How to Know If Your Wages Are Being Garnished

The clearest way to know if your wages are being garnished is to look at your most recent pay stub for an unfamiliar deduction code and an unexplained drop in take-home pay. Federal law caps most consumer-debt garnishments at 25% of your disposable earnings, so the hit is large enough to notice right away.¹ Confirmation usually comes from one of three places: your earnings statement, a court or agency notice in the mail, or a conversation with payroll.

Check Your Pay Stub First

Payroll systems label garnishments with short codes in the deductions column. Watch for abbreviations like “Garn,” “WRIT,” “Wage WH,” or “Court Ord.” Any of these means a legal order is directing your employer to send part of your pay somewhere other than your bank account.

If a new line item appears, compare your gross pay to your net pay. When the gap is wider than taxes and benefits can explain, and nothing else about your paycheck changed (no new insurance election, no shift in hours), that difference is almost certainly a garnishment. The year-to-date column next to the unfamiliar code tells you how long the withholding has been running and how much has already been taken.

Many states also allow employers to deduct a small administrative processing fee, usually a few dollars per pay period, which shows up as its own line. That fee sits on top of the garnishment itself, so your take-home drops by slightly more than the withheld amount alone.

Look for Court Papers You May Have Missed

For an ordinary consumer debt, nothing can be taken from your paycheck until a creditor sues you, wins a judgment, and gets the court to issue a writ of garnishment commanding your employer to withhold. You should have received the summons and the writ by certified mail or personal service from a process server. The writ states the total judgment, including the original debt, accrued interest, and court costs, and includes instructions for objecting and requesting a hearing.²

The problem is that if you moved, didn’t update your address with the court, or missed the original lawsuit, a judgment can be entered against you by default and the garnishment can begin without you knowing any of it happened. If a withholding shows up on your pay stub that you can’t trace, the fastest way to find out what’s behind it is to search your local court’s online case index by your name, or walk into the clerk’s office and ask for copies of the judgment and writ.

Ask Your Employer

Once your employer receives a garnishment order, they’re legally required to comply; ignoring it leaves the company on the hook for the full debt. Most employers notify the affected employee quickly, though no federal law sets a specific timeframe. The notice might come as a memo from HR, an email from payroll, or a request to meet with a supervisor.

Your employer also has to answer written interrogatories from the court about your wages, pay schedule, and employment status, under oath. If payroll asks you to confirm personal details or hands you a copy of a court order, that is a reliable sign a garnishment is being processed. You can simply ask payroll directly which creditor is behind the deduction and which court issued the order; they have that information in the paperwork they received.

Garnishments That Skip the Courthouse

Not every garnishment starts with a lawsuit. Several federal programs can reach your wages through an administrative process, and the paperwork trail looks different.

IRS Tax Levies

The IRS uses Form 668-W to instruct your employer to withhold wages for unpaid federal taxes.³ The 25% cap doesn’t apply. Instead, the amount exempt from the levy depends on your filing status and number of dependents, calculated from tables in IRS Publication 1494.⁴ Everything above that exempt amount goes to the IRS, which is why tax levies often take far more than a consumer garnishment. Before the levy issues, the IRS mails a series of notices to your last known address, ending with a Final Notice of Intent to Levy at least 30 days before withholding begins.

Federal Student Loans

The Department of Education resumed administrative wage garnishment for defaulted federal student loans in early 2026, after a multi-year pause. The cap is the lesser of 15% of disposable pay or the amount by which your weekly disposable earnings exceed $217.50.⁵ You should receive a notice at least 30 days before garnishment starts, which gives you time to set up a repayment plan or request a hearing.

Child Support and Alimony

Child support orders carry the highest garnishment limits in federal law. Up to 50% of disposable earnings can be taken if you’re supporting another spouse or child, and up to 60% if you aren’t. If you’re more than 12 weeks behind, those caps rise to 55% and 65%.⁵ These withholdings are usually ordered through a state child support enforcement agency and appear on your pay stub as a separate line item.

Social Security Income

If your income comes from Social Security rather than a paycheck, the Social Security Administration can withhold benefits for child support, alimony, and restitution. The IRS can levy up to 15% of each payment for overdue federal taxes, and Treasury can offset benefits to collect other delinquent federal debts.⁶ Ordinary creditors holding credit card or medical debt generally cannot touch Social Security income.

Check That the Amount Is Legal

Once you know a garnishment exists, the next question is whether the amount being withheld is lawful. The percentage applies to your “disposable earnings,” meaning what’s left after your employer subtracts items required by law: federal and state income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare.⁷ Voluntary deductions like 401(k) contributions, health insurance, and union dues stay in the base, so the garnishable amount is usually higher than your net paycheck.

For credit cards, medical bills, and personal loans, the maximum garnishment is the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour, making the threshold $217.50 per week).¹ If your weekly disposable earnings fall below $217.50, no wages can be garnished at all for consumer debts. Between $217.50 and $290, only the amount above $217.50 can be taken.

Several states cap garnishment lower than federal law, and a few prohibit consumer-debt wage garnishment outright. Whichever rule is more protective of your paycheck is the one that applies. If the math on your pay stub exceeds those limits, that’s grounds to object.

You Cannot Be Fired for a Single Garnishment

Federal law prohibits your employer from firing you because your earnings have been garnished for any one debt. An employer who does faces a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in jail, or both.⁸ The protection covers one indebtedness only. If a second, separate creditor garnishes your wages, the federal shield no longer applies, though some states extend protection to multiple garnishments.

What to Do Once You’ve Confirmed It

If the debt isn’t yours, the amount is wrong, the statute of limitations on the debt has expired, you were never properly served, or the withholding exceeds what the law allows, you can challenge the garnishment. Financial hardship by itself won’t void a valid judgment, but it can support a request to reduce the amount being taken.

The usual mechanism is filing a claim of exemption with the court that issued the order, stating that some or all of your income is legally protected. You complete the court’s form, file it with the clerk, and send copies to the creditor and your employer. Deadlines are tight: many states require filing within 20 to 30 days of receiving the garnishment notice, and missing that window can waive your right to contest until the next pay period or until you file a separate motion.

For federal garnishments under 28 U.S.C. § 3205, you have 20 days after receiving the garnishee’s answer to file a written objection and request a hearing.² For a Social Security Administration administrative garnishment, you get 60 days from the date of the notice to pay the debt, request a review, or enter a repayment agreement before the order reaches your employer.⁹

If you win, the court dissolves the writ and your employer releases the withheld funds. Many courts dissolve a garnishment automatically when the creditor fails to file a timely objection to the exemption claim. If the numbers aren’t working and your household is in distress, a consumer law attorney or local legal aid office can tell you which exemptions apply in your state and whether a motion for hardship reduction is likely to succeed.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 3205 – Garnishment
3
Internal Revenue Service. What if I Get a Levy Against One of My Employees, Vendors, Customers, or Other Third Parties
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 1494 – Tables for Figuring Amount Exempt From Levy
5
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act CCPA
6
Social Security Administration. Can My Social Security Benefits Be Garnished or Levied
7
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1672 – Definitions
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1674 – Restriction on Discharge From Employment by Reason of Garnishment
9
eCFR. 20 CFR 422.405 – What Notice Will We Send You About Administrative Wage Garnishment