What This Process Does

  • Details the setup of the various types of garnishment deductions.


Best Practices

  • These guidelines are to assist in setup, but it's recommended that deductions be monitored for accuracy according to the court order.
  • Questions related to the court order should be directed to the agency that issued the order.
  • Setup will vary depending on the court order itself, and may require a different setup than described in this document.
  • When creating a new Deduction Description, use an existing deduction as a template. Important fields for a garnishment deduction setup are defined below.
  • For general instructions on how to create a new Deduction Description, please go to Payroll → Documentation → Setup → How can I create a new deduction?


Requirements

  • Prior to creating the Deduction Description, create a Vendor Master for the applicable agency, as detailed in the court order. For general instructions on how to create a Vendor Master, please go to Vendor Payments → Documentation → Direct Vouchers → How do I create a new vendor?


Deduction Type

  • HR → Payroll → Setup →Dedcutions → Deduction Type
  • Deduction Type determines whether the deduction is Mandatory or Voluntary, the Computation Level and sheltering. Normally, Deduction Types do not need to be changed from the original setup.


FIELDSOpt.Rec.Req.Description
Deduction Type——♦A way to categorize deductions; multiple Deduction Descriptions can fall under one Deduction Type
Mandatory Deductions——♦Select if deduction will be set as a mandatory deduction; taxes are usually the only deduction types set to Mandatory; however, court order Deduction Types can be flagged as Mandatory deductions if they should be withheld from ALL Pay Types; this would be the case for orders that are a percentage of disposable wages versus a flat amount
Computation Level——♦Priority of withholding the deduction; the lower the number the higher the priority; child support deductions should be set to a lower Computation Level than garnishments, so that the child support will be priortized (i.e., be taken first)
Shelter Garnishment——♦If set to true on CHILD SUPPORT Deduction Type, this means that the child support amount will be calculated and subtracted from the wages prior to calculating the garnishment deduction amount, if based on a percentage of disposable earnings; this allows for the child support to be withheld in full prior to the garnishment being computed
Voluntary Deduction——♦Select for deduction to be set as a voluntary deduction; normally, court order deduction types are set as Voluntary, however, they can be set to Mandatory to be withheld from ALL Pay Types; NOTE: that the Deduction Type is either Mandatory or Voluntary; it cannot be set as both
Opt. = Optional  Rec. = Recommended  Req. = Required


Deduction Description Master

Type Tab


FIELDSOpt.Rec.Req.Description
Deduction Description ID——♦Assign a unique ID; including the appropriate descriptor (for example, GARNISHMENT or TAX LIEN) as appropriate
Short Description——♦Enter a short description; normally (depending on GSV), this is what displays on employees' pay stubs
Deduction Type——♦As consistent with the court order, select either:
  • GARNISHMENT - for a flat-amount or %-of gross deduction
  • GARNISHMENT-D - for a %-of-disposable earnings deduction; corresponds with a Compute Type of Percentage of Adjusted Gross or Table Lookup Period Gross
  • TAX LIEN - for a tax lien deduction; if corresponding to a Compute Type of Percentage of Running Net as 100%, the Computation Level of the Deduction Type needs to be the same as a Direct Deposit and the employee cannot have an active direct deposit deduction
Vendor Identification——♦Select the applicable vendor
Address ID——♦Verify that this is the correct address for the vendor; if it is not, clear the current address, and use the magnifying glass to search for the appropriate Address ID
Print on Separate Check♦——Flag this field if there are other Deduction Descriptions that have the same Vendor ID, and you would like this deduction to be on a separate Vendor Withholding check
VW Advice♦——Flag this field if you would like to be able to generate a Withholding Advice out of the Payroll Vendor Withholding module for this Deduction Description; it would list employees and deduction amounts withheld for a specified pay date or month
Employer ID——♦Select the applicable Employer ID for this deduction
W2 Deduction Type——♦Select NON-W2
Opt. = Optional  Rec. = Recommended  Req. = Required


Compute Tab


FIELDSOpt.Rec.Req.Description
Compute Type——♦As consistent with the court order; select either:
  • Flat Amount - to compute a flat $ amount
  • Percentage of Gross - to compute a % of gross pay
  • Percentage of Adjusted Gross - to compute a % of disposable earnings, up to 100%; corresponds with a Deduction Type of GARNISHMENT-D; see note about disposable income in the Note section at the bottom of the page
  • Table Lookup Period Gross - to allow the system to determine wages available to garnish considering take home pay, based on ranges of gross amounts per the Federal CCPA Garnishment table or Virginia Garnishment table; corresponds with a Deduction Type of GARNISHMENT-D
  • Percentage of Running Net - for tax liens, whereby the percentage of wages is high, such as 100%; see note about tax liens in the Note section at the bottom of the page
$ field——♦Leave this field at $0.00; if a Compute Type of Flat Amount was chosen, the amount should be maintained at the employee level
 % field——♦If any of the Percentage options was chosen as the Compute Type, enter % in this field
Opt. = Optional  Rec. = Recommended  Req. = Required


Flags Tab


FIELDSOpt.Rec.Req.Description
Active——♦Flag/mark as true to activate the deduction, and enable it to compute
Expensed——♦Flag/mark as true, so this deduction can be expensed
Use Limits——♦Flag/mark as true, so each employee's deduction limit can be entered in his/her deduction master, which will cause the system to stop computing the deduction once the limit has been met
Liability——♦Flag/mark as true, so this deduction will be treated as a liability
Reduce Net——♦Flag/mark as true to designate this as an employee-paid deduction (i.e., that which should reduce an employee's net pay)
Pay Withholding——♦Flag/mark as true, so this deduction will be included in the Add V/W Vouchers process
Electronic Transfer♦——Optional; flag/mark as true if this deduction will be paid by a means other than a check (i.e., paid online, over phone, by EFT)
Opt. = Optional  Rec. = Recommended  Req. = Required


Table Name Tab

  • If the Compute Type is Table Lookup Period Gross, then the Table Name tab will be illuminated to edit.
  • The appropriate table name should be chosen according to court order requirements, and the pay frequency of the employee to be garnished; tables currently exist for Monthly, Semi-Monthly and Bi-weekly pay frequencies.
  • The table name should be typed in this field exactly as it appears in Setup → Define Tables, enclosed in quotes; for example, "VIRGINIA GARNISHMENT TABLE" or "GARNISHMENT TABLE BI-WEEKLY".


Rate Selection

  • Be aware of this tab when using the Deduction Description for multiple employees, in case certain jobs do not allow for the deduction.
  • Used if there are exceptions to which jobs should allow the deduction; could be based on Gross ID, fund, etc.


Employee Deduction Master

  • After selecting the employee that this deduction applies to, populate the fields as described below:


FIELDSOpt.Rec.Req.Description
Deduction Description ID——♦Select the Garnishment deduction from the Browse Deductions list
Active Deduction for this Employee——♦Flag/mark as true to activate the employee's deduction, and allow it to compute
Adjustment/Additional Amount——♦Enter the per-payroll deduction amount, as provided on the court order if a flat amount deduction; leave blank for percentage deductions or deductions based off a table lookup
Deduction Limit——♦Enter the total amount of the garnishment, so the system will stop computing the deduction once this limit has been met; compares the LIfe-time Amount to the Deduction Limit entered; NOTE: the Use Limits boolean on the Flags tab of the Deduction Description ID must be flagged/marked as true in order for this field to be available
Case/Account Number♦——Optional; enter the case/account number referenced on the court order
Opt. = Optional  Rec. = Recommended  Req. = Required


Notes

  • Tax liens: The Compute Type may be Percentage of Running Net as 100%. If so, the Deduction Type must have a Computation Level the same as Direct Deposit. Many employees have Direct Deposit deductions that have this same Compute Type, which would create a problem; therefore, any employee in this situation needs to have his/her Direct Deposit deduction deactivated.
  • Court orders that ask for a percentage of disposable income: Disposable income is normally gross pay minus taxes. How the system determines an employee's disposable income is by looking at his/her gross pay, less any deductions that have a Deduction Type that is set up to decrease the garnishment gross. Normally, this is just taxes. If certain deductions (for example, medical insurance) should decrease the gross before the garnishment percentage is applied, then the applicable medical insurance Deduction Type will need to have Shelter Garnishment flagged. You would do this under Setup → Deductions → Deduction Types; keep in mind that if you change the Deduction Type in any way, that could affect all employees that have a deduction with that Deduction Type.
  • If a deduction is set up with a garnishment table, the Correcting Amount field will not be used during the compute. If an additional amount needs to be entered, the Adjustment/Additional Amount field must be used


Additional Setup

  • Add a Deduction Account with the appropriate Cash and Liability Codes.