This article explores empirical evidences on the implementation of the "new" federal income-transfer programs, using micro-data from the National Annual Household Sample Survey. Besides the incompatibility between official registers and household information, these ones reveal a strong overlapping of federal programs in September 2004. Given the eligibility criteria of the Bolsa-família Program, its characteristics in terms of coverage and targeting were analyzed, which allowed for estimating the size of the eligible but not benefited clientele - around 5 million households. Imputing the monetary transfer to the entire eligible but not beneficiary households generated a new income distribution, which served as basis for measuring the expected impact on income-based poverty and inequality indicators.
income transfer; income; inequality; poverty; social program