Wage garnishment limits, priority, deadlines and duties for employers
An employer that receives a wage garnishment withholds the amount the order directs, within the limit that applies to that type of order, and sends it where the order directs. The limit, the deadline and the priority differ for creditor garnishments, child support orders, IRS levies and federal agency debts, and federal law bars firing an employee whose earnings are garnished for any one debt.
Employer limits and duties by order type
As of October 2026, at the $7.25 federal minimum wage, the limit and the timing differ by order type.
Order type
Limit on the amount withheld
Timing
Ordinary creditor garnishment, meaning one not for support, a state or federal tax or certain chapter 13 bankruptcy court orders
Weekly, the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed $217.50, which is 30 times $7.25
DOL says other garnishment questions go to the court or agency that started the garnishment
Child support or alimony income withholding order
50 or 60 percent of disposable earnings depending on whether the employee supports another spouse or dependent child, rising to 55 or 65 percent for support payments more than 12 weeks in arrears
Send the payment within seven business days, at the most, of paying wages; the state where the employee works may set a shorter time
IRS wage levy
The employer pays the employee the amount exempt from levy; Publication 1494 (Rev. 12-2025) has the 2026 tables
Employers generally have at least one full pay period after receiving the levy before they must send funds
Education Department student loan or other federal agency order
Up to 15 percent of disposable pay, or a greater percentage with the debtor’s written consent
The order states a reasonable period within which the employer must start withholding, and the employer must promptly pay what it withholds
What is a wage garnishment, and where does an employer’s duty to withhold come from?
A wage garnishment is a legal or equitable procedure that requires part of a person’s earnings to be withheld to pay a debt, and the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) says most garnishments are court orders, with tax levies and federal agency garnishments for non-tax debts among the other types (DOL Fact Sheet 30). A voluntary wage assignment is not a garnishment.
Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) limits how much of an employee’s earnings an employer may withhold under a garnishment and bars firing an employee whose earnings are garnished for any one debt, but it does not set the priority among garnishments, which state law or other federal laws determine. The duty to withhold comes from the order and the law behind it.
Child support orders and federal agency orders define the amount subject to withholding differently from the CCPA, so an employer reads the order and its governing rule rather than using one formula for every order.
How much can an employer garnish from a paycheck?
For an ordinary garnishment, meaning one that is not for support, bankruptcy or a state or federal tax, the most an employer may withhold in a workweek is the lesser of 25 percent of the employee’s disposable earnings or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage, which at $7.25 an hour is $217.50 a week.
For an ordinary garnishment at the current $7.25 federal minimum wage, weekly disposable earnings of $217.50 (30 times $7.25) or less allow no garnishment, earnings above $217.50 but below $290.00 (40 times $7.25) allow only the amount above $217.50, and earnings of $290.00 or more allow 25 percent, because 25 percent of $290.00 is $72.50, the same as $290.00 minus $217.50. For a pay period longer than a week, DOL says to use multiples of the weekly restrictions.
Hypothetical example at the $7.25 federal minimum wage. Weekly disposable earnings of $800.00 allow $200.00, because 25 percent of $800.00 is $200.00, which is less than $800.00 minus $217.50 ($582.50).
The limit is the maximum for a workweek or pay period regardless of the number of garnishment orders, and it does not apply to support orders issued by a court or under a state administrative procedure with substantial due process and judicial review, certain chapter 13 bankruptcy court orders or debts due for a state or federal tax (15 USC 1673; DOL Fact Sheet 30).
What counts as disposable earnings, and how do benefits and retirement contributions affect them?
Under the CCPA, disposable earnings are the earnings left after deductions required by law, such as taxes and the employee’s share of Social Security and Medicare, and deductions that are not required by law, such as voluntary health insurance premiums, union dues and voluntary retirement plan contributions, generally are not subtracted (15 USC 1672; DOL Fact Sheet 30). Earnings include wages, salary, commissions, bonuses and periodic pension payments, and DOL says lump sums such as bonuses and severance pay count when paid for the employee’s services.
Child support uses a different base, which the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) calls disposable income, meaning gross pay minus mandatory deductions as the law of the state where the employee works defines them. HHS says pre-tax deductions such as 401(k) contributions do not reduce it, and health insurance premiums may be included in a state’s mandatory deductions (HHS). In a hypothetical example, $1,000 of gross pay, a $100 pre-tax 401(k) contribution and $250 of mandatory deductions leave $750 of disposable income, which is 1,000 minus 250.
Federal agency orders use disposable pay, which the Education Department and Treasury regulations define as compensation left after deducting health insurance premiums and amounts required by law to be withheld. An IRS levy is not computed on any of these three bases.
What are the limits for child support and alimony withholding?
A child support or alimony order may take up to 50 percent of disposable earnings if the employee is supporting another spouse or dependent child and up to 60 percent if not, rising to 55 and 65 percent for support payments more than 12 weeks in arrears.
The statute words the first condition as supporting a spouse or dependent child other than the one the order covers, and the extra 5 percentage points apply only to support for a period before the 12 weeks that end at the start of the workweek (15 USC 1673). When the order does not show arrears of more than 12 weeks, the income withholding form says to use the lower percentage. HHS says the applicable percentage of disposable income is the most the employer can withhold, even if the order specifies more.
Hypothetical example. At $700.00 of weekly disposable earnings, the ceilings are $350.00 at 50 percent, $385.00 at 55 percent, $420.00 at 60 percent and $455.00 at 65 percent.
What must an employer do when it receives an income withholding order for child support?
An employer must honor an income withholding order for child support when the sender uses the federal Income Withholding for Support form and the order is regular on its face, and the employer cannot contest the order, because only the noncustodial parent can dispute its terms with the issuing agency or tribunal (HHS). HHS lists these steps on receipt.
* Decide whether the person is an employee, and notify the sender if the person has left the company or was not employed there at all.
* Decide whether the order is regular on its face, and if it is not, check “Return to Sender” and return it.
* Get the underlying support order when the sender is not a court or child support agency, and return the withholding order if the copy is not attached.
* Give the employee a copy if another state issued the order or the copy-to-employee box is checked.
An order is regular on its face when it is payable to the state disbursement unit (SDU), shows a dollar amount to withhold, lists OMB 0970-0154, has an unaltered form and, if the sender is not a court or a state or tribal child support agency, includes the underlying order (HHS; IWO instructions). HHS says an order for a nonemployee the employer pays, such as an independent contractor, requires withholding from those payments.
How soon must an employer start withholding and send the child support payment?
An employer must send withheld child support within seven business days, at the most, of paying wages to the employee, and the state where the employee works may set a shorter time (HHS).
The federal form sets the start as no later than the first pay period that occurs a stated number of days after the order was served, received or mailed, and the sender fills in that number, so no single national number applies. When the employee works in a different state from the one that issued the order, the work state’s law governs when to begin withholding, when to send payments, which deductions are mandatory, the maximum to withhold within the CCPA limits, the priority and allocation among support orders and the employer’s fee, while the issuing state’s law governs the duration and amount of support and where to send payments (HHS; 42 USC 666).
As of October 2026, HHS says to send the payment to the SDU named in the order’s Remittance Information section, with exceptions for tribal and some older orders, and to include the Remittance ID and the date withheld. Payments cannot go through the OCSE Child Support Portal.
Can an employer charge a fee for processing a withholding order?
For a child support income withholding order, the state may include in the notice a fee for the employer, set by the state, that the employer deducts from the amount it withholds and keeps unless it waives the fee, and the law of the state where the employee works sets the amount (42 USC 666).
The HHS state matrix lists each state’s rule on the employer fee.
The support, any arrears and the fee together may not exceed the CCPA limit, and HHS says the employer may then take the entire fee and pay less support than the order says, with the unpaid support becoming arrears.
What must an employer do when the IRS sends a wage levy?
An IRS wage levy stays in effect until the IRS releases it; the employer pays the employee the amount exempt from levy; and employers generally have at least one full pay period after receiving the levy before they must send funds (IRS).
The IRS says an employer that receives a levy must turn over to the IRS any property it has that belongs to the person levied against, and it generally uses Form 668-W(ICS) or 668-W(ACS) to levy wages and salary. The levy attaches continuously, so the employer sends part of the wages each pay period until the taxpayer makes other arrangements with the IRS, the tax is paid or the levy is released (IRS; 26 USC 6331).
The IRS’s internal manual, which describes IRS procedure rather than employer instructions, says employers generally should not allow new voluntary deductions after receiving a levy.
How is the exempt amount for an IRS wage levy figured?
The IRS calculates the exempt amount from the standard deduction and an amount based in part on the number of dependents allowed for the year the levy is served, and Publication 1494, mailed with the levy, explains to the employer how to compute it (IRS).
The levy includes a Statement of Dependents and Filing Status. The employer gives it to the employee to complete and return within three days, and if it does not come back in three days, the exempt amount is figured as married filing separately with no dependents. The IRS’s internal manual says the employer uses this statement, not the employee’s Form W-4.
Hypothetical example. Under the 2026 tables in Publication 1494 (Rev. 12-2025), a single filer paid weekly has $309.62 exempt with no dependents on the statement and $615.38 exempt with three. The table prints $619.23 for a biweekly single filer with no dependents, not twice $309.62 ($619.24), so the printed figure is the one to use.
How does an employer handle a student loan or other federal debt garnishment?
For defaulted federal debts, including student loans, federal law lets the agency garnish up to 15 percent of disposable pay, and the employer must withhold as the withholding order directs. A greater percentage requires the debtor’s written consent (31 USC 3720D; 20 USC 1095a).
On January 16, 2026, the Education Department announced a delay of involuntary collections on federal student loans, including administrative wage garnishment, and its announcement page, last reviewed August 27, 2026, calls the delay temporary and gives no restart date. The duties below come from the Department’s rule and apply if an employer receives a garnishment order from the Department.
Under 34 CFR part 34, the employer withholds each pay period the lesser of the amount directed or the amount by which disposable pay exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage, returns the employer certification within the time its instructions state, starts within the reasonable period the order states, promptly pays what it withholds and may follow its normal pay and disbursement cycles.
What is the priority when an employee has more than one garnishment?
The CCPA has no priority rule; for child support, HHS says an employer must honor an income withholding order before other garnishments, except an IRS tax levy entered before the underlying child support order (HHS). HHS says to contact the issuing child support agency when an order arrives and a levy is already in place, and the IRS when a levy arrives and an order is already being honored.
Under the Education Department rule, an Education order is paid before later garnishment orders, except a family support withholding order, unless other federal law requires a different priority (34 CFR part 34). Under the Treasury rule, unless federal law provides otherwise, an agency order has priority over withholding orders served later in time, and family support orders have priority over it (31 CFR 285.11). For ordinary creditor garnishments, DOL says priority questions go to the court or agency that started the garnishment.
HHS says to honor only the first order for one child’s current support, and the work state’s law sets the allocation among orders for different children.
Can an employer fire an employee because of a garnishment?
Federal law bars an employer from firing an employee whose earnings are garnished for any one debt, and Title III does not protect an employee from discharge for a second or later debt, although state law may (DOL Employment Law Guide).
Other order types carry their own bars. For child support, federal law requires each state to provide for a fine against an employer that discharges, refuses to employ or disciplines a noncustodial parent because of the withholding (42 USC 666). An employer may not discharge, refuse to employ or discipline a debtor because of a federal agency order, and the debtor may sue the employer (20 USC 1095a; 31 USC 3720D). For an IRS levy, the IRS’s internal manual says firing an employee to avoid handling a levy might violate 15 USC 1674 and that DOL, not the IRS, decides whether the employer violated the law.
As the statute reads, a willful violation of the discharge ban carries a fine of not more than $1,000, up to one year in prison, or both (15 USC 1674).
What happens if an employer does not withhold or send the money?
Liability for failing to withhold comes from the law behind each order type, not from the CCPA, and it differs for child support, IRS levies and federal agency orders.
For child support, the statute says the employer must be held liable to the state for any amount it fails to withhold after proper notice, and HHS says employers that do not withhold and send payments as ordered are subject to penalties in every state (HHS; 42 USC 666). The statute also says an employer that complies with a notice regular on its face is not subject to civil liability to any individual or agency for conduct in compliance with the notice.
For an IRS levy, a person that fails or refuses to surrender property on demand is liable to the United States for its value, up to the taxes for which the levy was made, plus costs and interest, and owes a penalty equal to 50 percent of the amount recoverable if the failure is without reasonable cause. Surrender discharges the person from liability to the delinquent taxpayer for that surrender (26 USC 6332).
For a federal agency order, the statutes make the employer liable for any amount it fails to withhold after notice, plus attorneys’ fees, costs and, at the court’s discretion, punitive damages (31 USC 3720D).
Do state laws change the federal limits?
If a state’s garnishment law differs from the CCPA, the employer must follow the law that results in the lower amount being garnished. The CCPA leaves in place state laws that bar garnishment or allow more limited garnishment (15 USC 1677), so limits vary by state. DOL says federal agency garnishments are subject to the CCPA’s wage garnishment provisions but not state garnishment laws (DOL Fact Sheet 30). For child support, the HHS state matrix lists each state’s income withholding requirements.
As of October 2026, for ordinary judgment-creditor garnishment, the Texas Constitution says current wages for personal service are not subject to garnishment, except to enforce court-ordered child support or spousal maintenance (Article XVI, Section 28), and California sets a different weekly limit for a judgment debtor (CCP 706.050).
What should an employer do when an employee with a garnishment leaves, and what records apply?
For a child support income withholding order, the employer continues to withhold through the final paycheck and reports the termination to the issuing agency, court or attorney as soon as possible, using section VII of the order, e-IWO or the eTerm application (HHS terminations page; HHS).
For a temporary layoff, how long to keep the order varies by state. Withholding ends on notice from the sender for child support and federal agency orders, and on release by the IRS for a wage levy.
The DOL Employment Law Guide, dated December 2016, says Title III has no recordkeeping, reporting or poster requirements, a statement about Title III only. For child support, HHS says to document the date the order was received and to itemize the amount and date withheld for each employee on a combined payment.
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