Income Withholding Notices to Employers

Income Withholding notices may come from an in-state or out-of-state court, child support agency, or tribal child support agency. Employer's should withhold and forward the funds according to the terms on the notice. Employers should also give a copy of the income withholding notice to their affected employee. The employee has the right to contest the withholding through their child support agency, but you must follow the income withholding terms while the appeal is pending, unless a court orders differently.

If income withholding orders are received from a private collection agency, send the withholdings to the Wisconsin Support Collections Trust Fund (or another state's official disbursement unit when appropriate). This will ensure your employee received full credit for the child support withheld by you. Withholdings for child support should not be sent to private collection agencies.

Income Withholding Notices from Wisconsin

The child support agency, circuit court, or family court commissioner will send the income withholding notice by mail or fax. The notice will tell you when to begin withholding, the amount and frequency of the withholding, where to send payments, and what to do when the payer leaves your employment.

Income Withholding Notices from Other States

When you receive an income withholding notice from another state, and the employee's principal state of employment is in Wisconsin, you should comply with Wisconsin laws for determining the following:

  • The employer's fee for processing income withholdings
  • The withholding limits to be withheld from the employee's income
  • The time frames within which the employer must implement the support order and forward child support payments to the other state
  • The priorities for withholding and allocating income withheld if an employee has multiple support withholdings

Using the withholding calculators may help determine the amounts to withhold from an employee's income.

Wisconsin employers must comply with an income withholding notice issued by another state in accordance with the Uniform Interstate Family Support Act (UIFSA). A Wisconsin employer who willfully fails to comply with an income withholding notice issued by another state is subject to the same penalties that may be imposed for non-compliance with a notice by a Wisconsin tribunal.

The federal Office of Child Support Enforcement has developed a standard notice of income withholding to facilitate uniform processing of intergovernmental income withholding. Remittance information is included on the income withholding notice that you receive.

If you have an employee with income withholding orders from two different states, but the CCPA limits prevent you from withholding the total amount due, you will need to prorate the amounts sent to the two states. You may use the withholding calculator to prorate the amounts.