To set up a creditor debt garnishment, complete the following steps:
Determine the employee's work state and the creditor debt garnishment rules for the work state.
On the Manage Employee Garnishments screen, enter the required data if you are creating a new record. Enter a Deduction code that is linked to a Deduction Type of Child Debt Garnishment on the Manage Deductions screen.
On the Garnishment Calculation subtask of the Manage Employee Garnishments screen, fill in the following fields:
Total Amount Due — Enter the amount specified on the order.
Payroll Year Beginning Bal — This non-editable value defaults from the Total Amount Due. If the deduction linked to the garnishment has a Ceiling Method of One-Time, this value is updated by the Close Payroll Year application.
Number of Dependent Credits — Enter the number of dependent credits for the garnishment. Some states require that the garnishment amount be further reduced by a dependent exemption amount or a multiple of a dependent exemption amount. This field is used to specify the number of credits an employee has. It is multiplied by the Weekly Credit Amount in the Credit Amounts group box to determine the dependent credit amount for the employee’s garnishment. If the state does not mandate a credit amount, the Number of Dependent Credits must be set to 0 (zero) and Weekly Credit Amount Per Dependent must be set to 0.00.
Employee is Head of Family — Some states specify different creditor debt garnishment calculation or limitation rules for employees that are the head of their family. If this is the case, you must not only select this check box, but also set up the override calculation rules for head of family in the Limit 1 and/or Limit 2 group boxes on this screen.
Employee is Alaska Resident — The state of Alaska specifies different creditor debt garnishment calculation rules for an employee that is a resident. Select this check box if the Deduction Type is Creditor Debt Garnishment, the Work State is Alaska, and the employee is a resident of Alaska.
Calculation Method — Select Remaining Balance Up to Limit. This option is the default and must be used if the Deduction Type is Creditor Debt Garnishment. This option deducts as much of the employee's remaining garnishment balance (unpaid amount) as possible without going over the limit amount.
Limit Calculation Method — Select Use Creditor Debt Rules. This option is the default and must be used if the Deduction Type is Creditor Debt Garnishment.
Use the Limit 1 and Limit 2 group boxes to specify the calculation rules. When payroll is computed, the Compute Payroll application compares the Limit 1 calculation result and the Limit 2 calculation result to the calculated federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) limits, and the lowest amount is used as the employee’s garnishment amount.
Weekly Credit Amount — Some states specify a weekly fixed credit amount to reduce the garnishment withholding amount. For example, the State Tax Levy instructions for Rhode Island instruct employers to withhold 100% of net pay less $75 plus $25 for each dependent. The $75 is considered a personal credit amount, and you would enter $75.00 in the Weekly Credit Amount field.
Weekly Credit Amount per Dependent — Some states specify a weekly fixed credit amount to reduce the garnishment withholding amount. For example, the Creditor Debt Garnishment instructions for North Dakota state that the maximum amount subject to creditor debt garnishment in any work week must be reduced by $20 for each dependent family member living with the employee. In this case, the $20 is considered as a dependent credit amount and you would enter $20.00 in the Weekly Credit Amount Per Dependent field.
Fill out the rest of the Garnishment Calculation subtask as appropriate.
On the Disposable Income Exclusions subtask, set up disposable income calculation rules.
Save the garnishment record.