Last updated: November 2026

Child Support Income Withholding Orders (IWOs): The Employer's Guide

This guide is for the employer or payroll office that receives a child support income withholding order. Child support garnishment outranks every other garnishment or levy issued under state law, including a creditor garnishment for credit card debt and a state tax levy. A federal tax levy is not process under state law, and whether it comes first turns on dates. When an Income Withholding Order (IWO) lands on your desk, record the date received and confirm it is on the approved, unaltered form. Then check whether a federal tax levy is already in effect, and if one is, notify the sender before you calculate the withholding.

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: until further notice. If the order is monthly and you run biweekly, withhold the biweekly amount the sender entered under Amounts to Withhold. To check it against an order of $462 per month, the IWO instructions accept multiplying by 12 and dividing 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 United States Code (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 has a federal outer limit: funds must go to the State Disbursement Unit (SDU) within 7 business days of the pay date. The IWO states the number of business days that applies, which can be fewer under the law of the employee's principal place of employment.

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. Take the arrears answer from the IWO's "Arrears greater than 12 weeks?" box: if it does not indicate more than 12 weeks, use the lower percentage.

Disposable earnings means gross pay minus legally required deductions, such as federal income tax, Social Security, Medicare, state income tax, and state unemployment insurance tax. 401(k) contributions, union dues, and charitable deductions usually do not reduce the disposable figure. Health insurance premiums usually do not either, but the state of the employee's principal place of employment can count them as a required deduction, so check that state's rule.

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 of the employee's principal place of employment.

Priority When Multiple Orders Hit the Same Paycheck

There is no single federal priority rule. The CCPA sets none: 29 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) 870.1(a) puts priorities outside the Secretary of Labor's duties, and 870.11(b)(2) leaves priority to state law or other federal law. What support does get is priority over any other legal process under state law, under 42 U.S.C. 666(b)(7).

On the IWO form, a federal tax levy is a case the priority rule does not settle: it tells the employer that if one is in effect, notify the sender. Do that rather than ranking the levy and the support order yourself. If the levy arrives after you are already withholding under the IWO, contact the IRS and tell it a withholding order is already being honored.

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 judgment entered Friday means the levy keeps its place and the support judgment gets no exemption from it. Reverse the dates and the support judgment is exempt.

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 of the state of the employee's principal place of employment, or the method the order specifies. Where that method is pro-rata, two IWOs for $400 and $300 of current support weekly against a $576 ceiling give $329 toward the first and $247 toward the second.

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 in the state of the employee's principal place of employment.

If the employee leaves, withhold from the final paycheck. Then promptly return the IWO's Notification of Employment Termination or Income Status section with the last known address, the final payment date and amount, and any new employer.

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 the law of the employee's principal place of employment. Check that state before you charge it. The fee and the support together cannot exceed the withholding limit.

You must give the employee a copy of the IWO 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 fire, discipline, demote, or refuse to hire a worker because of an IWO. The fine for doing so is set by state or tribal law, and 42 U.S.C. 666(b)(6)(D) requires every state to provide one. 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 IWO stays in effect until the issuing agency terminates it. Not when the employee says their kid turned 18. Not when the ex remarries.

Remittance Mechanics and the State Disbursement Unit

Every state is required to operate an SDU, a central office that collects and pays out child support. You send money to the SDU address on the order, even if the order came from a different state.

Whether a paper check is accepted is up to the SDU named on the IWO, so ask that SDU before you mail one. If you have the choice, pay electronically.

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

If the IWO directs payment anywhere other than an SDU or a tribal payee, check its Return to Sender box and return it to the sender. A tribal order is paid to the tribal payee named on the form, because tribes do not operate state disbursement units.

Mistakes That Cost Real Money

First, treating the IWO as advisory until the employee confirms it. You must withhold under the IWO without the employee's agreement.

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. Check the disposable earnings base, the current withholding amount against the lower of the CCPA ceiling and the state limit, and the SDU address against the latest IWO. If your payroll setup does not match, correct the setup before the next payroll run.

Build an intake checklist. Date received, form checked against the approved IWO, federal tax levy checked, date of first affected paycheck, frequency conversion math, IWO copy to the employee where required, first remittance confirmed. Keep it with the order in a locked human resources (HR) file. If the employee leaves, how long to keep the IWO on file varies from state to state. The Office of Child Support Enforcement's State Income Withholding Requirements matrix lists each state's rule. Keep the IWO on file through a temporary layoff.

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, contact the sender named on the IWO. To compare it against the approved form, 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 obligations by order type page.

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