Payroll How-To
How to process a wage garnishment
Set up the order
From the order to the record
- Classify the order: child support, creditor, or tax levy
- Set the amount or percent, and the cap percent for support (50/55/60/65)
- Assign a priority: support outranks creditor orders
- Record the agency destination for remittance
How the withholding is computed
Garnishments apply post-tax on disposable earnings (gross minus employee taxes). Voluntary deductions like 401(k) don’t reduce disposable earnings. Fintra applies orders in priority, caps each by its category limit and remaining net pay, and traces the result.
Disposable earnings
disposable = gross − employee taxes
The CCPA base. Child support defaults to 60% of disposable (configurable 50/55/60/65), creditor to 25%, tax levy to remaining disposable.
Respect the limits
Remit the withholding
Withheld garnishments become garnishment-liability payables in the remittance rollup with the agency destination, so what you withhold is queued to remit: you then pay the agency and mark it paid.
Questions people ask
What are disposable earnings?
Gross pay minus legally required deductions: Fintra uses employee taxes. Voluntary deductions like 401(k) don’t increase the protected disposable amount.
Which garnishment gets paid first?
Child support outranks creditor garnishments. Fintra applies orders in ascending priority and enforces category caps across stacked orders.
What are the withholding caps?
Child support defaults to 60% of disposable (configurable 50/55/60/65), creditor to 25%, and tax levies to remaining disposable earnings.
Is the 30× minimum wage rule applied?
No: that alternative creditor prong is a documented limitation; Fintra applies the flat 25% prong.
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Garnishments, within the law
Set up orders that withhold the right amount, in the right order.