Garnishment Deductions for the US

Wage garnishment occurs when you're required to withhold the earnings of an employee for the payment of a debt.

The garnishment is in accordance with a court order or other legal or equitable procedure.

Payroll Processing

Some states have rules that restrict the processing of a person's Garnishment deduction to one deduction per state per payroll period.

After the Garnishment deduction is satisfied, on the next pay cycle, the payroll process starts the next Garnishment deduction based on the element's subprocessing order.

The deduction is considered satisfied when:

Deduction is end dated
Time limit is met
Total owed is met

Calculate Order Amount or Rate

Before the payroll process can calculate the deduction, decide how you want the deduction amount processed.

To calculate by	Do this
Order amount	Add the <state name> Garnishment Order Amount calculation value on the appropriate component of the person's Involuntary Deductions card.
Order rate	Add the <state name> Garnishment Order Rate calculation value on the appropriate component of the person's Involuntary Deductions card.
State maximum	This is the default behavior. If you don't add an order amount or order rate calculation value, the payroll process applies the maximum allowed order rate as defined by state rules.

To calculate by

Do this

Order amount

Add the <state name> Garnishment Order Amount calculation value on the appropriate component of the person's Involuntary Deductions card.

Order rate

Add the <state name> Garnishment Order Rate calculation value on the appropriate component of the person's Involuntary Deductions card.

State maximum

This is the default behavior.

If you don't add an order amount or order rate calculation value, the payroll process applies the maximum allowed order rate as defined by state rules.

General Considerations

When defining garnishment deductions elements, use the Garnishment secondary classification. There are also some special considerations related to these elements.

In this case	What you need to do
Dependent exemptions for Virginia	Use the Calculation Value Definitions task to define garnishment exemptions for dependents. You can set these exemptions. Virginia Garnishment Exemption Amount for One Dependent Virginia Garnishment Exemption Amount for Two Dependents Virginia Garnishment Exemption Amount for Three or More Dependents For further info, see Set Legislative Rule Overrides for Involuntary Deductions for the US in the Help Center.
Garnishment processing fees for Indiana	Indiana's processing fee can be the greater of: $12 3% of the total owed as set by the order The payroll process determines the fee amount to deduct. If 3% of the total owed is greater, the process deducts $12 per pay period until the total fee due is met. To deduct the total fee due in one payment, use the Indiana Garnishment Processing Fee Per Pay Period Amount override. For further info, see Overview of Involuntary Deduction Overrides for the US on the Help Center.
Garnishment processing fees for Oregon	Oregon requires you collect the total processing fees after the order is satisfied. In these cases, determine the amount to be deducted and configure a voluntary deduction.
Garnishments for Kansas	Set Suspend Involuntary Deduction Processing to Yes for an order when: The order has met the total owed. The agency hasn't released the order. The employee has one or more additional active garnishments from Kansas. This prevents the unreleased order from contributing to the state's multiple order divide equally rule.
Garnishments for Nevada	The Nevada garnishment exemption percentage is predefined as 75%. Nevada's writ of garnishment rules dictate, if the employee's gross weekly salary is less than $770, you must override the exemption percentage to 82%.
Head-of-Household filing status	Some states require the Head-of-Household filing status designation to calculate the correct exemption amounts. Set this designation in Filing Status on the US Involuntary Deduction Data calculation component details. For further info, see Configure Involuntary Deduction Details for the US in the Help Center.
Landlord debts for Pennsylvania	For Pennsylvania landlord debts, use the Garnishment secondary element classification.
Maximum withholding duration days for Ohio	There's no maximum withholding duration for single orders issued from Ohio. When you receive a second garnishment for the employee from Ohio, they mandate a 182-day maximum withholding duration for the first order. Use the Calculation Cards task to add Ohio Garnishment Maximum Withholding Duration Days to the card and set it to `182` for the first order. Note: The Ohio Garnishment Maximum Withholding Duration Days for Multiple Orders calculation value is informational only. Entering a value here has no impact on processing the deduction.
Maximum withholding duration days for Oregon	Oregon garnishments and creditor debts have a maximum withholding duration of 90 days. For orders issued from Oregon county agencies, there's no maximum withholding duration, so you must set the override value to `0`.
Maximum withholding duration days for Utah	The maximum withholding duration for single orders issued from Utah is 365 days. If you receive a second garnishment order from Utah for this employee, adjust the first order's maximum withholding days to 120 days after the receipt of the new order. Use the Calculation Cards task to enter an appropriate value for the Maximum Withholding Duration Days calculation value. For further info, see Overview of Involuntary Deduction Overrides for the US on the Help Center.
Nonconsumer orders for Iowa	Use the Garnishment secondary element classification for Iowa nonconsumer orders. You can set the Iowa Garnishment Estimated Annual Gross Earnings override to enforce the Iowa maximum annual withholding limits per year. If not set, the calculations follow the federal garnishment limits. For consumer orders, use the Creditor Debt classification. For further info, see Creditor Debt Deductions in the Help Center.
Nonconsumer orders for Washington	Use the Garnishment secondary element classification for Washington nonconsumer orders. For consumer orders, use the Creditor Debt classification. For further info, see Creditor Debt Deductions in the Help Center.
States that don't allow garnishments	These states don't allow garnishments and won't deduct anything in a payroll process. New Hampshire South Carolina Texas Note: If you define a garnishment for one of these states and attempt to process it in a payroll, the process ignores it. You will receive a message stating this deduction isn't allowed.
Student loans for North Carolina	Use the Garnishment secondary classification to process North Carolina student loans.