Connecticut Wage Garnishment Calculator

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Connecticut Wage Garnishment Calculator

How much a Connecticut paycheck can lose to a wage execution, support withholding, tax levy, student loan or Chapter 13 plan. C.G.S. 52-361a, 52-362, 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677. Estimates only.

Rules encoded (VERIFY): a wage execution under C.G.S. 52-361a(f) takes the lesser of 25% of weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 40 times the higher of the federal minimum wage or the Connecticut minimum fair wage ($16.90 in 2025 terms, $16.94 in 2026, so the 2026 floor is $677.60 weekly); at or below that floor nothing is levied. Only one 52-361a execution is satisfied at a time, with priority by order of presentation to the employer, and the execution issues only after the debtor fails an installment payment order, with a $105 application fee and an automatic 20-day stay after service on the employer. Support withholding under C.G.S. 52-362 follows the CCPA tiers 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% but only against income above the greater of 85% of the first $145 weekly disposable ($123.25) or the federal exempt amount, and takes precedence over wage executions. DRS tax levies and IRS levies sit outside the 25% cap. An employer may not discharge an employee unless served with more than seven wage executions in a calendar year (52-361a(j)).

1. Mode, county and pay date

Stack uses the order boxes in section 3.
Sets the 40x floor wage.
Counties have no government; venue is the Superior Court judicial district.
C.G.S. 52-361a tests run weekly; scaled by 52 / periods.
0 uses the statewide rate for the year, which is always higher than federal for 2024-2026.
Select a county to see the judicial district venue note, the 40x floor and the 25% cap.

2. Gross pay and legally required withholding

Includes bonuses and commissions.
Required contributions; voluntary 401(k) excluded here.
Take-home only for executions; note 52-362(a)(2) also deducts union dues and group life and health premiums for support orders (VERIFY).

3. Order type and amounts

0 applies the statutory maximum.
Takes precedence over executions.
Only one 52-361a execution is satisfied at a time.

4. Balance and payoff

Connecticut post-judgment interest is 10% (C.G.S. 37-3a – VERIFY).

How it works

  • Disposable = gross minus amounts required by law to be withheld; voluntary shown separately.
  • Weekly conversion = 52 / periods (1, 2, 2.1667, 4.3333); 52-361a tests run weekly.
  • Floor = 40x the higher of federal or Connecticut minimum wage ($677.60 weekly in 2026); at or below it no execution levy.
  • Execution cap = lesser of 25% of disposable and the weekly excess over the floor, within the 25% aggregate after other levies.
  • Support = lesser of ordered and the CCPA tier 50 / 55 / 60 / 65%, applied only above the greater of 85% of the first $145 weekly or the federal exempt amount.
  • Student loan = lesser of 15% disposable and above the federal 30x floor.
  • IRS = disposable above Pub 1494 exempt; DRS = modeled at 25% of disposable (VERIFY); neither uses the execution cap.
  • Stack applies precedence in order and queues wage executions one at a time.
  • Payoff amortizes at the entered rate and flags non-amortizing or zero-withholding cases.

Sources

  • C.G.S. 52-361a (wage execution: 25% / 40x higher minimum wage, one execution at a time, 20-day stay, $105 fee, seven-execution discharge rule) and 52-361b (claim form): cga.ct.gov
  • C.G.S. 52-362 (support withholding: 85% of first $145 weekly, CCPA maximum, precedence over executions): cga.ct.gov
  • Connecticut Judicial Branch self-help and income withholding form FM-001: jud.ct.gov
  • Connecticut Department of Labor minimum wage ($15.69 / $16.35 / $16.94, $17.48 in 2027): ctdol.state.ct.us
  • 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677 and DOL Fact Sheet 30: dol.gov
  • DRS collections and wage levies: portal.ct.gov/drs
  • IRS Pub 1494 and Form 668-W: irs.gov
  • 20 U.S.C. 1095a, 34 CFR 34.19: studentaid.gov
  • C.G.S. 37-3a (10% post-judgment interest): cga.ct.gov

Test cases

TC1 Hartford County, 2026, weekly. Gross $1,200.00; required $240.00; disposable $960.00. 25% cap $240.00; 40x floor room $960.00 minus $677.60 = $282.40. Withheld $240.00, take-home $720.00, 25.00%. $5,000 at 10% clears in 22 weeks, total $5,280.00, interest $280.00.
TC2 New Haven County, 2026, weekly. Gross $800.00; required $160.00; disposable $640.00, at or below the 40x floor of $677.60. Withheld $0.00. The 25% cap would have allowed $160.00 had the floor not barred it.
TC3 Fairfield County, 2026, biweekly. Gross $3,000.00; required $700.00; disposable $2,300.00. Child support, no second family, arrears 12 weeks or older: 65% tier $1,495.00, above the 85%-of-$145 exemption room of $2,053.50; ordered $1,600.00. Withheld $1,495.00, take-home $805.00.
TC4 Middlesex County, 2026, biweekly, stack. Gross $3,000.00; required $700.00; disposable $2,300.00. Support $300.00 with precedence; no IRS or DRS order; wage execution requested $700.00 but the 25% aggregate caps it at $575.00 (floor room $944.80 is higher). Total $875.00, take-home $1,425.00; any second execution waits in queue.
TC5 New London County, 2026, semimonthly. Gross $2,600.00; required $600.00; disposable $2,000.00. Federal student loan AWG 15% = $300.00; federal floor $471.25 per period leaves $1,528.75. Withheld $300.00, take-home $1,700.00. $9,000 at 0% clears in 30 periods, about 1.25 years.
Estimates only; not legal advice. All figures VERIFY, including the 25% and 40x-higher-minimum-wage formula of C.G.S. 52-361a(f), the installment payment order prerequisite and $105 fee, the 20-day automatic stay and claim procedure under 52-361b, the one-execution-at-a-time queue, the 85%-of-$145 support exemption and CCPA tiers of 52-362, the DRS levy percentage, the seven-execution discharge rule and the 10% post-judgment rate. Pub 1494 estimate uses 2026 standard deductions ($16,100 / $24,150 / $32,200) plus $5,300 per dependent plus $1,600 per age-65 or blind box. Not modeled: service-date priority disputes, contested claims, automatic stays, self-employment income, bonuses, severance, pensions, unemployment or workers compensation. Consult a Connecticut attorney or the Judicial Branch self-help center. Deploy: replace the block, Update, purge cache, hard refresh; verify document.getElementById(“connecticut-wage-garnishment-calculator”).getAttribute(“data-js-ready”) returns “true” with no SyntaxError.

What Is a Connecticut Wage Garnishment Calculator?

A Connecticut wage garnishment calculator estimates the amount withheld from a pay period after subtracting legally required withholding from gross pay and applying the rule for the selected order type. Depending on the mode, it can also model several orders in sequence or estimate how many pay periods a balance would take to satisfy.

The main result is “Withheld per pay period.” The calculator also converts that amount to a weekly and annual figure and estimates take-home pay after required withholding, voluntary deductions, and the calculated garnishment. Currency results are displayed to two decimal places, while the share of disposable earnings withheld is displayed as a percentage to two decimal places.

The county selection is required, but it does not change the numerical garnishment formula. The code uses it to display a judicial-district venue note. The pay year and pay frequency do affect calculations because they determine the encoded minimum-wage floor and the conversion between each pay period and a week.

How the Connecticut Wage Garnishment Calculation Works

The calculator first determines disposable earnings. Required withholding is the sum of the entered federal income tax, Connecticut income tax, Social Security and Medicare, normal required retirement contributions, and other required withholding. If those amounts exceed gross pay, the code limits required withholding to gross pay. Voluntary deductions do not reduce disposable earnings in the calculation.

D=G−min⁡(R,G)D=G-\min(R,G)

Here, D is disposable earnings for the pay period, G is gross pay, and R is the total legally required withholding entered in the calculator.

For a consumer or contract judgment, and for a private student loan judgment, the tool applies the same wage-execution calculation. It converts disposable earnings to a weekly amount, calculates 25% of disposable earnings, calculates the amount above the encoded 40-times-minimum-wage floor, and also calculates remaining 25% room after the “Other executions already levied” input.

Execution Cap=min⁡(0.25D, max⁡(0,Dw−40M)w, max⁡(0,0.25D−O))\text{Execution Cap}=\min\left(0.25D,\ \max\left(0,\frac{D}{w}-40M\right)w,\ \max(0,0.25D-O)\right)

In this formula, w is the number of weeks represented by one pay period, calculated as 52 divided by the number of pay periods per year. M is the higher minimum wage used by the calculator, and O is other executions already levied. If an amount demanded greater than zero is entered, the result is reduced to that amount when it is below the calculated cap.

The encoded state minimum-wage table is $15.69 for 2024, $16.35 for 2025, and $16.94 for 2026. The code also contains a $7.25 federal value and uses whichever is higher. A minimum-wage override only changes the result when the entered override exceeds that base value. For 2026, the resulting 40-times floor is $677.60 per week.

Other order types

For child or spousal support, the code uses 50% of disposable earnings when the second-family box is checked and 60% otherwise. Arrears of at least 12 weeks add five percentage points. It then compares that tier with disposable earnings above an encoded $123.25 weekly exemption, scaled to the selected pay period. Although interface text refers to comparing this with a federal exempt amount, the support calculation itself uses the $123.25 weekly amount and does not perform that additional comparison.

For federal student-loan administrative wage garnishment, the calculated ceiling is the lesser of 15% of disposable earnings and the amount above 30 times the code's $7.25 federal minimum-wage value. For an IRS levy, the calculator takes disposable earnings above its estimated per-period exemption. The exemption is based on an encoded annual amount for the selected year and filing status, plus $5,300 per dependent and $1,600 per age-65-or-blind box, divided by pay periods per year. An entered exemption override replaces that estimate when it is greater than zero.

The Connecticut DRS levy option is modeled at 25% of disposable earnings. Chapter 13 converts the entered monthly plan payment into a per-pay-period amount and limits it to disposable earnings.

Chapter 13 Amount=min⁡(D,12PmN)\text{Chapter 13 Amount}=\min\left(D,\frac{12P_m}{N}\right)

Here, Pm is the monthly plan payment and N is the number of pay periods per year.

Payoff calculation

In payoff mode, the calculated withholding becomes the payment applied to the entered balance. The periodic interest rate is the annual percentage rate divided by 100 and by the number of pay periods per year. If the payment is no greater than one period of interest on the starting balance, the calculator reports that the balance does not amortize.

n=⌈−ln⁡(1−BiP)ln⁡(1+i)⌉n=\left\lceil\frac{-\ln\left(1-\frac{Bi}{P}\right)}{\ln(1+i)}\right\rceil

In this formula, B is the balance, P is withholding per pay period, i is the periodic interest rate, and n is the number of periods, rounded up to the next whole period. For a positive APR, the displayed total paid is the whole number of periods multiplied by the regular payment. At a 0% APR, periods equal the balance divided by the payment, rounded up, while total paid remains the original balance.

Worked wage-execution example

Suppose a 2026 biweekly paycheck has $2,000.00 of gross pay, $453.00 of total required withholding, $100.00 of voluntary deductions, no other executions, and a consumer judgment with the demanded amount left at zero so the calculator uses its maximum.

Disposable earnings are $2,000.00 − $453.00 = $1,547.00. A biweekly period represents two weeks, so weekly disposable earnings are $773.50. The 2026 encoded floor is 40 × $16.94 = $677.60 per week. The amount above that floor is $95.90 weekly, or $191.80 for two weeks. Twenty-five percent of disposable earnings is $386.75. The calculator therefore uses the smaller $191.80 amount.

The resulting withholding is $191.80 for the pay period. With $100.00 of voluntary deductions, estimated take-home is $2,000.00 − $453.00 − $100.00 − $191.80 = $1,255.20. The calculator would also display $95.90 per week and $4,986.80 per year.

How to Use the Connecticut Wage Garnishment Calculator

  1. Choose Single order, Stacking, or Payoff timeline mode, then select the wage year, Connecticut county, and pay frequency.
  2. Enter gross pay for the period and each legally required withholding amount. Enter voluntary deductions separately.
  3. Select the order type. Enter an amount demanded if applicable, or leave it at 0 for the calculator's maximum under that order formula.
  4. Complete any fields that appear for support, an IRS levy, Chapter 13, or stacking mode. In stack mode, enter the requested amount for each applicable order.
  5. For payoff mode, enter the balance owed and annual interest rate. The balance is required in this mode.
  6. Check the required acknowledgment that the calculation is an estimate and not legal advice, then select Calculate.

Read “Withheld per pay period” as the primary result. The result area also shows disposable earnings, the weekly floor, 25% cap, order-specific cap, withholding per week and year, take-home pay, percentage withheld, and the calculation factor that controlled the result. Stack and payoff modes add their own result panels.

Important Assumptions and Calculation Details

Input or featureHow the calculator uses it
Pay frequencyUses 52, 26, 24, or 12 pay periods per year and converts each period to a weekly equivalent.
Voluntary deductionsReduce displayed take-home pay but do not reduce the base disposable-earnings figure used by the implemented formulas.
Minimum-wage overrideChanges the wage floor only when the override exceeds the higher wage already selected by the code.
Support already withheldIs displayed in single-order results, but the current consumer execution formula does not subtract this field from the 25% remaining-room calculation.
Other executions already leviedReduces the remaining 25% room for consumer and private-student-loan wage executions.
Amount demandedA positive amount can reduce a single-order result below its calculated maximum. Zero means the maximum is used.
CountyChanges the displayed venue wording but not the numerical withholding formula.

Stacking mode processes five entries in this order: support, IRS levy, DRS levy, federal student loan, and one consumer wage execution. Support is taken first from disposable earnings. The IRS step applies its exemption to the amount remaining after support. The DRS amount is capped at 25% of the original disposable earnings and then limited by remaining earnings.

The federal student-loan step uses its 15% or 30-times-floor cap calculated from the original disposable earnings. The current stack code does not add a separate check that limits this student-loan step to the amount remaining after earlier stack items. This means unusual combinations of large preceding orders can produce a modeled waterfall that exceeds the remaining disposable amount. The final displayed take-home value is not allowed to fall below $0.00.

The consumer step comes last and represents the first wage execution in the queue. The tool does not calculate several consumer executions simultaneously. In stack mode, it also opens the payoff panel using total stack withholding as the periodic payment. Because the balance field is only required in payoff mode, a stack calculation with no balance entered can simply show an “Enter a balance” payoff note.

The calculator's source text marks many legal figures and descriptions with “VERIFY.” There is also an internal text inconsistency for the 2025 Connecticut minimum wage: the calculation table and year selector use $16.35, while another explanatory note contains a different 2025 figure. Numerical results follow the $16.35 value stored in the calculation configuration.

This is a legal and financial estimate based on the values and formulas encoded in the calculator. Actual withholding can depend on the governing order, exemptions, court or agency action, current law, payroll treatment, and facts not represented by these fields. The output should not be treated as a legal determination or a substitute for professional advice.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does disposable earnings mean in this calculator?

Disposable earnings are gross pay minus the required withholding amounts entered in the calculator. Those fields are federal income tax, Connecticut income tax, Social Security and Medicare, normal required retirement contributions, and other required withholding. The program caps their combined amount at gross pay, so calculated disposable earnings cannot be negative.

Do voluntary deductions reduce the garnishment calculation?

No, not in the implemented base calculation. Voluntary deductions such as health deductions, voluntary 401(k) contributions, or dues are shown separately and reduce the displayed take-home amount. They are not subtracted when the program calculates disposable earnings. The interface includes a support-related note about certain deductions, but the support formula does not separately implement that adjustment.

What happens when the amount demanded is set to zero?

A zero amount tells the single-order calculation to use the maximum amount allowed by its implemented formula. If you enter a positive demanded amount that is below that maximum, the calculator uses the smaller demanded amount. Entering an amount above the calculated ceiling does not increase the withholding beyond that ceiling.

Does the Connecticut county change how much is withheld?

No. All eight county choices use the same numerical formulas in the current code. County is a required selection because it is used in the result's venue description. Changing from Fairfield to Hartford, for example, does not by itself change disposable earnings, the wage floor, or the calculated withholding.

How does the support withholding calculation work?

The implemented support calculation uses a ceiling of 50% when a second spouse or child is supported and 60% otherwise. Checking the 12-week-arrears box adds 5 percentage points. The result is also limited to earnings above an encoded $123.25 weekly exemption, scaled to the selected pay frequency, and may be reduced by a positive amount demanded.

What does the payoff timeline show?

Payoff mode uses the calculated withholding as a recurring payment against the entered balance. It shows pay periods to satisfy, approximate calendar time, total paid, and interest paid. If withholding is zero, it reports that the balance cannot be collected through the modeled wage payment. It also flags a positive-interest case when the payment does not cover one period's starting interest.

What pay frequencies can I use?

The calculator supports weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay. These correspond to 52, 26, 24, and 12 pay periods per year. The program converts a pay period into an equivalent number of weeks because several of its modeled floors are calculated on a weekly basis.

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