Child Support Special Deduction Routine

When an employee is selected for payroll processing and Gross-To-Net identifies a deduction to be processed with the Child Support Routine (CSUP) Special Routine ID, all deductions are reviewed before processing continues.  The program reviews all pending garnishment deductions for the employee to determine if there are one or many support orders.  In addition, the program determines the processing order for the support orders.

First, the program subtracts the calculated Minimum Protected Wage Amount from the employee’s disposable wages.  If the result is zero or negative, garnishment processing will be discontinued as there are no wages available for processing.  If the result is positive garnishment processing will continue.  

For information on data setup and calculations that are used for Multiple Garnishments, refer to Multiple Garnishments.

Child Support Routine Processing

CSUP - Single Support Garnishment ProcessingCSUP - Single Support Garnishment Processing

When there is only one child/spouse support garnishment, the garnishment amount is compared to the Single Support Max Amount.  

  • If the garnishment amount is less than or equal to the Single Support Max Amount the garnishment amount remains as ordered.  

  • If the garnishment amount is greater than the Single Support Max Amount the garnishment amount is adjusted down to the Single Support Max Amount, which is equal to the number entered in the Amount/Percent 1 field on the DPLN page of the support order being processed multiplied by the Employee’s Disposable Wages.   

The new garnishment amount is then compared to the Amount Available for Garnishment.  

  • If the garnishment amount is equal to the Amount Available for Garnishment, the deduction is processed as ordered and garnishment processing is discontinued as there are no remaining wages available for garnishment.  

  • If the garnishment amount is greater than the Amount Available for Garnishment, the garnishment amount is reset to the Amount Available for Garnishment and is processed, and garnishment processing is discontinued as there are no remaining wages available for garnishment.  

  • If the garnishment amount is less than the Amount Available for Garnishment the garnishment amount is processed as ordered.  

The garnishment amount is compared to the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount to determine if additional garnishments may be processed or if the federal limit has been reached and garnishment processing should be discontinued.  

  • If the garnishment amount is equal to or greater than the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount then garnishment processing is discontinued as the withholding exceeds the maximum withholding for non-child support garnishments. If the garnishment amount is less than the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount the processing of additional garnishments is continued.  

CSUP - Multiple Support Garnishment Processing With Different Processing Order NumbersCSUP - Multiple Support Garnishment Processing With Different Processing Order Numbers

If there are multiple support garnishments, the Amount Available for Garnishment is compared to the Multi Support Max Amount to determine the Amount Available for Multi Processing.  

  • If the Multi Support Max Amount is less than or equal to the Amount Available for Garnishment, the Multi Support Max Amount becomes the Amount Available for Multi Processing.  

  • If the Multi Support Max Amount is greater than the Amount Available for Garnishment, the Amount Available for Garnishment becomes the Amount Available for Multi Processing.  

The pending support garnishments are reviewed to determine the order for processing.  If the support garnishments have different Deduction Processing Order Numbers they are processed in order until the Amount Available for Multi Processing has been depleted or all child/spouse support garnishments have been processed.

A Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount is established. The Amount Available for Garnishment is compared to the Multi Support Max Amount, setting the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount equal to the lesser amount.

Next, the garnishment amount is determined for the pending garnishment.

  •  If the garnishment amount is greater than or equal to the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount, the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount is processed as the deduction amount, and garnishment processing is discontinued as there are no more remaining wages available for garnishment.

  • If the garnishment amount is less than the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount the garnishment is processed as ordered.  The Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount is recalculated by subtracting the garnishment amount.  Additional garnishments are processed until all support garnishments have been processed or the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount has been depleted.

If all support garnishments have been processed and the Amount Available for Multi Processing has not been depleted, the support garnishments are totaled and compared to the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount.  

  • If the garnishment total is greater than or equal to the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount, garnishment processing is discontinued as the withholding exceeds the maximum withholding for non-support garnishments.  

  • If the garnishment total is less than the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount the additional garnishments are processed.

CSUP - Multiple Support Garnishment Processing With Same Processing Order NumbersCSUP - Multiple Support Garnishment Processing With Same Processing Order Numbers

If the pending support garnishments have the same Deduction Processing Order Number the withholding amounts are determined based on the MULTI GARN ALLOCATION RULE SPAR entry. The pending support garnishments are reviewed and grouped by Deduction Processing Order Number to determine the order for processing.  The deductions in the lowest Deduction Processing Order Number group are processed first.

  • The MULTI GARN ALLOCATION RULE SPAR entry is read to determine if the Adjusted Non-Support Garnishment Amount is dispersed on an equal or percentage basis.  

  • If there is an E entered in the Text Value field of the MULTI GARN ALLOCATION RULE entry, the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount is dispersed using Equal Allocation processing.  The Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount will be divided in equal amounts across the grouped garnishments.  If the allocated amount is greater then the deduction amount, the garnishment is processed as ordered and the remaining amount is dispersed across the remaining garnishments.

Once all garnishments within the Deduction Processing Order Number group have been processed, the total amount of processed deductions is subtracted from the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount.  If the result is zero, garnishment processing is discontinued as there are no more remaining wages available for garnishment processing.  If the result is positive the total deduction amount is subtracted from the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount and additional garnishments are processed.

  • If there is a P entered in the Text Value field of the MULTI GARN ALLOCATION RULE SPAR entry, the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount is dispersed using Percentage Allocation processing.  The Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount is prorated based on their deduction rate/amount.  If the amount cannot be divided evenly across the garnishments the remainder is applied to the final processed garnishment.

Example 1:  the calculation would be as follows for an employee with 2 support orders that are percentage based.:  

Support Order 1

40% - garnishment percent

Support Order 2

30% - garnishment percent

Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount

205.00

Support Order 1 Payment

117.14 (40/70 * 205.00)

Support Order 2 Payment

87.86 (30/70 * 205.00)

Example 2: the calculation would be as follows for an employee with 3 Support orders that are amount based:

Support Order 1

50.00 - garnishment amount

Support Order 2

75.00 - garnishment amount

Support Order 3

100.00 – garnishment amount

Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount

75.00

Support Order 1 Payment

16.67 (75.00 *(50/(50+75+100)))

Support Order 2 Payment

25.00 (75.00 *(75/(50+75+100)))

Support Order 3 Payment

33.33 (75.00 *(100/(50+75+100)))

Once all garnishments within the Deduction Processing Order Number have been processed the total amount of processed deductions is subtracted from the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount.  If the result is zero, garnishment processing is discontinued as there are no more remaining wages available for garnishment processing.  If the result is positive, the total deduction amount is subtracted from the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount and additional garnishments are processed.

Once all the support garnishments have been processed, if the Multi Adjusted Available Garnishment Amount has not been depleted, the deductions taken are totaled and compared to the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount.  If the deduction total is greater than or equal to the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount, garnishment processing is discontinued as the withholding exceeds the maximum withholding for non-child support garnishments.  If the deduction total is less than the Max Non-Support Garnishment Amount additional non-support garnishments are processed.

Administrative Fee Processing

For every support garnishment processed the program determines if an administrative fee should be assessed.  The program performs a look up to the DLPN page for each garnishment processed; if the Secondary Deduction Type and Secondary Deduction Plan field have been populated, an additional deduction is processed using the entered type and plan. If a garnishment is backed out due to a negative net condition the corresponding administrative fee is also reversed.  Whether or not the administrative fee for a Child Support deduction will be included in the Maximum Child Support calculation is determined by the Amount/Percent 2 field value. When the Amount/Percent 2 field on a Deduction Plan with a Special Routine ID of Child Support Routine is set to 1 then the administrative fee is included in the Maximum Child Support calculation. The Gross-to-Net (GTN) calculates the percentage of the Maximum Child Support from the disposable income, then subtracts the child support administrative fee to determine the Maximum Child Support amount. When the Amount/Percent 2 field on a Deduction Plan with a Special Routine ID of Child Support Routine is not 1, then the administrative fee is not included in the Maximum Child Support calculation.