Employer Calculators for Income Withholding

The reliability of the Employer Calculators depend on the accuracy of the data entered, as well as the employer's understanding of the terms, definitions, and limitations of the calculators. Please take time to read the information below before using the calculators.

Choose the calculator that matches the type of withholdings for your employee. All calculators will determine the amount(s) to withhold within the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA) limits. Two calculators, Support and the R&D Fee and Support and Health Insurance Premium, will also determine the withholding amounts under the withholding priorities.

Except for R&D fees, you do not have to differentiate between the withholding amounts if submit the withholdings to the Wisconsin Support Collections Trust Fund. The Trust Fund will distribute the withheld amount according to the priorities.

However, withholdings for R&D fees, orders from more than one state, and for health insurance premiums are handled differently as these withholdings are submitted separately.


Instructions

When entering support amounts, enter the amount(s) coinciding with your payroll period. The Income Withholding Notice lists the amounts due for the most commonly-used payroll periods (see sample notice).

Receipt & Disbursement (R&D) Fees
Send R&D Fee payments to Trust Fund with the special R&D Coupon. Please do not combine R&D Fee payments with other support payments.

Do not:

  • withhold more than the R&D amount allowed under the CCPA limits and withholding priorities
  • withhold any R&D Fee balance from the next payroll

If a balance remains after withholding the R&D Fee,

  • employees may use their individual R&D Coupons to payoff the balance, and/or
  • you will receive another R&D Withholding Notice in the mailing cycle (spring, summer, and fall)

More information about withholding R&D Fees

Withholdings for Health Insurance Premiums
The employee’s share of the premium's incremental cost cannot not exceed 5% of the employee's gross monthly income or an amount specified by the court.

Send health insurance premiums as a separate payment to the appropriate health care insurer, provider, or plan. Do not include the premium payment with other support payments sent to the Trust Fund.

When using the calculator for Support and Health Insurance Premium, enter:

  • the amount specified in the Notice, or
  • the employee's share up to the amount under the 5% limit. The calculator for “Support plus Health Insurance” displays the 5% limit on line 7.

Whether the premium is a specified amount or not, the total amount withheld may not exceed the CCPA limits.

Other Medical Support Payments listed on the Income Withholding Notice
An Income Withholding Notice might have a dollar amount listed under “medical support” (see sample notice). Treat this amount as any other support amount ordered (e.g., current support, past-due support) that you send to the Trust Fund.

More information about Medical Support

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Definitions and Descriptions

Gross Income includes all earnings and income, including wages, salaries, tips, commissions, and bonuses before taxes are levied and other deductions are made. When calculating the child support obligation, gross income includes worker’s compensation or other personal injury awards intended to replace income; unemployment compensation; income continuation benefits; Social Security Disability Income (SSDI) payments; voluntary deferred compensation; military allowances, and veteran benefits; lottery winnings; and undistributed income of a corporation in which the payer has an ownership interest sufficient to individually exercise control or to access earnings of the business. It also includes employee contributions to any employee benefit program or profit-sharing and voluntary contributions to any pension or retirement account whether or not the account provides for tax deferral or avoidance.

CCPA Limits are stated on the employee's Income Withholding Notice (see sample notice). The limits range from 50% to 65% of the employee's disposable income (i.e., aggregate disposable weekly earnings).

Disposable Income is the net income left after making mandatory deductions such as state, federal, local taxes, Social Security taxes, statutory pension contributions, and Medicare taxes. Other deductions such as Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), medical expense accounts, etc., do not reduce disposable income.

Unpaid Amount, if any, due to CCPA limits.
If the amount withheld over a given month is less than Total Amount Due in that month, the remainder will be past-due. For example: the order is for $250 per payroll, but the CCPA limits only allow the withholding of $225 for each payroll.

To avoid interest and other consequences, your employee may volunteer payment of an amount in excess of the CCPA limits. Your employee might also consider asking the court or child support agency to review the order for a change based on his or her "ability to earn."

The employee's share of health care premiums is the incremental costs of adding the children to the employee's current health care coverage. The incremental cost is the difference between the premium a parent is now paying and the cost of adding the children to the plan. E.g., the parent currently pays $100/month premium for individual coverage. The family policy is $200. The additional $100 is the incremental cost.

When the total amount owed cannot be withheld due to the CCPA limits, withhold support amounts in their priority. The withholding priorities are:

  1. Current Support
  2. Spousal Support
  3. Medical Support
  4. Past-Due Support
  5. Past-Due Spousal Support
  6. Past-Due Medical Support
  7. R & D Fees
  8. Other Fees and Costs as Specified (e.g., genetic testing, court costs)

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Questions about Income Withholding

For general question about income withholding,

If you have questions about a particular income withholding, please refer to the contact information listed in the Income Withholding Notice (see sample notice).

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Calculators

The calculators require MS Excel software. You can download these calculators to you computer. The shaded cells are locked to protect the calculation formulas.

For your convenience, the calculators have links back to the information above.

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Updated June 26, 2009