Georgia Wage Garnishment Calculator

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Georgia Wage Garnishment Calculator

How much a Georgia paycheck can lose to a garnishment, support order, tax levy, student loan or Chapter 13 plan. O.C.G.A. 18-4-5, 18-4-20, 19-11-19, 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677. Estimates only.

Rules encoded (VERIFY): an ordinary garnishment takes the lesser of 25% of weekly disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed $217.50 – the statute fixes that floor at 30 hours per week at $7.25 (O.C.G.A. 18-4-5), so it does not rise with minimum wage increases. A judgment arising from a private educational loan is capped at 15% of disposable earnings instead of 25%. Support income deduction orders follow the CCPA tiers 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% (O.C.G.A. 19-11-19). Georgia Department of Revenue garnishments and IRS levies sit outside the 25% cap. Magistrate Court handles garnishments on judgments of $15,000 or less; the garnishee answers in 30 to 45 days depending on the court; a debtor traverse gets a hearing within about 10 days. No discharge for one garnishment (15 U.S.C. 1674).

1. Mode, county and pay date

Stack uses the order boxes in section 3.
Affects the IRS table only; the Georgia floor is fixed at $217.50.
Magistrate, State or Superior Court venue.
Weekly tests scale by 52 / periods.
Select a county to see the venue note and the fixed $217.50 weekly floor.

2. Gross pay and legally required withholding

Includes bonuses and commissions.
Voluntary 401(k) excluded.
Take-home only; not in the garnishment base.

3. Order type and amounts

0 applies the statutory maximum.
Informational; support sits outside the 25% aggregate.
Shares the 25% ceiling.

4. Balance and payoff

Georgia post-judgment interest follows O.C.G.A. 7-4-16 (prime plus 3% – VERIFY); 7% entered as a placeholder.

How it works

  • Disposable = gross minus legally required withholding; voluntary shown separately.
  • Weekly conversion = 52 / periods (1, 2, 2.1667, 4.3333); O.C.G.A. 18-4-5 tests run weekly.
  • Floor = the fixed statutory $217.50 weekly (30 hours at $7.25); at or below it nothing is garnished.
  • Consumer cap = lesser of 25% of disposable and the excess over the floor, reduced by other non-support garnishments.
  • Private educational loan judgments cap at 15% of disposable, still subject to the floor and the aggregate.
  • Support = lesser of ordered and the CCPA tier 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% of disposable.
  • Student loan AWG = lesser of 15% disposable and above the federal 30x floor.
  • IRS = disposable above Pub 1494 exempt; DOR = modeled at 25% of disposable; neither uses the state cap.
  • Stack applies precedence in order and the 25% aggregate on non-support, non-tax orders.
  • Payoff amortizes at the entered rate and flags non-amortizing or zero-withholding cases.

Sources

  • O.C.G.A. 18-4-5 (25% cap, 15% private educational loan cap, fixed $217.50 floor) and 18-4-20: law.justia.com and georgialegalaid.org
  • O.C.G.A. 19-11-19 (income deduction for support, disposable earnings definition): law.justia.com
  • Georgia Legal Aid garnishment exemptions guide and traverse hearing practice: georgialegalaid.org
  • 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677 and DOL Fact Sheet 30: dol.gov
  • Georgia DOR enforcement FAQ (wage garnishment for delinquent taxes): dor.georgia.gov
  • Magistrate court garnishment pages (answer in 30 to 45 days, $15,000 jurisdiction): georgiacourts.gov and county court sites
  • IRS Pub 1494 and Form 668-W: irs.gov
  • 20 U.S.C. 1095a, 34 CFR 34.19: studentaid.gov
  • O.C.G.A. 7-4-16 (post-judgment interest): law.justia.com

Test cases

TC1 Fulton County, 2026, weekly. Gross $1,000.00; required $200.00; disposable $800.00. 25% cap $200.00; floor room $800.00 minus $217.50 = $582.50. Withheld $200.00, take-home $600.00, 25.00%. $4,000 at 7% clears in 21 weeks, total $4,200.00, interest $200.00.
TC2 DeKalb County, 2026, weekly. Gross $260.00; required $50.00; disposable $210.00, at or below the fixed $217.50 floor. Withheld $0.00. The floor never indexes, so low earners stay protected even as minimum wages rise.
TC3 Cobb County, 2026, weekly, private educational loan judgment. Gross $1,000.00; required $200.00; disposable $800.00. The 15% cap gives $120.00 against floor room $582.50, instead of the $200.00 an ordinary judgment would take. Withheld $120.00, take-home $680.00.
TC4 Chatham County, 2026, biweekly. Gross $2,400.00; required $560.00; disposable $1,840.00. Child support, no second family, arrears 12 weeks or older: 65% ceiling $1,196.00; ordered $1,200.00. Withheld $1,196.00, take-home $644.00.
TC5 Gwinnett County, 2026, biweekly, stack. Gross $2,400.00; required $560.00; disposable $1,840.00. Support $300.00; no IRS or DOR order; consumer requested $400.00 within the $460.00 25% cap and $1,405.00 floor room. Consumer $400.00, total $700.00, take-home $1,140.00.
Estimates only; not legal advice. All figures VERIFY, including the fixed $217.50 statutory floor, the 15% private educational loan cap, the CCPA support tiers as applied through O.C.G.A. 19-11-19, the DOR modeled 25%, magistrate versus superior court practice, garnishee answer deadlines of 30 to 45 days, traverse hearing timing and the O.C.G.A. 7-4-16 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, contested traverses, automatic stays, self-employment income, bonuses, severance, pensions, unemployment or workers compensation. Consult a Georgia attorney or Georgia Legal Aid. Deploy: replace the block, Update, purge cache, hard refresh; verify document.getElementById(“georgia-wage-garnishment-calculator”).getAttribute(“data-js-ready”) returns “true” with no SyntaxError.

What Is a Georgia Wage Garnishment Calculator?

A Georgia wage garnishment calculator estimates withholding from a pay period by first determining disposable earnings and then applying the formula for the selected order type. For an ordinary judgment, it compares 25% of disposable earnings with earnings above the calculator's fixed $217.50 weekly floor and applies the smaller permitted amount.

The main output is “Withheld per pay period.” The results also show disposable earnings, weekly equivalents, the 25% ordinary cap, the 15% private educational loan cap, income above the fixed floor, estimated take-home pay, annual withholding, and the share of disposable earnings withheld.

The calculator has Single order, Stacking, and Payoff timeline modes. Stacking mode adds a five-order waterfall. Payoff mode applies the calculated periodic withholding to an entered balance and estimates the number of pay periods needed under the entered interest rate.

How the Georgia Wage Garnishment Calculation Works

The calculation begins with disposable earnings. The calculator adds federal income tax, Georgia income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding. Required withholding is capped at gross pay before disposable earnings are calculated.

D=G−min⁡(R,G)D=G-\min(R,G)

Here, D is disposable earnings, G is gross pay for the period, and R is the total legally required withholding entered in the calculator. Voluntary deductions are kept separate and do not reduce this garnishment base.

The calculator converts each pay period to a weekly equivalent because its protected-income tests are based on weekly earnings.

w=52Nw=\frac{52}{N}

In this equation, w is the number of weeks represented by one pay period and N is the number of pay periods per year. The calculator uses 52 for weekly, 26 for biweekly, 24 for semimonthly, and 12 for monthly pay.

Consumer judgment calculation

For an ordinary consumer or contract judgment, the calculator uses a fixed $217.50 weekly protected amount. It calculates both 25% of disposable earnings and the disposable earnings above that protected level.

F=max⁡(0,D−217.50w)F=\max\left(0,D-217.50w\right)

It also calculates remaining 25% room after the amount entered as “Other non-support garnishments.”

Q=max⁡(0,0.25D−O)Q=\max\left(0,0.25D-O\right)

Here, O is the amount entered for other non-support garnishments. The implemented consumer-judgment ceiling is:

C=min⁡(0.25D,F,Q)C=\min\left(0.25D,F,Q\right)

If “Amount demanded per period” is greater than zero but lower than this ceiling, the calculator uses the demanded amount instead. An entered support-withholding amount is displayed in the results but is not subtracted in this consumer calculation.

Private educational loan judgment

A private educational loan judgment uses a 15% percentage instead of 25%. The current code compares 15% of disposable earnings with earnings above the fixed floor.

Cprivate=min⁡(0.15D,F)C_{private}=\min\left(0.15D,F\right)

The calculator still displays the 25% room after other garnishments, but its implemented private-loan branch does not use that room to reduce the 15% result. This differs from some explanatory text inside the calculator that refers to an aggregate ceiling. The numeric result follows the implemented formula above.

Support withholding

Child and spousal support use a separate percentage of disposable earnings. The rate is 50% when the second-family box is checked and 60% when it is not. Checking the box for arrears of 12 weeks or more adds five percentage points.

Cs=rDC_s=rD

The support rate r is therefore 0.50, 0.55, 0.60, or 0.65. A positive demanded amount below the calculated support ceiling reduces the withholding to that demanded amount. The code also prevents support withholding from exceeding disposable earnings.

Federal student loan, tax, and Chapter 13 calculations

For federal student loan administrative wage garnishment, the calculator uses the smaller of 15% of disposable earnings and earnings above 30 times the encoded $7.25 federal minimum-wage value.

CAWG=min⁡(0.15D,max⁡(0,D−30(7.25)w))C_{AWG}=\min\left(0.15D,\max\left(0,D-30(7.25)w\right)\right)

The single-order federal student loan calculation does not subtract the “Other non-support garnishments” field, even though other calculator text refers to an aggregate limit.

For an IRS levy, the calculator estimates a per-period exempt amount from an encoded table for 2024, 2025, or 2026. It uses the selected filing status, adds $5,300 per dependent and $1,600 per age-65-or-blind box, and divides by annual pay periods. A positive override replaces this estimate.

EIRS=B+5300d+1600aNE_{IRS}=\frac{B+5300d+1600a}{N}

Here, B is the encoded filing-status amount, d is dependents, and a is the age-65-or-blind count. The estimated IRS withholding is the positive amount of disposable earnings above this exemption.

The Georgia DOR option is modeled at 25% of disposable earnings. Chapter 13 converts the entered monthly plan payment to the selected pay frequency and caps it at disposable earnings.

C13=min⁡(D,12PmN)C_{13}=\min\left(D,\frac{12P_m}{N}\right)

In this formula, Pm is the monthly Chapter 13 plan payment. A positive demanded amount can further reduce the calculated single-order result.

Worked Georgia wage garnishment example

Suppose a biweekly paycheck has $2,000.00 in gross pay, $400.00 in required withholding, $100.00 in voluntary deductions, no other garnishments, and an ordinary consumer judgment. Leave the demanded amount at zero so the calculator uses its calculated maximum.

Disposable earnings are $2,000.00 − $400.00 = $1,600.00. A biweekly period represents two weeks, so the protected amount is $217.50 × 2 = $435.00. Disposable earnings above the floor are therefore $1,165.00.

Twenty-five percent of $1,600.00 is $400.00. With no other non-support garnishment entered, the remaining 25% room is also $400.00. The calculator chooses the smallest applicable figure, producing $400.00 of withholding per pay period.

The displayed weekly amount is $200.00, and the annual amount is $10,400.00 at 26 pay periods. Estimated take-home after required withholding, $100.00 of voluntary deductions, and the garnishment is $1,100.00. The displayed share of disposable earnings withheld is 25.00%.

Payoff timeline formula

Payoff mode uses the calculated withholding as a recurring payment against the balance. The periodic interest rate equals the entered annual percentage rate divided by 100 and by the number of pay periods per year.

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

Here, B is the balance, P is withholding per period, i is the periodic interest rate, and n is the number of periods rounded up. If the payment is no greater than one period of starting interest, the calculator reports that the balance never amortizes.

With a 0% entered rate, periods equal the balance divided by the payment, rounded up. Total paid is then displayed as the original balance. With a positive rate, total paid is the rounded number of periods multiplied by the full periodic payment, and interest paid is that amount minus the starting balance.

How to Use the Georgia Wage Garnishment Calculator

  1. Select Single order, Stacking, or Payoff timeline mode.
  2. Choose the wage year, Georgia county, and pay frequency.
  3. Enter gross pay and the amounts for federal income tax, Georgia income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding.
  4. Enter voluntary deductions separately. The calculator uses them for take-home pay rather than its disposable-earnings base.
  5. Select the order type and enter a demanded amount, existing support, or other garnishment amount when applicable.
  6. Complete any additional support, IRS, Chapter 13, or stacking fields that appear.
  7. In payoff mode, enter the balance owed and annual interest percentage.
  8. Check the required acknowledgment and select Calculate.

The primary result shows the calculated withholding for the selected order type. The results also identify the binding factor, weekly and annual amounts, take-home pay, percentage withheld, and the calculator's protected-income and cap calculations.

Important Assumptions and Calculator Behavior

Input or featureHow the calculator uses it
Pay yearSelects the encoded IRS exemption table for 2024, 2025, or 2026. It does not change the $217.50 weekly Georgia floor.
CountyControls the displayed venue wording. It does not change the numerical withholding formula.
Support already withheldIs displayed in the main results but is not subtracted by the single-order consumer, private-loan, or federal student-loan formulas.
Other non-support garnishmentsReduce remaining 25% room for an ordinary consumer judgment. The current private educational loan and federal student-loan branches do not apply this field to their calculated caps.
Voluntary deductionsReduce displayed take-home pay but do not reduce disposable earnings used in the garnishment formulas.
Amount demandedA positive amount can reduce a single-order result when it is below the calculated ceiling. Zero uses the calculated maximum.

Stacking mode processes five entries in this order: support, IRS levy, Georgia DOR garnishment, federal student loan, and consumer judgment. Support is limited to its percentage ceiling and remaining disposable earnings. The IRS amount is limited to the remaining earnings above the calculator's estimated exemption. DOR is limited to 25% of the original disposable earnings and the amount remaining.

The federal student loan step uses the smaller of its requested amount, 15% of original disposable earnings, and earnings above the federal floor. The code does not separately cap that student-loan step at the amount remaining after support, IRS, and DOR withholding. Large preceding orders can therefore make the calculator's internal remaining amount negative.

The final consumer step is limited by the entered consumer amount, the ordinary consumer cap, and the remaining amount. However, its consumer cap uses only the separate “Other non-support garnishments” input when calculating remaining 25% room. It does not subtract the federal student-loan amount already calculated by stack mode from that 25% room.

Stack mode still floors displayed take-home pay at $0.00. It also opens the payoff panel automatically and uses total stack withholding as the periodic payoff payment. Because balance is only required when the selected mode is Payoff timeline, a stack calculation with a zero balance can display an “Enter a balance” payoff note.

Most money fields accept values from $0 through $10,000,000. The balance field allows up to $100,000,000. The annual interest field allows 0% through 40%. IRS dependents allow 0 through 20, while the age-65-or-blind field allows 0 through 2. Gross pay must be greater than zero.

County selection and the acknowledgment checkbox are required. The balance becomes required in Payoff timeline mode. Currency outputs use U.S. formatting with two decimal places, and the withheld share is displayed as a percentage with two decimal places.

The result meter is scaled against a 65% reference level. Its visual treatment changes at 10% and 25% of disposable earnings. Those meter thresholds are presentation rules and do not add another mathematical withholding limit.

This calculator provides a legal and financial estimate using the assumptions programmed into its code. Actual withholding may depend on the governing order, exemptions, current law, court or agency action, payroll treatment, and facts not represented by these inputs. The output should not be treated as legal advice or a final legal determination.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are disposable earnings in this calculator?

Disposable earnings are gross pay minus the legally required withholding entered into the calculator. These deductions are federal income tax, Georgia income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding. If their total exceeds gross pay, the program caps required withholding at gross pay so disposable earnings cannot become negative.

What is the fixed $217.50 weekly floor?

It is the protected weekly amount encoded for ordinary Georgia garnishment calculations. The calculator subtracts $217.50 from weekly disposable earnings and treats only the positive excess as available under its floor test. The selected 2024, 2025, or 2026 pay year does not change this amount.

How is a private educational loan judgment different?

The calculator uses 15% of disposable earnings instead of the ordinary 25% percentage. It then compares that 15% figure with earnings above the protected floor. In the current implementation, the separate “Other non-support garnishments” amount does not reduce this private-loan result, even though the calculator displays a remaining 25% room figure.

Do voluntary deductions lower the garnishment base?

No. Voluntary deductions such as health deductions, voluntary 401(k) contributions, and dues are not subtracted when the calculator determines disposable earnings. They are subtracted later when it calculates take-home pay. As a result, the displayed disposable-earnings amount can be higher than the money left after all paycheck deductions.

How does the calculator determine support withholding?

The support calculation uses 50% of disposable earnings when the second-family box is checked and 60% otherwise. The arrears checkbox adds five percentage points, producing a possible 50%, 55%, 60%, or 65% ceiling. A lower positive demanded amount reduces the withholding below that calculated ceiling.

Does the county change the garnishment amount?

No. The selected Georgia county does not change the numerical formulas. It is required because the calculator uses it in the displayed venue information. The menu lists several named counties plus an “Other Georgia county” choice representing counties not individually listed.

What does the payoff timeline estimate?

The payoff timeline estimates how many pay periods the entered balance would take to satisfy when the calculated withholding is treated as a recurring payment. It also displays approximate calendar time, total paid, and interest paid. A zero payment or a payment that does not cover starting periodic interest prevents a normal amortized payoff result.

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