Kansas Child Support Enforcement Income Withholding Information for Employers

This website contains essential information pertaining to the compliance with income withholding orders issued for Kansas child support cases. There are several questions, answers as well as links to statutes that should help the employer have a better understanding of:

•		What are Income Withholding Orders
•		How to comply with Income Withholding Orders, including
		– determining the amount to withhold; – submitting the amount of support withheld; and – employers' cost recovery fee.
•		How employee/obligors can get answers to their child support issues
•		Kansas Income Withholding Statutes

   
IMPORTANT NOTICE: The information in this website is general in nature and intended to assist employers in complying with Income Withholding Orders. This should not be construed as legal advice concerning the employer's responsibility or legal sufficiency of the orders received. Employers who have specific questions or doubts about their legal responsibilities and potential liabilities should contact an attorney for representation.

In addition: The information in this website is oriented toward Administrative IWO's, those issued or requested by Kansas SRS child support enforcement using the form titled "Order/Notice To Withhold Income For Child Support", OMB: 0970-0154. HOWEVER, this information is also applicable to IWO's issued by Judges of Kansas state district courts.

Commonly Asked Questions and Answers Regarding IWO's:

Examples and Worksheets:

Other Attachments

A. Income Withholding Orders – General

1.    Q: What is an Income Withholding Order ? K. S. A. 23-4,106(e)

A: An Income Withholding Order is a continuing order requiring an employer to withhold a set dollar amount from all pay periods of an employee who is responsible for child support (and may include spousal support or alimony). Income withholding is required in all new or modified orders since 1990 and therefore does not necessarily indicate that the employee has failed to pay child support as ordered. These orders differ from a wage garnishment which is generally for a limited period and requires the withholding of a percentage of the wages as opposed to a set dollar amount.

2.    Q: What are the types of Income Withholding Orders ?

A: Generally there are two types of income withholding orders:

I. ADMINISTRATIVE (IV-D)- ORDER/NOTICE TO WITHHOLD INCOME FOR CHILD SUPPORT, OMB: 0970-0154 Issued by the state CSE agency - in Kansas it is the Child Support Enforcement Program in the Dept. of Social and Rehabilitation Services .
NOTE: An administrative order/notice to withhold income for child support is to be considered valid even though it is not signed by a judge or attorney.

II. JUDICIAL (Non-IV-D) - Issued by a judge of a Kansas state district court.

3.    Q: Where can Income Withholding Orders originate ?

A. Income Withholding Orders are issued by a court or child support agency of the state where the child support case was decided.

4.    Q: What is income for purposes of income withholding ?

A. Income is any form of periodic payment to an individual...including, but not limited to, wages, salary, trust, royalty, commission, bonus, compensation as an independent contractor, annuity and retirement benefits, workers compensation and any other periodic payments made by any person, private entity, or federal or state or local government or any agency or instrumentality thereof. K. S. A. 23-4,108(d)

NOTE:

Cash advances or offsets for loans to employee/obligors are not to be excluded from income for child support withholding purposes.

B. Complying with Income Withholding Orders – General

1.    Q: Who is required to comply with the Income Withholding Orders ?
        K. S. A. 23-4,106(d) and (m)

A: Kansas income withholding law apply to any "payor" and broadly defines "payor" to include "...any person or entity owing income to an obligor or any self-employed obligor." "Income" is also broadly defined to include "any form of periodic payment to an individual, regardless of the source, including but not limited to, wages, salary, trust, royalty, commission, bonus, compensation, as an independent contractor, annuity and retirement benefits, workers compensation and any other periodic payments..."

2.    Q: What must the employers do to comply with IWO's?

A: The Basics:

• Record in writing when the IWO was received
  
• Determine that the IWO is "regular on its face." K. S. A. 23-4-108(h)
  
• Give the employee/obligor a copy of the IWO
  
• Follow the terms of the IWO

3.    Q: When should I begin withholding employee(s) child support?

A: Employers may begin withholding for child support anytime after receipt of the IWO, but no later than the pay period during which the fourteenth day following receipt of the IWO.  K. S. A. 23-4,108(b).

4.    Q: Are Employers required to comply with IWO's regardless of the state of origin ?

A: Yes

A: Contact the attorney for the SRS child support enforcement office on the Kansas IWO or the attorney for the custodial parent.

C. Employee/obligors who have questions about their child support cases

A: Employers should refrain from acting as an employee/obligor's representative on child support cases. If an employee/obligor has questions about their case, they should contact their attorney or the child support office which is administering or enforcing the IWO.

The contact information is displayed on the IWO as the official, attorney or office which requested or submitted the IWO.

A: Employee/obligors should consult their own attorneys about their respective cases. If they do not have an attorney, they may contact the court or child support office shown on the IWO which is enforcing or administering their case.

D. How to determine the amount of child support to withhold when an employee/obligor has one IWO or more than one IWO

A. The total amount an employer can withhold for child support, spousal support and premiums for health insurance for the child(ren) is the lesser of:

The total support amount(s) for the pay period used by your organization as shown on the IWO; or

The federal consumer credit protection limit (the percentage shown on the IWO) of the employee/obligors aggregate disposable earnings for the pay period.

Worksheet for computing support withholding under a Kansas IWO
The following worksheet can be used to determine the amount of support which can be withheld from the employee/obligor's pay whether they worked full or part-time during a particular pay period.

A: For reference, see Examples 2 and 3.

The computations as illustrated in Examples 2 and 3 are:

(1) Take the employee/obligor's gross pay for the pay period and subtract federal taxes (incl. social security and medicare), state taxes, retirement contributions, and disability contributions to get aggregate disposable earnings.

(2) Multiply the aggregate disposable earnings by the federal consumer credit protection limit percentage shown under Remittance Information on the IWO to get the total amount of income to be withheld. (Use the highest fccp limit percentage from the IWO's.)

(3) Compare the total computed in (2) with the total child support obligation for all IWO's. Withhold the lesser amount.

(4) Where the lesser amount is the FCCP limit, the total amount of income to be withheld is divided equally among all IWO's giving priority to current child support obligations. Any of the withheld income remaining after all current obligations are paid may be allocated to past-due amounts. Do not pay any more than the total support obligation for any IWO.

E. Cost recovery fee an employer may charge for complying with IWO's?

A: For each employee/obligor for who an employer is withholding income for child support, the employer can charge $5.00 per withholding not to exceed $10.00 per month for each employee. K. S. A. 23-4,108(e).

F. To submit child support withholdings and trace submitted payments

1.    Q: When do I submit child support payments?

A: Child support payments must be sent to the Kansas Payment Center within seven (7) business days of the date the employee/obligor is normally paid.
K. S. A. 23-4,108(c)

A: Regular mail: The Kansas Payment Center, P. O. Box 758599, Topeka, KS 66675-8599

Telephone: The Kansas Payment Center helplines as follows
                    Employers: 1- 877-729-6367
                    Employees/Obligors: 1-877-572-5722

Internet: http://www.kspaycenter.com/public/

A: Child support payments for employee/obligors who have more than one case may be submitted to the Kansas Payment Center on the same check.
Please note clearly on the check, or on an attachment to the check, the court order number or court case number and the amount of child support for each case.

G. An employee/obligor's status with your organization changes

1.    Q: What do I do when the status of an employee/obligor changes?

A: Temporary lay-off: Notify the office or official in item 11. Submitted by... in the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO EMPLOYERS AND OTHER WITHHOLDERS section of the ORDER/NOTICE TO WITHHOLD INCOME FOR CHILD SUPPORT

Employee/obligor is no longer employed or was never employed, see item 6. Termination Notification: in the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO EMPLOYERS AND OTHER WITHHOLDERS section of the ORDER/NOTICE TO WITHHOLD INCOME FOR CHILD SUPPORT.

Send the notice to the office or official in item 11. Submitted by... in the ADDITIONAL INFORMATION TO EMPLOYERS AND OTHER WITHHOLDERS section of the ORDER/NOTICE TO WITHHOLD INCOME FOR CHILD SUPPORT.

A former employee/obligor is rehired; resume complying with the IWO as when the employee/obligor was first employed.

Employers are to comply with IWO's until notified by the issuing court or the child support agency. K. S. A. 23-4,108(d).

Employers must retain all IWO's for employees who leave the organization.

1.    Q: What is the Income withholding for compensation other than regular pay?

A: Bonuses and commissions:
These may be applied to the employee/obligor's support obligations in the pay period in which they are paid if the regular pay of the employee/obligor is not sufficient to meet their total support obligations for that period.

Compensation for sick leave, vacation, and workers compensation in lieu of regular pay: Each of these compensations is subject to income withholding for support the same as regular compensation.

Tips and gratuities:
Employers are obligated to withhold child support from tips or gratuities received by employees only when the tips and gratuities are received by the employer and then distributed to employees. Employers are not obligated to withhold for child support from tips or gratuities received directly by employees.

Payments to independent contractors:
The owner or operator is required to withhold the required amounts for support in accordance with the IWO from any payments to the independent contractor.
K. S. A. 23-4,108(b)

The amount to withhold is determined as described in g. above except there may be no deductions from the gross payment for the federal and state taxes and retirement and disability contributions.

2.    Q: What is the Income withholding for employed obligors who are paid by outside         agencies or sources

A: Professional Employment Organizations (PEO). Businesses and other organizations which receive IWO's and have their human resources functions, including compensating employees, performed by PEO's must immediately inform the court or child support office shown on the IWO of the situation.

Temporary staff services. Businesses and other organizations which receive IWO's for staff who are hired and compensated through outside staff services must immediately inform the court or child support office shown on the IWO of the situation.

I. Medical IWO's

1.    Q: What do I do with a Medical income withholding order?

A: If an employee/obligor participates in a health benefit plan and is required to provide health coverage for a child under an IWO, the employer or administrator of the plan must permit the employee/obligor to enroll the child. K. S. A. 23-4,119(d).

Employers must pay the premiums for a child's coverage under a employee/obligor's health benefit plan as required by the health benefit plan and not include them with other support payments. K. S. A. 23-4,108(c).

The sum withheld by the employer, including the cost recovery fee and premiums for the medical withholding order, cannot not exceed the consumer credit protection limits as computed in line F. of the table above.
K. S. A. 23-4,108(f).

J. Garnishments (Not IWO's for child or spousal support)

 A: Under Kansas law, an IWO is not considered a wage garnishment.
 K. S. A. 23-4,108(f).

 An IWO has priority over any other legal process under state law against the  same income. K. S. A. 23-4,109(a)

 For information and guidance on complying with wage garnishments, contact any  office of the Wage and Hour Division of the U.S. Department of Labor, or consult  your organization's legal counsel.

Page last updated: November 26, 2007