Having your wages garnished is never a pleasant experience, even if you are willing to pay back the debt you owe. Whether you owe taxes or child support in the State of California, it is important to understand how wage garnishments are calculated and how to determine your own potential wage garnishment limit.
Reasons for Wage Garnishments
In most cases, wage garnishments occur due to issues such as back child support or falling behind on paying owed federal and/or state taxes. It is also possible to experience wage garnishment if you have a spousal support order in place in the State of California.
What a Wage Garnishment Order Defines
Whether you are dealing with standard wage garnishment due to taxes or child support owed or repossessions and creditor harassment, it is highly advisable to understand the process of a wage garnishment order. A wage garnishment order will define:
- The debtor who currently owes money
- The creditor in which the money is owed
- The officer, marshal, or sheriff responsible for collecting owed money
- The total amount of money that is currently owed to the creditor
How Much Can Be Garnished From Wages?
Once you have an order in place for wage garnishment, you can immediately begin withholding your earnings from each paycheck to immediately abide by the order itself. Learning to calculate your garnishments is highly advisable to prevent mixups and potential issues when filing taxes or awaiting a tax return for yourself next year.
Use digital wage garnishment calculators to determine how much you need to withhold from your paychecks based on your disposable income, your gross income, expenses, as well as your overall costs of living.
The more familiar you become with wage garnishment orders, the less likely you are to find yourself stressed or struggling financially with proper preparation and planning.