Wage Garnishment for Criminal Fines and Restitution: How It Works

If you owe a federal criminal fine or restitution, the government can order your employer to withhold money from every paycheck until the debt is paid. Wage garnishment for criminal fines and restitution is capped by federal law at 25 percent of your disposable earnings in most cases, but the debt behind it acts like a federal tax lien: it lasts at least 20 years, cannot be wiped out in bankruptcy, and keeps accruing interest the whole time.

How Much of Your Paycheck Can Be Taken

The Consumer Credit Protection Act sets the ceiling, and federal law applies that ceiling to enforcement of criminal judgments.¹ The maximum weekly withholding is the lesser of two figures:

25 percent of your disposable earnings for the week, or
The amount by which your disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 × 30 = $217.50 per week in 2026).

Disposable earnings means what’s left after legally required deductions such as federal income tax, Social Security, and Medicare. Voluntary deductions like health insurance premiums or retirement contributions generally do not reduce that figure.²

The “lesser of” rule matters most at lower incomes. If your disposable pay is $600 a week, 25 percent is $150 and the amount above $217.50 is $382.50, so the garnishment is $150. If your disposable pay is $250 a week, 25 percent is $62.50 but the amount over $217.50 is only $32.50, so just $32.50 can be taken. And if your disposable earnings fall to $217.50 or below, nothing can be garnished at all.³

How the Garnishment Starts

The government files an application for a writ of garnishment under the Federal Debt Collection Procedures Act. The application identifies your employer, the criminal case number, and the outstanding balance including accrued interest.⁴

If the court finds the application sufficient, it issues the writ, which specifies the debt amount and names both your employer and you as the debtor. The writ is served on both of you, usually by certified mail or through a process server. Your employer then has 10 days to file a written answer stating your wages, pay schedule, and any garnishments already being withheld. Once the court issues the withholding order, your employer starts deducting from each paycheck and sending the money to the court. Payments continue until the full debt, including interest, is paid off. The court distributes what it collects to the victims or the government according to your sentencing order.

Objecting or Asking the Court to Lower Payments

You have 20 days after receiving your employer’s answer to file a written objection with the court. You have to state specific grounds, and you carry the burden of proving them. A copy of the objection must be served on your employer and the government. The court will hold a hearing within 10 days of receiving the objection, or as soon as practicable after that.⁴

Common grounds include errors in the debt amount, incorrect identification, or a claim that the withholding exceeds the legal limits.

Even a valid garnishment can be adjusted. When setting the payment schedule, the court is required to consider your financial resources, projected earnings, and obligations to dependents. If your circumstances genuinely prevent you from paying anything, the court can order nominal periodic payments. You are required to notify the court and the Attorney General of any material change in your finances. A job loss, pay cut, or new obligation can support a request to lower the payments. This goes both ways: if your income improves substantially, the government or the victim can ask the court to raise the payments or require immediate payment in full.⁵

What’s Off Limits

Federal law borrows the same exemption list that limits IRS tax levies. The categories exempt from criminal fine and restitution enforcement include:

Clothing and school books
Basic household items: fuel, provisions, furniture, and personal effects
Books and tools necessary for your trade, business, or profession
Unemployment benefits
Workers’ compensation payments
Certain pension and annuity payments
Money owed to you for support of minor children
Weekly earnings at or below 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50)

The minimum wage floor is the practical protection for most working people: if your disposable earnings for the week are $217.50 or less, no garnishment can take place.¹

Interest Keeps the Balance Growing

Interest starts accruing on any fine or restitution balance above $2,500 unless you pay in full within 15 days of judgment. The rate is not fixed. It’s set at the weekly average one-year constant maturity Treasury yield published by the Federal Reserve for the week before your interest liability begins. In early 2026, that rate has been running between roughly 3.4 and 3.7 percent. Interest compounds daily, so even a modest rate builds quickly on a large restitution balance.⁶

Two forms of relief exist. The court can waive interest, cap the total, or limit the accrual period if you show an inability to pay. The Attorney General can also waive interest if collection efforts are unlikely to succeed. Neither is automatic, and both require genuine financial hardship.⁶

When You Already Have Other Garnishments

The CCPA does not establish a priority system for competing garnishments; other federal and state laws do.³ In practice, the hierarchy usually runs like this:

Child support and alimony come first. Up to 50 percent of disposable earnings can be withheld if you are supporting another spouse or child, or 60 percent if you are not, with an extra 5 percent for payments more than 12 weeks overdue.
Federal tax levies typically rank next and use their own calculation method.
Federal criminal restitution and fines follow. When a debtor is insolvent and not in bankruptcy, federal law requires debts owed to the United States to be paid before other creditors.⁷
Consumer debts such as credit card and medical judgments rank last.

Your payroll department has to coordinate all of the orders and stay within the total federal caps. If a large child support withholding is already in place, a criminal garnishment may not fully take effect until that order is satisfied or reduced. A criminal restitution order will generally displace a private creditor’s garnishment.

Can Your Employer Fire You Over It

Your employer has no choice but to comply with a valid writ. Ignoring it exposes the employer to a lawsuit by the government for the full amount that should have been withheld.⁸ In some jurisdictions, employers may deduct a small administrative fee to cover processing.

Federal law prohibits firing you solely because your wages are being garnished for a single debt. An employer who does so faces a fine of up to $1,000, up to one year in prison, or both.⁹ This protection covers garnishment for one indebtedness only. If two or more separate debts are being garnished, the federal anti-discharge rule no longer applies, and whether state law fills the gap depends on where you live.

Why This Debt Outlasts Almost Everything

A criminal fine or restitution order operates as a lien on all your property, with the same force as a federal tax lien. It attaches when the court enters judgment and remains in place for 20 years or until the debt is paid.¹ The clock actually runs from the later of two dates: 20 years from the judgment, or 20 years after your release from imprisonment. A 10-year sentence served before payment begins can push the total life of the debt to roughly 30 years from the original judgment.

Death does not clear a restitution balance. If you die still owing restitution, your estate remains liable, and the federal lien continues against the estate until a written release is issued. Liability for a fine, as opposed to restitution, ends at death.

Bankruptcy will not eliminate either type of debt. Federal law specifically excludes criminal restitution ordered under Title 18 from discharge in any chapter, including Chapter 7 and Chapter 13, and criminal fines payable to a government entity are separately non-dischargeable.¹⁰ The automatic stay that halts most collection efforts when you file bankruptcy does not stop enforcement of criminal financial obligations.¹¹ A restitution garnishment can continue right through a bankruptcy case, which catches many people by surprise.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3613 – Civil Remedies for Satisfaction of an Unpaid Fine
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
3
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act
4
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 3205 – Garnishment
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3664 – Procedure for Issuance and Enforcement of Order of Restitution
6
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 3612 – Collection of Unpaid Fine or Restitution
7
U.S. Department of Justice. Civil Resource Manual 206 – Priority for the Payment of Claims Due the Government
8
eCFR. Enforcement Action Against Employer for Noncompliance With Garnishment Order
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 USC 1674 – Restriction on Discharge From Employment by Reason of Garnishment
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 362 – Automatic Stay