Minnesota Wage Garnishment Calculator

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Minnesota Wage Garnishment Calculator

How much a Minnesota paycheck can lose to a garnishment, child support order, DOR wage levy, student loan or Chapter 13 plan under the tiered Minn. Stat. 571.922 formula. Estimates only.

Rules encoded (VERIFY): for non-support judgments, Minn. Stat. 571.922 caps garnishment at the lesser of a tiered percentage of disposable earnings – 10% when weekly income is above 40 but not above 60 times the greater of the state or federal minimum wage, 15% above 60 but not above 80 times, and 25% above 80 times – or the amount by which disposable earnings exceed 40 times that greater minimum wage. At or below 40 times the wage nothing is garnished. Child support judgments use the statute’s own tiers: 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% of disposable income by second-family and 12-week arrears tests. DOR wage levies take 25% of disposable earnings after required withholding; IRS levies use Publication 1494. State minimum wage: $10.85 (2024), $11.13 (2025), $11.41 (2026); Minneapolis and Saint Paul set higher local rates but the statute keys to the state rate (VERIFY). Judgment interest is the variable 549.09 rate for judgments of $50,000 or less (4% for 2026) and 10% above $50,000. No discharge for one garnishment (15 U.S.C. 1674).

1. Mode, county and pay date

Stack uses the order boxes in section 3.
Sets the 40x / 60x / 80x tier wages.
Conciliation or District Court venue.
571.922 tiers run on weekly income; partial weeks count as fractions.
Select a county to see the venue note and the tier thresholds for the chosen year.

2. Gross pay and legally required withholding

Weekly gross sets the 40x / 60x / 80x tier.
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 tier caps.
Shares the 25% aggregate ceiling.

4. Balance and payoff

4% is the 2026 variable rate for judgments of $50,000 or less; 10% above $50,000 (Minn. Stat. 549.09 – VERIFY).

How it works

  • Disposable = gross minus legally required withholding; voluntary shown separately.
  • Weekly conversion = 52 / periods; partial weeks count as fractions under 571.922(b).
  • Tier test on weekly gross income: above 80x the greater minimum wage = 25%; above 60x to 80x = 15%; above 40x to 60x = 10%; at or below 40x = nothing.
  • Second cap: disposable earnings above 40x the greater minimum wage per week; the lesser of the tier cap and this excess applies.
  • The 25% CCPA aggregate still limits all non-support, non-tax withholding combined.
  • Child support = 50 / 55 / 60 / 65% tiers by second-family and 12-week tests under 571.922(c).
  • Student loan = lesser of 15% disposable and above the federal 30x floor.
  • IRS = disposable above Pub 1494 exempt; DOR = 25% of disposable after required withholding.
  • Stack applies precedence in order; payoff amortizes at the entered rate.

Sources

  • Minn. Stat. 571.922 (10 / 15 / 25 percent tiers on weekly income against 40x / 60x / 80x the greater minimum wage; 40x floor; child support tiers): revisor.mn.gov
  • Minn. Stat. 518A.53 (income withholding) and 549.09 (judgment interest, 10% above $50,000, variable rate below): revisor.mn.gov
  • Minnesota DLI minimum wage ($10.85 / $11.13 / $11.41; $11.87 in 2027) and Minneapolis / Saint Paul local rates: dli.mn.gov, minimumwage.minneapolismn.gov, stpaul.gov
  • Unemployment Insurance garnishment worksheet (40x federal floor figures): uimn.org
  • Minnesota DOR wage levy guidance (25% of disposable after required withholding): revenue.state.mn.gov
  • 15 U.S.C. 1671-1677 and DOL Fact Sheet 30: dol.gov
  • IRS Pub 1494 and Form 668-W: irs.gov
  • 20 U.S.C. 1095a, 34 CFR 34.19: studentaid.gov
  • Minnesota court rules interest rate notices (4% for 2026 on judgments of $50,000 or less): revisor.mn.gov

Test cases

TC1 Hennepin County, 2026, weekly. Gross $1,200.00 weekly exceeds 80x $11.41 ($912.80), so the 25% tier applies: $240.00 on disposable $960.00; 40x floor room $503.60 is higher. Withheld $240.00, take-home $720.00. $4,000 at 4% clears in 17 weeks, total $4,080.00, interest $80.00.
TC2 Ramsey County, 2026, weekly. Gross $800.00 weekly sits above 60x ($684.60) but not above 80x ($912.80): the 15% tier gives $96.00 on disposable $640.00, below the $183.60 floor room. Withheld $96.00, take-home $544.00.
TC3 Dakota County, 2026, weekly. Gross $600.00 weekly sits above 40x ($456.40) but not above 60x ($684.60): the 10% tier gives $48.00, but the 40x floor leaves only $23.60 of disposable $480.00 reachable. Withheld $23.60, take-home exactly the $456.40 floor.
TC4 Olmsted County, 2026, biweekly. Gross $2,400.00; required $560.00; disposable $1,840.00. Child support, not supporting a second family, over 12 weeks old: 65% tier $1,196.00; ordered $1,200.00. Withheld $1,196.00, take-home $644.00.
TC5 Stearns County, 2026, biweekly, stack. Gross $2,400.00 ($1,200.00 weekly, 25% tier); required $560.00; disposable $1,840.00. Support $300.00; no IRS or DOR order; consumer requested $400.00 within the $460.00 tier cap, $927.20 floor room and $460.00 aggregate. Consumer $400.00, total $700.00, take-home $1,140.00.
Estimates only; not legal advice. All figures VERIFY, including whether the tier test uses gross or disposable weekly income in your case, the greater-of state or federal minimum wage inputs, local minimum wage interaction, the 518A.53 arrears addition, the DOR 25% practice, conciliation court limits, exemption form deadlines and the 549.09 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, contested exemption hearings, automatic stays, self-employment income, bonuses, severance, pensions, unemployment or workers compensation. Consult a Minnesota attorney or LawHelpMN. Deploy: replace the block, Update, purge cache, hard refresh; verify document.getElementById(“minnesota-wage-garnishment-calculator”).getAttribute(“data-js-ready”) returns “true” with no SyntaxError.

What Is a Minnesota Wage Garnishment Calculator?

A Minnesota wage garnishment calculator estimates paycheck withholding from gross pay, required deductions, pay frequency, order type, and the limits encoded for that order. For ordinary judgments, this tool applies a 10%, 15%, or 25% disposable-earnings tier, a 40-times-minimum-wage floor, and a 25% aggregate ceiling.

The calculator supports weekly, biweekly, semimonthly, and monthly pay. Its primary result is the amount withheld per pay period. It also displays weekly and annual equivalents, disposable earnings, protected-income figures, take-home pay, the share of disposable earnings withheld, and the factor limiting the result.

Stacking mode applies five order categories in sequence. Payoff mode uses the calculated withholding as a recurring payment to estimate how many pay periods may be needed to satisfy an entered balance.

How the Minnesota Wage Garnishment Calculation Works

The calculator first determines disposable earnings. It totals the entered federal income tax, Minnesota income tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding. Required withholding cannot exceed gross pay in the calculation. Voluntary deductions are handled separately.

D=G−min⁡(G,R)D=G-\min(G,R)

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

Ordinary judgment tiers

For consumer and private student loan judgments, the code converts the paycheck to a weekly amount. It uses 52 periods for weekly pay, 26 for biweekly pay, 24 for semimonthly pay, and 12 for monthly pay. The number of weeks represented by one paycheck is 52 divided by the selected periods per year.

The minimum wage used for the tier calculation is the greater of the encoded Minnesota or federal minimum wage. Because the encoded Minnesota rates are higher for every selectable year, the tool uses $10.85 for 2024, $11.13 for 2025, and $11.41 for 2026.

The code selects the percentage tier from weekly gross pay, not weekly disposable earnings:

r={0,Gw≤40m0.10,40m<Gw≤60m0.15,60m<Gw≤80m0.25,Gw>80mr=\begin{cases}0,&G_w\le40m\\0.10,&40m<G_w\le60m\\0.15,&60m<G_w\le80m\\0.25,&G_w>80m\end{cases}

Here, Gw is weekly gross pay, m is the minimum wage selected by the code, and r is the tier rate.

The tool then calculates how much disposable income remains above the 40-times-wage floor. Unlike the tier selection, this step uses weekly disposable earnings.

H=max⁡(0,Ds−40m)sH=\max\left(0,\frac{D}{s}-40m\right)s

s is the number of weeks in the selected pay period. The ordinary judgment cap is the smallest of the tier percentage, the amount above the 40-times floor, and remaining room under the calculator's 25% aggregate ceiling after other non-support garnishments.

C=min⁡(rD,H,max⁡(0,0.25D−O))C=\min\left(rD,H,\max(0,0.25D-O)\right)

O is the entered amount of other non-support garnishments. If “Amount demanded per period” is zero, the tool uses the calculated cap. If a positive demanded amount is below the cap, the calculator uses the lower demanded amount.

Worked example

Consider a hypothetical 2026 weekly paycheck with $600 in gross pay, $120 in required withholding, no voluntary deductions, and no other garnishments. Disposable earnings equal $480. The code's 2026 40-times threshold is $456.40 and its 60-times threshold is $684.60. Weekly gross therefore falls in the 10% tier.

Tier cap=0.10×480=48.00\text{Tier cap}=0.10\times480=48.00
Floor room=480−456.40=23.60\text{Floor room}=480-456.40=23.60

The 25% aggregate room is $120.00. The calculator chooses the smallest amount: $23.60. With zero voluntary deductions, displayed take-home pay becomes $600 minus $120 required withholding minus $23.60 garnishment, or $456.40.

Other order types

Child support and spousal maintenance use separate percentage limits. The code starts at 60% of disposable earnings when the second-family box is not selected and 50% when it is selected. Checking the box for a judgment or arrears over 12 weeks old adds five percentage points.

Csupport=rsD,rs∈{0.50,0.55,0.60,0.65}C_{support}=r_sD,\qquad r_s\in\{0.50,0.55,0.60,0.65\}

Federal student loan AWG uses the lesser of 15% of disposable earnings and disposable earnings above a federal floor of 30 times the encoded $7.25 federal minimum wage per week.

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

An IRS levy uses disposable earnings above an estimated exempt amount. A positive override replaces the estimate. Otherwise, the calculator combines its year-and-filing-status standard deduction with $5,300 per dependent and $1,600 per age-65-or-blind box, then divides the annual amount by pay periods per year.

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

Payoff mode uses the calculated withholding as the recurring payment. The APR field starts at 4% but can be changed from 0% through 40%. The code does not automatically change the entered APR based on the balance.

For a positive APR, the calculator converts the annual rate into a periodic rate and applies an amortization formula. If the recurring payment does not exceed one period of interest, it reports that the balance does not amortize.

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

B is the entered balance, P is withholding per period, p is periods per year, and n is the calculated number of periods. With positive interest, total paid is displayed as n × P. At 0% APR, periods equal the ceiling of balance divided by payment, and the displayed total paid equals the original balance.

How to Use the Minnesota Wage Garnishment Calculator

  1. Select Single order, Stacking, or Payoff timeline mode.
  2. Choose the year wages are payable, your Minnesota county, and pay frequency.
  3. Enter gross pay for the period and any federal tax, Minnesota tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, or other required withholding.
  4. Enter voluntary health, 401(k), dues, or other voluntary deductions separately if you want them reflected in take-home pay.
  5. Select the order type and enter an amount demanded per period when applicable. Zero uses the calculated maximum in single-order mode.
  6. Complete any additional support, IRS, Chapter 13, stacking, debt-balance, or APR fields that apply.
  7. Check the required acknowledgment and select Calculate.

The main result shows withholding per pay period. The calculator also reports the weekly and annual equivalents, disposable earnings, tier and floor amounts, remaining room, take-home pay, the withholding percentage, and a binding-factor explanation. Dollar amounts are formatted as U.S. currency with two decimal places, and the displayed share of disposable earnings uses two decimal places.

Understanding the Inputs and Important Assumptions

Pay frequency matters because the calculator's tier tests operate on weekly amounts. A biweekly paycheck represents two weeks. A semimonthly paycheck represents about 2.1667 weeks, while a monthly paycheck represents about 4.3333 weeks.

The year selection changes the encoded Minnesota minimum wage and therefore the 40-times, 60-times, and 80-times thresholds. County is required, but it does not change the numerical garnishment formula. It is used for the displayed venue and procedure information.

Most money fields accept values from $0 through $10,000,000. The balance field 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 calculation floors those IRS count fields to whole numbers.

Gross pay must be greater than zero, a county must be selected, and the acknowledgment box must be checked. The balance field is required by mode in the interface for payoff calculations, although zero is still within its numeric range. A zero balance produces an “Enter a balance” payoff result instead of a positive timeline.

The “Support already withheld” field is informational in the single-order calculations and does not reduce the ordinary judgment result. “Other non-support garnishments” does reduce the ordinary 25% aggregate room. Voluntary deductions do not reduce disposable earnings; they are subtracted later when take-home pay is displayed.

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. Unlike the single-order “Amount demanded” field, zero in a stacking-order box means that order contributes nothing.

Support is limited by its support percentage and the disposable earnings remaining. The IRS step uses the remaining earnings above the estimated IRS exemption. The DOR step is limited to 25% of original disposable earnings and whatever disposable earnings remain. The consumer step is limited by its tier calculation, the entered existing non-support garnishment, the remaining 25% non-support room after AWG, and the earnings still available.

The AWG step is calculated from the original disposable earnings and federal floor. In the current code, that step is not separately capped by the disposable earnings remaining after earlier support, IRS, and DOR deductions. In unusually large combinations, the internal remaining amount can therefore fall below zero, although displayed take-home pay is floored at $0.00.

Stacking mode also opens the payoff panel and uses total stacked withholding as its recurring payment. A debt balance is not required specifically for stack mode, so leaving the balance at zero causes the payoff panel to report that a balance must be entered.

This calculator deals with legal and financial withholding, so its results should be treated as estimates. Its own interface marks the legal figures for verification. Actual orders, exemptions, priority rules, court procedures, tax levy rules, interest rates, and later changes can produce a different real-world result.

Frequently Asked Questions

How does the calculator determine the Minnesota garnishment percentage?

For ordinary consumer and private student loan judgments, the code compares weekly gross pay with 40, 60, and 80 times the greater encoded minimum wage. It applies a 0%, 10%, 15%, or 25% tier. That percentage is then applied to disposable earnings and compared with other limits.

What is the difference between gross pay and disposable earnings?

Gross pay is the paycheck amount before the deductions entered in the calculator. Disposable earnings equal gross pay minus federal tax, Minnesota tax, Social Security and Medicare, mandatory retirement, and other required withholding. The calculator does not subtract its voluntary-deductions field when finding disposable earnings.

Why can the floor limit produce less withholding than the tier percentage?

The calculator separately protects disposable earnings up to its 40-times-minimum-wage floor. Even when weekly gross pay places a paycheck in the 10%, 15%, or 25% tier, the amount of disposable earnings above that floor may be smaller. The calculator uses the smaller applicable amount.

What does zero in the amount demanded field mean?

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

How does the calculator handle support withholding?

Support uses one of four encoded percentages of disposable earnings. The base is 50% when the employee supports a spouse or dependent child and 60% otherwise. Selecting the over-12-weeks box adds five percentage points, giving possible calculator rates of 50%, 55%, 60%, or 65%.

Does the calculator automatically use a different interest rate for a larger judgment?

No. The APR field starts at 4%, and the interface includes a note about a different figure above a stated balance threshold, but the JavaScript does not automatically change APR based on the debt balance. Payoff calculations use whatever APR the user actually enters.

Why might the payoff timeline show no number of pay periods?

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

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