighted average differ by $294 to $419 a year in this table. If your earned income falls between them, say so in your statement and ask an accredited representative how VA applied the threshold in your decision.

HHS poverty guidelines are a different figure. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) publishes poverty guidelines, a simplified version of the thresholds used to set eligibility for some federal programs. The one-person guideline for the 48 contiguous states and the District of Columbia was $15,060 for 2024, $15,650 for 2025 and $15,960 for 2026. Some TDIU guides quote these numbers as the "poverty threshold," but 4.16(a) names the Census threshold. Social Security's monthly substantial gainful activity amount is a third, unrelated figure.

Use the year being reviewed

Make one row for each calendar year or period VA is evaluating:

Do not add income across years and compare the total with one year's threshold. List overlapping jobs, bonuses, tips, commissions and self-employment separately before you total a year. If a tax year includes work before and after the period at issue, show the dates and ask how VA treated them. Form 21-8940 also asks for highest gross earnings per month for each job (item 18) and earned income for the past 12 months (item 20), which are different windows from a calendar-year threshold.

Preserve the records behind the arithmetic

W-2s and pay stubs establish wages, but a final stub may leave out another job or late pay. Social Security's free online Statement shows yearly earnings totals without employer names; an itemized statement that lists employers is available with Form SSA-7050 for a fee. Check both against employer records, because yearly totals say nothing about duties, absences or special conditions.

For self-employment, business revenue, net profit and the pay you actually take out are different figures, and a net loss does not settle the TDIU question. Record which figure came from which document; self-employment records for TDIU covers the work side of a business.

Fictional example: a veteran has part-time wages from one employer and a short second job in the same year. Comparing only the first employer's W-2 with the Census table understates earned income. The worksheet keeps both jobs, the right year's threshold and the reason each role changed.

A Board example: $200 a month

In Board decision A25094783 (October 31, 2025), the veteran had reported self-employed information technology work of about two hours a week for $200 a month until April 2022. At that rate a full year comes to $2,400, far below every figure in the table above. The Board of Veterans' Appeals called the work marginal employment in one sentence, without a threshold calculation, and granted an earlier TDIU effective date. Small, steady earnings still belong on the form, with the hours and pay stated plainly.

If your income was above the threshold

Earning more than the threshold does not end every case. VA can still find marginal employment "on a facts found basis," meaning from the facts of the job, and the regulation names a protected work environment as its example. What counts as a protected work environment and how to document it covers that separate question, including the court's definition.

Keep passive or nonwork income, such as investment income, separate from earned work income, and ask about any disputed classification. Do not cut work, hide earnings or change a tax return to fit a claim. If you receive TDIU and VA asks you to verify employment, follow VA's verification instructions and the notice you received.

Sources and scope

Checked September 23, 2026: the Census annual threshold tables for 2020 to 2025 on the historical poverty thresholds page, the HHS poverty guidelines and its prior-year list, 38 C.F.R. 4.16(a), M21-1, Part VIII, Subpart iv, Chapter 3, Section A, Form 21-8940, the Social Security Administration's Form SSA-7050 page and Board decision A25094783. The two-job example is fictional.