Missouri Wage Garnishment Calculator

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Missouri Wage Garnishment Calculator

How much a Missouri paycheck can lose to a continuous wage garnishment, support withholding, tax levy, student loan or Chapter 13 plan. RSMo 525.030, 525.040, 454.505, 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677. Estimates only.

Rules encoded (VERIFY): an ordinary wage garnishment takes the lesser of 25% of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($217.50); at or below that floor nothing is withheld (RSMo 525.030). A judgment debtor who is a Missouri resident and head of a family may claim by affidavit a 10% cap on disposable earnings instead of 25% – the checkbox models that claimed exemption, which does not apply to support debts. Support withholding follows the CCPA tiers 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% (RSMo 454.505, 452.350) plus an extra half-month amount toward arrears in some orders. Multiple writs rank by service date and the employer must notify inferior garnishers (RSMo 525.040). Missouri DOR levies and IRS levies sit outside the state caps; DOR is modeled at 25% of disposable. Federal student loan AWG uses 15% with the federal floor. Judgment interest is 9% absent a contract rate, with tort judgments at the federal funds rate plus 5% (RSMo 408.020, 408.040). No discharge for one garnishment (15 U.S.C. 1674).

1. Mode, county and pay date

Stack uses the order boxes in section 3.
Context only; the floor uses federal $7.25.
Associate Circuit or Circuit Court venue.
RSMo 525.030 tests run weekly; scaled by 52 / periods.
Select a county to see the venue note, the 10% head of family cap and the 30x federal 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.
Multiple writs rank by service date (525.040(2)).

4. Balance and payoff

9% absent a contract rate; tort judgments use federal funds plus 5% (RSMo 408.020, 408.040 – VERIFY).

How it works

  • Disposable = gross minus legally required withholding; voluntary shown separately.
  • Weekly conversion = 52 / periods (1, 2, 2.1667, 4.3333); 525.030 tests run weekly.
  • Floor = 30x $7.25 = $217.50 weekly; at or below it nothing is withheld.
  • Cap = lesser of 25% of disposable (10% when the resident head of family affidavit is claimed) and the above-floor amount, within the 25% aggregate after other garnishments.
  • Support = lesser of ordered and the CCPA tier 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% of disposable; the 10% cap never applies to support.
  • Student loan = 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 caps.
  • Stack applies precedence in order; multiple consumer writs rank by service date under 525.040(2).
  • Payoff amortizes at the entered rate and flags non-amortizing or zero-withholding cases.

Sources

  • RSMo 525.030 (25% cap, 10% resident head of family cap, 30x federal minimum wage floor): revisor.mo.gov
  • RSMo 525.040 (continuous wage garnishment until paid, priority by date of service, inferior garnisher notice): revisor.mo.gov
  • Missouri courts head of family exemption affidavit (10% when the debt is not for support): stlcountycourts.com and greenecounty31.squarespace.com
  • RSMo 454.505 and 452.350 (support withholding, CCPA limits, arrears addition): revisor.mo.gov
  • 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677 and DOL Fact Sheet 30: dol.gov
  • Missouri DOL minimum wage ($12.30 / $13.75 / $15.00 under Proposition A): labor.mo.gov
  • RSMo 408.020 (9% legal rate) and 408.040 (federal funds plus 5% for torts): revisor.mo.gov
  • IRS Pub 1494 and Form 668-W: irs.gov
  • 20 U.S.C. 1095a, 34 CFR 34.19: studentaid.gov

Test cases

TC1 St. Louis County, 2026, weekly, no head of family claim. 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 9% clears in 21 weeks, total $4,200.00, interest $200.00.
TC2 Greene County, 2026, weekly, resident head of family affidavit filed. Same paycheck: the 10% cap replaces 25%, giving $80.00 against floor room $582.50. Withheld $80.00, take-home $720.00, 10.00%.
TC3 Jackson 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% tier $1,196.00; ordered $1,200.00. Withheld $1,196.00, take-home $644.00; the head of family cap cannot reduce support.
TC4 Clay County, 2026, weekly. Gross $260.00; required $50.00; disposable $210.00, at or below the $217.50 floor. Withheld $0.00 even without any exemption claim.
TC5 Boone County, 2026, biweekly, stack, head of family affidavit filed. Gross $2,400.00; required $560.00; disposable $1,840.00. Support $300.00; no IRS or DOR order; consumer requested $400.00 but the 10% head of family cap limits it to $184.00 (floor room $1,405.00 is higher). Consumer $184.00, total $484.00, take-home $1,356.00.
Estimates only; not legal advice. All figures VERIFY, including the 10% resident head of family cap and its affidavit procedure under RSMo 525.030, the 30x federal floor, the CCPA support tiers and arrears addition under 454.505 and 452.350, multiple-writ priority under 525.040, the DOR modeled 25%, small claims and associate circuit limits and the 408.020 / 408.040 interest rates. 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 exemption hearings, automatic stays, self-employment income, bonuses, severance, pensions, unemployment or workers compensation. Consult a Missouri attorney or Legal Services of Missouri. Deploy: replace the block, Update, purge cache, hard refresh; verify document.getElementById(“missouri-wage-garnishment-calculator”).getAttribute(“data-js-ready”) returns “true” with no SyntaxError.

What Is a Missouri Wage Garnishment Calculator?

A Missouri wage garnishment calculator estimates paycheck withholding from disposable earnings, pay frequency, order type, existing garnishments, and applicable calculator options. For an ordinary judgment, this tool compares a 25% disposable-earnings cap, or 10% when its head-of-family option is claimed, with the amount above a federal minimum-wage floor.

The calculator works with weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay. Its main result is the amount withheld per pay period. It also displays weekly and annual withholding, disposable earnings, the protected floor, take-home pay, the percentage of disposable earnings withheld, and a text explanation of the limiting factor.

Stacking mode models five order categories in sequence. Payoff mode uses the calculated withholding as a recurring payment against an entered balance and annual interest rate.

How the Missouri Wage Garnishment Calculation Works

The calculator first finds disposable earnings. It adds federal income tax, Missouri income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding. If those deductions exceed gross pay, the code caps required withholding at gross pay. Voluntary deductions are excluded from this step.

D=G−min⁡(G,R)D=G-\min(G,R)

Here, G is gross pay, R is total legally required withholding, and D is disposable earnings.

Ordinary consumer and private student loan judgments

For consumer and private student loan judgments, the calculator uses an encoded federal minimum wage of $7.25 and a 30-times multiplier. This creates a $217.50 weekly protected floor. Pay frequency scales that weekly amount to the length of the paycheck.

s=52p,F=30(7.25)ss=\frac{52}{p},\qquad F=30(7.25)s

p is the number of pay periods per year, s is weeks represented by one pay period, and F is the protected floor for that period. The calculator uses 52, 26, 24, and 12 annual periods for weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay.

The amount of disposable earnings above the floor is:

H=max⁡(0,D−F)H=\max(0,D-F)

Without the head-of-family option, the percentage cap is 25% of disposable earnings. When “Missouri resident and head of a family claiming the 10% cap by affidavit” is checked, the calculator substitutes a 10% percentage cap for ordinary judgments.

P={0.10D,head-of-family option checked0.25D,otherwiseP=\begin{cases}0.10D,&\text{head-of-family option checked}\\0.25D,&\text{otherwise}\end{cases}

The calculator also creates a separate 25% aggregate room after the amount entered for other garnishments.

A=max⁡(0,0.25D−O)A=\max(0,0.25D-O)

O is the “Inferior or senior garnishments” amount. The ordinary judgment cap is the smallest of the percentage cap, the amount above the floor, and this remaining aggregate room.

C=min⁡(P,H,A)C=\min(P,H,A)

If “Amount demanded per period” is zero, the calculator uses the calculated cap. If a positive demanded amount is below the cap, the lower demanded amount becomes the withholding.

Worked example

Assume weekly gross pay of $1,000, required withholding of $200, no voluntary deductions, and no other garnishments. Disposable earnings equal $800. The 25% cap is $200, while disposable earnings above the $217.50 floor equal $582.50.

min⁡(0.25×800,800−217.50)=min⁡(200,582.50)=200\min(0.25\times800,800-217.50)=\min(200,582.50)=200

Without a head-of-family claim, the calculator withholds $200.00 if no lower amount is demanded. If the head-of-family box is checked, the percentage cap becomes 10% of $800, or $80.00. The calculator then withholds $80.00 because it is below the floor room and the other limits.

Support withholding

Child support and maintenance use a different calculation. The code starts with 60% of disposable earnings when the second-family box is not checked and 50% when it is checked. Selecting the arrears-12-weeks box adds five percentage points.

Csupport=rD,r∈{0.50,0.55,0.60,0.65}C_{support}=rD,\qquad r\in\{0.50,0.55,0.60,0.65\}

A lower positive amount demanded reduces the support withholding. The head-of-family 10% option does not apply to these support branches.

Federal student loan, tax, and Chapter 13 calculations

Federal student loan AWG uses the smaller of 15% of disposable earnings and disposable earnings above the calculator's 30-times-$7.25 floor.

CAWG=min⁡(0.15D,H)C_{AWG}=\min(0.15D,H)

The single-order AWG calculation does not subtract the “Inferior or senior garnishments” input or separately apply the calculator's ordinary 25% aggregate-room formula.

An IRS levy takes disposable earnings above an estimated exempt amount. A positive override replaces that estimate. Otherwise, the calculator uses its built-in standard deduction for the selected year and filing status, adds $5,300 for each dependent and $1,600 for each age-65-or-blind box, then divides the result by the number of annual pay periods.

E=S+5300d+1600bp,CIRS=max⁡(0,D−E)E=\frac{S+5300d+1600b}{p},\qquad C_{IRS}=\max(0,D-E)

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

CDOR=0.25D,CCh13=min⁡(D,12Mp)C_{DOR}=0.25D,\qquad C_{Ch13}=\min\left(D,\frac{12M}{p}\right)

Payoff timeline formula

Payoff mode uses the calculated withholding as the recurring payment. The interest field defaults to 9% and accepts values from 0% through 40%. For positive interest, the calculator converts APR to a periodic rate and estimates the number of payments with an amortization formula.

i=APR100p,n=⌈−ln⁡(1−BiPm)ln⁡(1+i)⌉i=\frac{APR}{100p},\qquad n=\left\lceil\frac{-\ln\left(1-\frac{Bi}{P_m}\right)}{\ln(1+i)}\right\rceil

B is the debt balance, Pm is withholding per period, and n is the number of periods. If the payment does not exceed one period of interest, the calculator reports that the balance never amortizes. With 0% APR, it uses the ceiling of balance divided by payment.

For positive APR calculations, displayed total paid equals the rounded-up number of periods multiplied by the full recurring payment. The code does not reduce the final modeled payment to the exact remaining balance.

How to Use the Missouri Wage Garnishment Calculator

  1. Select Single order, Stacking, or Payoff timeline mode.
  2. Choose the wage year, Missouri county or St. Louis City, and pay frequency.
  3. Check the head-of-family affidavit option if you want the ordinary-judgment calculation to use its 10% cap.
  4. Enter gross pay and any federal tax, Missouri tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding.
  5. Enter voluntary deductions separately if you want them reflected in take-home pay.
  6. Select the order type and enter an amount demanded per period when applicable. Zero uses the calculated maximum in single-order mode.
  7. Complete any support, IRS, Chapter 13, stacking, balance, or APR fields that apply.
  8. Check the required acknowledgment and select Calculate.

The main output is “Withheld per pay period.” The results also show disposable earnings, the protected floor, 25% and 10% caps, the amount above the floor, remaining room, weekly and annual withholding, take-home pay, and the share of disposable earnings withheld. Dollar values are formatted with two decimal places, and the percentage result is displayed to two decimal places.

Important Inputs and Calculation Details

Pay frequency matters because the calculator scales its weekly $217.50 floor to each pay period. Biweekly pay represents two weeks. Semimonthly pay represents about 2.1667 weeks, and monthly pay represents about 4.3333 weeks.

The year selector shows Missouri minimum-wage values for 2024, 2025, and 2026, but those state amounts are context only in the withholding calculation. The ordinary floor continues to use the encoded federal $7.25 rate. The selected year does affect the built-in IRS exemption estimate.

County or St. Louis City is required, but it changes the displayed venue and procedure text rather than the numerical withholding formula. Gross pay must be greater than zero, and the acknowledgment box must be checked before the calculator displays results.

Most money inputs accept $0 through $10,000,000. Debt balance accepts up to $100,000,000. APR accepts 0% through 40%. IRS dependents accept 0 through 20, while the age-65-or-blind field accepts 0 through 2. The code floors those two count inputs to whole numbers for its IRS calculation.

The “Support already withheld” field is displayed but does not reduce the single ordinary-judgment calculation. The “Inferior or senior garnishments” field does reduce the 25% aggregate room. Voluntary deductions are subtracted only when the calculator displays take-home pay.

How stacking mode works

Stacking mode processes five dedicated order fields in this sequence: support, IRS levy, DOR levy, federal student loan AWG, and consumer judgment. Zero in a stacking field means that order contributes nothing.

Support is capped by its percentage tier and remaining disposable earnings. The IRS step uses remaining earnings above the IRS exemption. DOR is capped at 25% of original disposable earnings and the earnings still remaining.

The student-loan step uses its 15% and federal-floor cap, but the code does not separately limit that step to disposable earnings left after support and tax withholding. In extreme combinations, the internal remaining amount can therefore become negative, although displayed take-home pay is floored at $0.00.

The consumer step applies the head-of-family option when checked. It also considers the ordinary consumer cap and remaining room after AWG. However, its separate checks for the entered “Inferior or senior garnishments” amount and AWG do not combine those two amounts into one shared subtraction. Users modeling several overlapping non-support garnishments should therefore treat the stacking result cautiously.

This calculator addresses legal and financial withholding. Its results are estimates rather than legal determinations. The interface itself marks its Missouri rules, levy assumptions, interest statements, procedures, and exemption information for verification. Actual orders, court decisions, priority dates, exemptions, tax rules, and later legal changes may produce different withholding.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does this calculator estimate an ordinary Missouri wage garnishment?

It compares a percentage of disposable earnings with disposable earnings above its $217.50 weekly floor and remaining aggregate room. The percentage is normally 25%, but checking the head-of-family option changes it to 10%. A lower positive amount demanded can reduce withholding further.

What does the head-of-family checkbox do?

It changes the ordinary consumer or private student loan percentage cap from 25% to 10% of disposable earnings. The calculator still compares that 10% figure with the protected-floor amount and remaining aggregate room. The option does not change support, IRS, DOR, federal student loan AWG, or Chapter 13 calculations.

What counts as disposable earnings?

The calculator subtracts entered federal income tax, Missouri income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding from gross pay. If those required deductions exceed gross pay, they are capped at gross pay. Voluntary deductions are excluded from disposable earnings.

What does zero in the amount demanded field mean?

In single-order mode, zero tells the calculator to use the maximum produced by that order type's formula. A positive amount below the calculated cap becomes the withholding amount. In stacking mode, the five separate order fields use zero to mean that no amount is requested for that step.

Does Missouri minimum wage change the protected floor in this calculator?

No. The displayed Missouri minimum-wage figures are context only. The ordinary garnishment and federal student loan floor calculations use the calculator's encoded federal minimum wage of $7.25. Thirty times that amount produces a $217.50 weekly floor before adjustment for pay frequency.

How does the calculator handle support withholding?

The support branch uses 60% of disposable earnings without a second-family selection and 50% when that box is checked. Selecting arrears of 12 weeks or older adds five percentage points. The four possible calculator rates are therefore 50%, 55%, 60%, and 65%.

Why might payoff mode show no payoff period?

The payoff section shows no positive period count when the balance is zero, calculated withholding is zero, or a positive-interest payment does not exceed one period of accrued interest. In the last case, the calculator reports that the balance never amortizes because the recurring payment cannot reduce it.

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