Income Limitations

• The federal law that regulates wage garnishments is Title III of the Consumer Credit Protection Act. According to the act, the amount of your earnings per pay period that is equal to 30 times the current federal minimum wage is exempt from any type of garnishment. For example if the minimum wage is $9 per hour, $270 ($9 *30), less taxes, is not subject to garnishment. In this example, any amount over $270 less taxes is considered disposable income and subject to garnishment. Disposable income is your earnings after deducting state and federal taxes and does not include voluntary deductions such as health insurance, retirement plan contributions and union dues.
  
  

Garnishment Limits

• If you have child support order for children from a previous relationship but are currently supporting a family, the garnishment limit is 50 percent of your non-exempt disposable income per pay period. If you are more than 12 weeks behind on your payments, federal laws permit a garnishment of up to 55 percent of your non-exempt disposable income.
  
  If you do not currently support a family, the garnishment limit for child support arrearages increases 60 percent of your non-exempt disposable income per pay period. If you are more than 12 weeks behind on your payments, the limit increases 65 percent of your non-exempt disposable income.
  
  

State Income Tax Refund Garnishment

• Your state tax refund is subject to garnishment for child support arrearages. State agencies refer to this process as a tax refund offset. The agency servicing your child support payments is not required to take you to court before garnishing state tax refund check. The agency servicing your child support payments must send you a notification of the garnishment of your state tax refund. The state agency refunds any amount of your state tax refund remaining after the garnishment deduction, to you.
  
  

Federal Income Tax Refund Garnishment

• You must be at least $500 behind on your payments before your federal tax refunds are subject to garnishment. In this case, the state agency sends a request to offset your federal tax refund to the Federal Office of Child Support Enforcement. Financial Management Service or FMS, a division of the Department of the Treasury then intercepts your federal tax refund check. FMS refunds any amount of your federal tax refund remaining after the garnishment deduction, to you.