How Federal Wage Garnishment Limits Work Under the CCPA

Federal wage garnishment limits cap what a creditor can take from your paycheck for an ordinary debt at 25% of your disposable earnings, or the amount by which those earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever leaves more money in your pocket. That floor works out to $217.50 per week at the current $7.25 federal minimum wage. Different rules apply to child support, defaulted federal student loans, and IRS tax debts, and your state may protect more of your income than federal law does.

What Counts as Disposable Earnings

Every federal garnishment cap runs against one number: your disposable earnings. Under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, that is the pay left after your employer withholds amounts required by law — federal, state, and local income taxes, Social Security and Medicare, and any state-mandated deductions like unemployment or disability insurance contributions.¹

Voluntary deductions do not shrink that number, no matter how essential they feel. Health insurance premiums, life insurance, union dues, and 401(k) contributions all stay in the garnishable pool because they are not legally required withholdings. A worker putting $500 a month into a retirement plan still has that $500 counted as disposable income for garnishment purposes.¹

“Earnings” also reaches well beyond base salary. Commissions, discretionary and performance bonuses, severance, profit-sharing, periodic pension or retirement payments, workers’ compensation wage replacement, and retroactive merit increases all qualify. The test is whether the employer paid the amount in exchange for your personal services. Tips are treated differently: only the cash wages your employer pays directly, plus any tip credit the employer claims, count. Tips you receive above those amounts fall outside the CCPA garnishment calculation.² Educational assistance payments under IRS Code Section 127 are also excluded.

The 25% Cap for Ordinary Debts

For credit card balances, personal loans, medical bills, and other consumer debts, your employer runs two calculations and withholds whichever is smaller:

25% of disposable earnings for the pay period, or
The amount by which disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage — $217.50 per week.³⁴

That produces three tiers. If your weekly disposable earnings are $217.50 or less, nothing can be garnished. Between $217.51 and $290, only the amount above $217.50 can be taken. Once disposable earnings pass $290 a week, the flat 25% cap kicks in. At $400 a week, a creditor can take $100. At $600, the maximum is $150.

Multiple Creditors Do Not Multiply the Cap

Owing several creditors does not stack the percentages. The 25% ceiling applies to the total amount garnished across all ordinary debt orders combined.² When two creditors both have orders against you, the employer divides the allowable amount between them under state priority rules or in the order the garnishments arrived. One creditor never gets 25% while a second gets another 25% on top.

Higher Caps for Child Support and Alimony

Support obligations override the ordinary caps. The percentages climb sharply:

50% of disposable earnings if you are currently supporting another spouse or a dependent child not covered by the order
60% if you are not supporting anyone else

Both figures rise by another 5 percentage points when the arrears are more than 12 weeks old. A worker with no other dependents who is behind by more than 12 weeks can see up to 65% of disposable earnings garnished.³ The $217.50 weekly floor that protects low-wage earners from ordinary garnishment does not apply to support orders.

Student Loans and Other Federal Non-Tax Debts

Defaulted federal student loans run on a separate track. The Department of Education can garnish up to 15% of your disposable pay through administrative wage garnishment, without a court order.⁵ After a multi-year pause, the Department resumed student loan garnishment in the first quarter of 2026 for borrowers who had not entered a rehabilitation program or qualifying repayment plan by the end of 2025.

You must get written notice at least 30 days before any garnishment starts, and the notice has to spell out the amount owed, the intent to garnish, and your right to a hearing.⁵ Other non-tax federal debts, including defaulted SBA loans and overpaid federal benefits, use the same 15% administrative framework. The total garnishment from all sources still cannot exceed the CCPA’s ordinary-debt limits, so a 15% student loan garnishment cannot simply pile on top of a 25% consumer garnishment.⁶

IRS Tax Levies Ignore the CCPA

The CCPA caps do not apply to the IRS. When your employer receives Form 668-W, the calculation flips: instead of taking a percentage, the IRS lets you keep only the amount listed in IRS Publication 1494 based on your filing status and number of dependents, and everything above that goes to the government.⁷

That makes tax levies far more aggressive than ordinary garnishment; a single filer with no dependents can lose more than half of each check. You have three days after your employer receives the levy to submit a statement of dependents and filing status. Miss that window and the exempt amount defaults to married filing separately with zero dependents, the lowest available protection. IRS wage levies are also continuous, attaching to every paycheck until the debt is paid or the IRS releases the levy through Form 668-D.⁷

Social Security and Federal Benefits Are Largely Off-Limits

Ordinary creditors cannot touch Social Security. Federal law prohibits execution, levy, attachment, or garnishment of Social Security payments, and that protection extends to railroad retirement, veterans’ disability payments, and workers’ compensation.⁸ A credit card company or hospital cannot reach any of it.

The exceptions are narrow. The federal government itself can garnish Social Security for unpaid taxes, and courts can order garnishment for child support and alimony. Federal student loan creditors historically could offset Social Security as well, though recent policy changes have limited that practice.

You Cannot Be Fired Over One Garnishment

Your employer cannot discharge you because your wages are being garnished for a single debt, no matter how many separate garnishment proceedings or levies that one debt generates.⁹ The protection drops away once a second garnishment arrives for a different debt: a worker with orders from two unrelated creditors has no federal shield against termination.

Employers who willfully violate the single-debt discharge rule face a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in prison, or both.⁹ The Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division enforces both the caps and the discharge protection.²

When State Law Protects More

The CCPA is a floor, not a ceiling. When state law is more protective, the employer must follow the state rule.¹⁰ Some states ban wage garnishment for ordinary consumer debts outright. Others set the percentage below 25%, protect a higher dollar floor, or offer a head-of-household exemption that shields most or all of a primary breadwinner’s wages.

The Secretary of Labor can formally exempt a state from the federal restrictions where the state’s own laws provide equal or greater protection across every scenario the CCPA covers.¹¹ In practice, employers and creditors must check both bodies of law before processing any order. Your state attorney general’s office or a local legal aid organization can point you to the applicable statute.

How to Push Back on a Garnishment

A garnishment notice is not the last word. For administrative wage garnishments on federal debts like student loans, you can request a hearing to contest the debt’s existence, the amount, the repayment terms, or a claim that the garnishment would cause financial hardship.⁶ Timing is decisive. If your written request is postmarked within 15 days of the notice, the agency cannot start garnishing until the hearing is resolved. After 15 days, garnishment can proceed while the hearing is pending.¹² Asking only for copies of documents does not stop the clock; you have to specifically request a hearing.

For court-ordered garnishments, most states let you file a claim of exemption arguing that the withholding leaves you unable to cover basic living expenses. The court schedules a hearing where you show paystubs, bank statements, and bills; judges want documentation, not description. Many states also recognize a head-of-household exemption when you provide more than half the support for a child or dependent, which can protect a much larger share of your wages.

If your employer withholds more than the legal limit or fires you over a single garnishment, you can file a complaint with the Wage and Hour Division online or by phone.¹³ Confirmed violations can result in recovery of the wages that were improperly garnished, and, in a wrongful discharge case, reinstatement and back pay. Keep the garnishment order, your paystubs, and any employer communications; that paper trail often decides whether an investigation moves forward.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1672 – Definitions
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
4
U.S. Department of Labor. State Minimum Wage Laws
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 20 USC 1095a – Wage Garnishment Requirement
6
eCFR. 31 CFR 285.11 – Administrative Wage Garnishment
7
Internal Revenue Service. What If I Get a Levy Against One of My Employees, Vendors, Customers or Other Third Parties
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 42 USC 407 – Assignment of Benefits
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1674 – Restriction on Discharge From Employment
10
eCFR. 29 CFR Part 870 – Restriction on Garnishment
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1675 – Exemption for State-Regulated Garnishments
12
U.S. Department of the Treasury. Administrative Wage Garnishment Hearing Training
13
Worker.gov. Filing a Complaint With the Wage and Hour Division