How Much Can the IRS Garnish from my Paycheck?

When the IRS moves forward with your wage garnishment, your employer has no choice but to comply with the IRS and remit a portion of your wages to the agency to pay your tax bill. The IRS has more garnishment power than ordinary creditors insofar as it is not subject to the state and federal garnishment limitations, which means it can leave you with very little money each week to live on.

Below is a table that will show how much the IRS can garnish from your paycheck.  It is easy to see that most people are unable to survive once the IRS begins garnishing wages. We can typically have a garnishment released within 24-48 hours so please don't hesitate to contact us if you have any questions or need any assistance in releasing garnishment and protecting yourself from any future collection efforts!

For example, if you file Returns as Single and have no dependents and you get paid every 2 weeks, your paycheck will be $400 and your employer is required to send everything beyond this $400 to the IRS until the garnishment is effectively released.

Another example, if you are a single parent with two children who files as head of household and gets paid weekly, you will be left with $413.46 to provide for your family every week. This means that if you earn $1,000 per week, the IRS takes $586.54 of it, and if you earn $2,000 per week, it can take $1,586.54 every single week until the garnishment is released.

​​