The IRS ruled today that cash payments to financially distressed homeowners under federal housing relief programs do not constitute gross income under the general welfare exception (which excludes from income payments under governmental social benefit programs for the promotion of the general welfare). Notice 2011-14, 2011-14 I.R.B. ___ (Mar. 14, 2011). The ruling covers the Treasury Department’s Housing Finance Agency Innovative Fund for the Hardest-Hit Housing Markets and the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Emergency Homeowners’ Loan Program. For more, see Robert W. Wood (Wood & Porter, San Francisco), The General Welfare Exception To Gross Income, 109 Tax Notes 203 (Oct. 10, 2005).