Do Garnishments Come Out of Bonus Checks?

Yes, a creditor can take money out of a bonus check. Federal law treats bonuses as earnings, so garnishment on bonus checks works the same way it works on regular wages: the withholding is calculated on your disposable earnings from that payment, and the ceiling depends on what kind of debt you owe. A judgment creditor for a credit card can reach a smaller slice than a child support order or the IRS.

Why a Bonus Counts as Wages

The Consumer Credit Protection Act defines earnings broadly as compensation paid for personal services, whether called wages, salary, commission, or bonus.¹ The Department of Labor specifically lists discretionary bonuses, performance bonuses, sign-on bonuses, and profit sharing among the lump-sum payments that can be garnished.² Year-end checks, quarterly incentives, referral payments, relocation money, and retroactive raises are all in. Reimbursements for business expenses are not, because they are not paid for your work.

Every garnishment calculation runs off your “disposable earnings,” which means what is left after deductions required by law: federal and state income taxes, Social Security, and Medicare.³ Voluntary deductions like 401(k) contributions or health premiums do not shrink that figure. Bonuses are usually taxed at a 22% federal supplemental rate (37% on amounts above $1 million), so the disposable amount is already smaller than the gross number on the announcement.⁴

The Department of Labor treats each payment as separately subject to the CCPA limits. If your bonus arrives in the same pay period as a regular paycheck, each one is calculated on its own.²

How Much a Creditor Can Take From Your Bonus

Credit Cards, Medical Bills, and Other Consumer Debts

For ordinary consumer debts, the CCPA caps garnishment at the lesser of:

25% of disposable earnings for the pay period, or
The amount by which disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour), which works out to $217.50 per week.

Whichever number is smaller is the maximum.⁵ Below $217.50, nothing can be taken. Above $290, the 25% cap controls.

Say you receive a $4,000 bonus and after tax withholdings your disposable earnings on that check are $3,200. The garnishment cannot exceed 25% of $3,200, or $800. The rest of the bonus is yours.

One important qualifier: a consumer creditor needs a court judgment against you before it can garnish anything. If no one has sued you and won, no consumer garnishment can hit your bonus.

Child Support and Alimony

Support orders run on higher caps that override the 25% consumer limit, and they apply to bonuses the same way they apply to paychecks:

50% of disposable earnings if you are supporting another spouse or dependent child.
60% if you are not.
An additional 5% on top of either number if payments are more than 12 weeks overdue, so 55% or 65%.⁵

Child support also has priority over other garnishments. If a support order alone reaches the CCPA maximum, a competing consumer creditor gets nothing from that check.

IRS Tax Levies

An IRS wage levy is the harshest hit a bonus can take. The IRS does not follow the CCPA percentage caps. It leaves you a weekly exempt amount, calculated by dividing your standard deduction plus allowable deductions for dependents by 52, and takes everything above that.⁶ For a single filer with no dependents, the exempt figure runs roughly $250 to $350 per week depending on the year.

The IRS explicitly treats bonuses as wages for levy purposes.⁶ A lump-sum bonus gets prorated to figure the exempt amount, but the math usually leaves very little protected. On a large bonus, the IRS can take the vast majority. And no court order is required; the IRS issues levies directly after sending the required notices.⁷ If a Final Notice of Intent to Levy has arrived, negotiating a payment plan or offer in compromise before your next bonus is the way to keep it out of the IRS’s hands.

Defaulted Federal Student Loans

Federal student loan collectors can garnish administratively without going to court. The order typically directs withholding of up to 15% of disposable earnings, subject to the same $217.50 weekly floor.⁸ Bonuses are earnings under the CCPA, so they are fair game. Before withholding starts, the agency has to send written notice and offer a hearing, a repayment agreement, or a chance to dispute the debt. Responding to that notice is the best way to keep the garnishment off your next bonus.

State Protections and Exemptions

The federal rules are a floor. Many states protect more of your income than the CCPA does, either by raising the disposable-earnings threshold (some use 40 to 80 times the state minimum wage) or by capping the garnishable percentage below 25%.

A number of states also offer a head-of-household or head-of-family exemption that can shield most or all of your wages, including a bonus, from consumer-debt garnishment. The usual test is that you provide more than half of the financial support for a dependent. Some states protect 100% of wages under this claim; others protect up to 90%. The protection is rarely automatic. You typically have to file a claim or affidavit within a short window after receiving the garnishment notice.

If a garnishment would leave you unable to cover basic living expenses, you can file a claim of exemption with the court. The forms document your income, expenses, and dependents, and the filing deadline is usually 10 to 20 days after you receive notice. If the creditor objects, a judge decides at a hearing whether to reduce or eliminate the withholding.

Some categories of income are protected outright from consumer-debt garnishment at the federal level, including Social Security, Supplemental Security Income, and VA benefits.⁹ Many states add unemployment, workers’ compensation, and disability to that list. None of those protections change what happens to a bonus, which is earned income.

What Happens After the Bonus Hits Your Account

Wage garnishment rules apply while the money is still with your employer. Once the bonus lands in your checking account, a separate process called a bank account levy can reach it, and federal law does not automatically carry the CCPA’s wage protections over to deposited funds. Roughly a dozen states treat deposited wages as still protected, and several others exempt a flat dollar amount in any account regardless of source. If a bank levy notice arrives, you may have to prove to the court that the money in the account came from exempt wages or benefits.

Can You Be Fired for a Garnished Bonus

Federal law prohibits your employer from firing you because your wages were garnished for any one debt.¹⁰ An employer who violates that rule faces a fine of up to $1,000, up to a year in prison, or both. The protection only covers a single indebtedness, though. If two or more separate debts are being collected against your wages, the federal statute stops shielding you, and only state law (if any) can fill the gap.

If the Numbers Look Wrong

Errors happen most often with lump-sum payments, because bonuses fall outside the normal payroll rhythm. If the withholding on your bonus check does not look right, ask your payroll department to show you the garnishment order, the disposable-earnings calculation, and how the withholding amount was reached. Catching a mistake before the money goes out is much easier than clawing it back afterward.

1
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. Chapter 41, Subchapter II – Restrictions on Garnishment
2
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet 30 – Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act (CCPA)
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1672 – Definitions
4
Internal Revenue Service. Publication 15 (2026), (Circular E), Employers Tax Guide
5
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1673 – Restriction on Garnishment
6
Internal Revenue Service. 5.11.5 Levy on Wages, Salary, and Other Income
7
Internal Revenue Service. Levy
8
eCFR. 34 CFR 34.19
9
Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Can a Debt Collector Take My Federal Benefits, Like Social Security or VA Payments
10
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 15 U.S.C. 1674 – Restriction on Discharge From Employment by Reason of Garnishment