Last updated: October 2026

Child Support Garnishment: The Employer Playbook

Child support garnishment outranks every wage attachment that runs on state law. Not credit cards. Not state tax levies. A federal tax levy is the exception. When an Income Withholding Order (IWO) lands on your desk, calculate it first, then check whether a federal levy is already in effect before assuming the support order wins.

What an Income Withholding Order Actually Requires

The form is federal: Office of Management and Budget (OMB) No. 0970-0154, the standardized IWO. If the sender did not use the approved form, or altered its text, return it to the sender.

A valid IWO tells you five things: the employee's name, the dollar amount per pay period, where to send the money, when to start, and how long to keep going. If the order says $462 per month and you run biweekly, an acceptable method is to multiply by 12 and divide by 26.

The IWO carries the start deadline on its face, in a field the sender fills in from the law of the employee's principal place of employment. For an order from another state, 42 U.S.C. 666(b)(6)(A)(i) sends you to that same law for the time period to implement the order. Read it off the form rather than applying a rule of thumb. Remittance is federal: funds must go to the state disbursement unit (SDU) within 7 business days of the paycheck. Your state may tighten that window, so check your own state's rule.

The 50 to 65 Percent Child Support Garnishment Ceiling

The Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) sets the withholding cap, and it is not the 25% figure that applies to ordinary creditor orders. Title III of the CCPA allows deductions for support obligations up to these exact limits on disposable earnings:

The cap is 50 percent when the worker supports a second family and is not more than 12 weeks in arrears. The rate rises to 55 percent if that same worker is more than 12 weeks in arrears. Without a second family, the ceiling is 60 percent, or 65 percent with more than 12 weeks in arrears. Those four numbers are the only ceilings the federal statute recognizes.

Disposable earnings means gross pay minus legally required deductions: federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, and state unemployment insurance tax. Health insurance, 401(k) contributions, union dues, and charitable deductions usually do not reduce the disposable figure.

A worker earning $1,200 gross per week with $240 in required taxes has $960 in disposable earnings. The maximum that can be withheld for a worker with no second family and no more than 12 weeks of arrears is $576. If the order says $650, you withhold $576.

Under 15 U.S.C. 1677 a state may cap lower than the federal ceiling, and where it does the state number is the one you use. Check the limit in the state where your employee works.

Priority When Multiple Orders Hit the Same Paycheck

There is no single federal priority rule. The CCPA sets none: 29 CFR 870.1(a) puts priorities outside the Secretary's duties, and 29 CFR 870.11(b)(2) says priority is determined by state law or by another federal statute. What support does get is priority over any other legal process under state law, under 42 U.S.C. 666(b)(7). That reaches creditor garnishments and state tax levies. It does not reach a federal tax levy.

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) gives way only to a support judgment entered before the date of levy. That is the test in 26 U.S.C. 6334(a)(8), and it turns on dates rather than on the type of order. A federal tax levy served Monday and a support order entered Friday means the levy keeps its place and the support order gets no exemption from it. Reverse the dates and the support judgment is exempt. The IWO form treats this as a case the priority rule does not settle: it tells the employer that if a federal tax levy is in effect, notify the sender. Do that rather than ranking the two yourself.

What happens with two support orders on one worker? The total still cannot exceed the CCPA ceiling in 15 U.S.C. 1673(b). Under 45 CFR 303.100(a)(5), the state allocates the available amount giving priority to current support, and it sets the procedure for dividing support among families. Apply the method your state or the order specifies. Where that method is pro-rata, two IWOs for $400 and $300 of current support weekly against a $576 disposable ceiling give $329 toward the first and $247 toward the second.

Read the order.

The Employer Liability Trap

Under 42 U.S.C. 666(b)(6)(C), an employer who fails to withhold under a valid IWO becomes liable to the state for the full amount that should have been withheld. Not a penalty. The actual missed support.

State law can add a penalty on top of that federal liability, and the form and size of it are set by the state. Look up the exposure where your employee works.

If the employee leaves, you must promptly return the termination section of the IWO with the last known address.

Fees, Notice, and the Employee Conversation

Whether you may charge the worker an administrative fee for processing the withholding, and how much, is set by state law, so check your state before you charge it.

You must give the employee a copy of the order when it comes from another state or its copy box is checked. Hand them the paperwork and point them to the agency or court that issued it.

Do not discipline, demote, or fire a worker because of a support order. Under the IWO regime the fine is set by state or tribal law, which is what the IWO form says and what 42 U.S.C. 666(b)(6)(D) requires states to provide for. Separately, 15 U.S.C. 1674(b) makes a willful discharge for one indebtedness punishable by a fine of not more than $1,000, imprisonment of not more than a year, or both. That $1,000 is a ceiling on the federal criminal fine, not a floor on what you will pay.

The order stays active until the issuing agency sends a termination notice. Not when the employee says their kid turned 18. Not when the ex remarries.

Remittance Mechanics and the State Disbursement Unit

Every state operates an SDU that receives support payments and routes them to custodial parents. You send money to the SDU address on the order, even if the order came from a different state.

Whether your state accepts a paper check is a state rule, so check your own state before assuming a check is acceptable. If you have the choice, pay electronically.

Include the Remittance ID from the order and the date you withheld the support on every remittance.

Confirm the payee with the agency or court that issued the order before the first remittance. A tribal order in particular may not route through the statewide SDU.

Mistakes That Cost Real Money

First, treating the IWO as advisory until the employee confirms it. The order is self-executing.

Second, using gross pay instead of disposable earnings as the CCPA base.

Third, paying the custodial parent directly because the worker asked you to. Do not.

Your Action Steps This Week

Pull every active IWO in your files and verify three things per order: the disposable earnings base, the current withholding amount against the CCPA ceiling, and the SDU address. If any of those are stale, fix them before the next payroll run.

Build an intake checklist. Date received, date of first affected paycheck, frequency conversion math, employee notification sent, first remittance confirmed. Keep it with the order in a locked human resources (HR) file, and set the retention period from your state's record-keeping rule rather than a national default.

Confirm your payroll software routes child support to a separate general ledger account. Mixed in with creditor garnishments, it gets harder to audit and harder to defend if a state agency questions a late payment.

When the order itself looks wrong, go to the source: the federal Office of Child Support Enforcement income withholding page publishes the current IWO form.

If you are dealing with a worker who has multiple orders, stacked levies, or a contested balance, read our guide on employer garnishment obligations before your next pay run. For a worker asking how to fight an order, point them to how to stop wage garnishment. The full picture lives on the wage garnishment hub. If the worker crosses state lines for work, confirm withholding jurisdiction on our multi-state payroll guide first.

This is not legal or financial advice. Consult a qualified professional for your specific situation.