Last updated: Jun 12, 2026, 12:07 PM
Answers to common questions about wage garnishments in Toast Payroll: how to submit, set up, and report garnishment deductions.
A wage garnishment is a court-ordered notice that requires an employer to withhold wages from an employee's earnings. Garnishments come from official agencies and most often withhold child support or debt collections. Tips are usually not subject to garnishment. For the legal definition, see the U.S. Department of Labor garnishment topic page.
The most common type is a child support garnishment, often received as an Income Withholding Order (IWO). Other types include unpaid debt collections, liens, levies, and federal collection garnishments. Most arrive in a standardized format, and all will list the employee's name, their Social Security number, and the amount and frequency to withhold.
To submit a garnishment you received for an employee, first confirm the employee still works for your business, then send the complete order to Toast Payroll Customer Care. Do not enter the garnishment yourself — Customer Care sets up garnishments, child support orders, levies, and liens directly from the court order so the correct amount is withheld and the order is followed properly.
Note: This is also where you send a change to an existing garnishment, an updated order, or a corrected agency address — send the new paperwork through the blue chat dot the same way.
After Customer Care confirms a garnishment is set up, it appears as a recurring deduction on the employee's profile and withholds automatically. On every regular pay period after that — not including off-cycle or supplemental payrolls — the system attempts to deduct the specified amount from the employee's wages. If the employee earns enough that period, the deduction appears on their pay stub. If the employee does not earn enough to cover the full amount, the system may withhold part of it or none of it. For how this recurring deduction sits alongside other earnings and deductions, see Toast Payroll: Add or Edit Earnings & Deductions.
For child support orders, Toast Payroll sends the withheld money to the agency for you — you do not remit child support payments yourself. Once the deduction is set up, Toast Payroll generates the payment and sends it to the withholding agency: by direct deposit at the end of the business day when payroll is processed if the agency receives payments electronically, or by a check printed with your regular payroll checks and mailed to the agency by standard postal mail. Payments begin with the next paycheck after setup is complete, provided no payroll is already in progress. For more detail, see Toast Payroll: Child Support Payments Remittance.
Remittance works differently for some other order types. Toast Payroll does not remit payments to an online agency portal, and for levies and certain orders the employer is responsible for remitting payment. See the levies and liens question below.
If a set-up garnishment isn't coming out of an employee's paycheck, the most common reason is that the employee did not earn enough disposable income that pay period to withhold from. A garnishment only withholds from regular payrolls, not off-cycle or supplemental ones, so a check run off-cycle will not show the deduction. Federal rules also protect a portion of earnings, so if the employee's disposable income on a check is too low, the system withholds part of the amount or none of it.
If the employee earned enough on a regular payroll and the garnishment still did not withhold, contact Toast Customer Care through the blue chat button so the specific case can be reviewed.
A garnishment may withhold less than the full amount when the employee's pay on that check is mostly tips or when another order already has priority. The most common reason in Toast Payroll is tip-heavy pay: federal regulations exclude tips from disposable earnings because tips are not paid directly by the employer, so a check made up mostly of tips leaves little for the garnishment to withhold. Tips can be included only when the garnishment or child support order specifically states it, which is rare, and whether tips can be withheld also varies by state.
A second reason is priority between orders. Child support withholding takes priority over other garnishment types, and federal limits cap how much of an employee's disposable earnings can be withheld. If an employee already has an active child support order at or near that cap, a second garnishment may withhold a reduced amount or nothing at all.
Note: Toast Payroll cannot advise on how a garnishment should be calculated or set up for your situation. For setup or calculation questions, refer to your HR manager or CPA. To have tips treated as disposable income where an order allows it, you must request that in writing to Toast Payroll Customer Care.
To stop, remove, or update a garnishment, contact Toast Payroll Customer Care through the blue chat button — do not delete the deduction yourself, even if the order has been paid off. Because garnishments are court-ordered, Customer Care manages ending or changing them so the order is closed out correctly. Send any termination notice, release, or updated order the same way you submitted the original.
A garnishment may also stop withholding on its own. This usually means the order has been fulfilled, but it can also happen if the garnishment was set up with an expiration date, if the order was cancelled or terminated by the court or creditor, or if withholding would leave the employee below a protected minimum wage. To confirm why a specific garnishment stopped, contact Customer Care.
If you receive a garnishment that looks like a duplicate or that changes the terms of an existing one, send it to Toast Payroll Customer Care through the blue chat dot rather than assuming it is a copy. Garnishments — especially child support orders — can look very similar, and some orders change their terms partway through. Sending every order you receive lets Customer Care keep the garnishments and deductions in the system accurate.
You can see garnishment deductions in two reports in Toast Payroll. To view deductions for a single pay period, go to the Payroll page, open the Past Payrolls tab, select View for the payroll you want, scroll down, and open the Check Register report — it lists all garnishment payouts for that run. To view garnishment payments by employee over time, go to Reports > Standard, search for garnishment, and select the eyeball icon for the Vendor Payment History report. Select Queue, set a Start Date and an End Date, then select Submit to download the report. The Vendor Payment History report shows how each payment was sent and, for mailed checks, the check number once the check has been printed.
No, Toast Payroll does not set up medical child support orders. Medical support orders are different from wage garnishment child support orders. Toast Payroll does not support them or create deductions for them, so you will need to follow the instructions on the order outside of Toast Payroll.
Toast Payroll sets up levies and liens only when they include a court order that can be uploaded to the employee's profile. If a levy does not include a court order, Toast Payroll does not support it and will not create a deduction for it. Toast Payroll also does not send payments to an online portal, so if a levy requires online payment, you as the employer are responsible for remitting that payment yourself.
This content is for informational purposes and is not intended as legal, tax, HR, or any other professional advice. Please contact an attorney or other professional for advice.